Without a doubt the currency of the Fire Service is Trust. Without it all emergency services, and especially the Fire Service, would struggle to operate. I am sure it's true in all countries that the Fire Service almost always tops the chart of "Most Trusted Occupations", and I'm very proud to be a part of an organisation with that quality. This is important, not just between us and the public but also amongst members of a crew. Our job can be dangerous and you need to be able to rely on the people you respond with, and your ability to trust their integrity and courage is essential ... If not, "Who's got your back?" Stephen Covey in his book "The Speed of Trust" says that transactions that occur where trust is high happen faster and cheaper. We rely on this when on calls to allow us to take control and get the job done quickly and effectively. This point can be demonstrated by contrasting two stories: Scenario #1: One day I responded to a call directly from home to a young woman having a serious asthma attack. I arrived about 6 minutes before the rest of my crew and therefore only had myself, my uniform and conversation to make a difference. She was Status 2, which basically means "really sick", but on arrival you could see a definite sense of relief from the family along with a look of desperation from her for me to do something quickly. The important thing here was that my uniform, which clearly displayed Fire Rescue, gave me immediate credibility with her and her family. If I had turned up in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, time would have been wasted explaining who I was and building that trust. All I could do was build on that trust by showing empathy, confidence and gaining her focus and talking her towards a more controlled mode of breathing and relaxation. This was an extremely dangerous situation for her, but as trust was established immediately I could be effective without wasting time. Of course when I saw the uniforms of the Ambulance Paramedics, I was relieved myself because I knew I could trust them, and because they had the necessary drugs the woman so urgently required. Fast forward a couple of months to Scenario #2. I was again responding directly to a call from home. On arrival I found a man in cardiac arrest, but after a very short period of CPR his heart beat returned. So short a time in fact that I thought I must have made a mistake. Again I was awaiting my crew and without monitoring equipment. My instinct however was that the situation was cardiac, despite his wife's insistence that he had too had had an asthma attack and collapsed. A short while later a Paramedic arrived and my uniform, combined with my uncertainty, worked against me. I wasn't the expert, the Paramedic was, and as a result I lost some of his trust. He disregarded my diagnosis and focused on the asthma with little effect. I don't blame him for this, I was a little uncertain; but still, the ambulance crew didn't take my advice seriously because I was "just a fire fighter", as opposed to being a "fully trained paramedic". Later that day, while on another job with that crew, they told me I'd been correct and the man had in fact had a heart attack. To me, the business learning is this... Trust does speed up transactions and reduce their cost, so don't under estimate its power. But you can't just demand Trust, or talk about it to get it. It must be earned and nurtured. It will not occur in your organization because you ask for it, or because you talk about it at meetings... Trust is subjective... Trust is based on gestures, symbols and behaviour, not just words.

Do you live and work with integrity?

Does trust ease your transactions or do you abuse relationships by talking about values you don't live up to?

Where you give trust to people or organizations, is it deserved and are you clear what to "be trusted" means?

In the following video, you'll see fire crews working together as teams in extremely challenging and dangerous situations ... It only works where trust exists... What will you do today to improve the level of organisational trust you have so that you can go to the extreme together tomorrow? UPDATE 11th July 2009 Just read this great post by Justin French on Trust