If you do a quick search on any search engine, you will find many sites of people who say that they can tell you the essential tools or strategies you need to ensure success.  The problem is that all of them list different tools and strategies!  Every organization and business is unique so that it is not surprising that you will find a different list of items for different types of entities.  If you search for the "seven C's", you will find pages related to leadership, communication, consulting, learning and even more specialized topics like web design and coaching.  What I have discovered is that there are three fundamental "C"s that will not guarantee success (and be wary of anything that promises that) but will lead to a more productive and rewarding experience working with your company or organization.

• Cooperation - Competition is healthy; but so is cooperation.  Remember that you and the others in the organization or business are part of a team and as such are all working toward the same ultimate goals.  Not everyone may always get along or agree, but it is important that you don't stand in the way of someone else getting their work done.  Be there to answer the phone when they've got a question or offer up the documents that you might have that are what they're looking for.
• Collaboration - Like every organization, every person is unique with their own skills and talents.  Collaborating with others will enable you to help them think in new ways and come up with new solutions and also for you to find new strategies in your own work.  Collaboration doesn't mean that three of you all take a document and break it into three sections and all work on it separately, it means that you use your strengths to help offset what might be a weakness for others.  There might be someone in your office struggling with an issue that you found a solution to last week - help them out.
• Communication - probably the most important of the three, and also the most overlooked.  Communication is more than saying hello to your co-workers as you pass them on the way to the water cooler, it is an essential tool for any organization.  How many times have you started working on a project only to find out that someone else has already completed what you were working on?  Or how many times have you thought someone else was responsible for a task only to realize that they were never aware of that?  These are the pitfalls that occur when there is poor or no communication.  Check in with each other, see where they are at and let them know what you're working on.  If you have questions about a project or task, certainly go and ask someone.  Keep each other in the loop and you will find that things get done more smoothly and the stress of not knowing if something is getting done or having one person responsible for too many tasks will disappear.  

Recently, I was part of a panel for the Maine Town and City Manager’s Association on conducting municipal service and department reviews and assessments.  I have conducted several such studies including ones that assess all services as well as ones focused on a specific department.  Such efforts can be very useful for municipal leaders to improve service delivery as well as generate cost savings.  Over the course of these efforts there are several tips I have picked up which if followed will increase the changes for successful implementation.  They are as follows:

• Be very clear about why you are conducting the review – reasons typically y include trying to lower costs, lower taxes, improve service, expand service, improve morale, or improve customer satisfaction.  Your reasons can include one, some, or all of these but they need to be made clear upfront.  Along the same lines, be clear about which services and departments are to be included. 
• When evaluating services, separate human resource items like personnel reviews from the service delivery analysis.  Most importantly, do not conduct such an effort simply to make the case to terminate someone.  Human resource issues such as this require different toolsets than service delivery analysis.  Additionally, service delivery analysis takes time, resources and energy that are not worth expending for tasks they are not designed for.
• Be aware of review and assessment processes that that utilize one “silver bullet” technique.  There are many good tools and techniques for assessment and each has strengths and constraints at meeting particular needs.  A customized analysis drawing from several tools and techniques is often the best approach.
• Be upfront and clear on the level and type of public, council, and staff involvement required.  Assessment efforts take time and energy to be done correctly and regular staff work needs to continue on a day to day to day basis while the assessment is being conducted so proper planning is important. 
• Be clear and communicate to staff what is being done, why and how information will be used.  Assessments can be unsettling for staff.  Clear communication can help defray fear and result in a more productive process.
• Don’t be afraid to compare yourself to private sector entities that at first glance don’t seem directly comparable.  Instead, think about the customer service experience and try to include benchmarks for similar services in the private sector.  For example, tax collection offices often function much like bank teller services and benchmarks in that industry would be comparable and useful.
• Understand that reviews require data and information and the better the information that is regularly collected, the better the review and analysis.
• Finally and most importantly, do not conduct the review if you are not prepared to implement solutions and follow-through.  It is too resource and time intensive to do the work then ignore the solutions.

As a rural state covering a large extent, as well as having a diverse population, Maine communities face a challenge in providing for and maintaining effective local fire protection. As a local system, fire departments face the challenge head on and frequently the answer is found working with neighboring communities and other fire departments in their respective counties. It is useful then to consider the distribution and coverage of fire services, in the aggregate, at the county level. Here are three maps showing how firefighters add up at the county level in Maine.

The first map shows how fire departments are staffed by type of personnel be they paid, paid-on-call, or volunteer. 

 

  The next map shows the number of firefighters per capita, based on the county population.

 

The last map shows the number of firefighters in a given county per square mile.



To view the maps at a larger scale visit our fire service information page.