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| The IAFC have established a new task force to ensure it reaches its goals |
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) have recently established a new task force; the Company Officer Task Force has officially began convening and has continued to discuss issues.
The goal of the task force is to "integrate and grow company office engagement within the work of the IAFC and help to develop future fire service leaders." With a focus on identifying how the IAFC can help company officers develop their leadership skills to meet today’s challenges and prepare them for promotion to chief officer positions in the future, the task force has a lot of areas to research, discuss and build recommendations on.
The scope of work for the task force includes developing an action plan that addresses issues faced by the association and the company officer members it serves and developing ideas on how company officers can contribute on a broader basis to the issues faced by the IAFC in general.
The final plan is to be delivered to the IAFC board of directors at its August 2011 meeting at FRI in Atlanta.
As currently described in the IAFC Constitution and Bylaws, company officers are included in the affiliate member category. Company officers enjoy all the benefits of their chief officer counterparts, with the exception that they “are not eligible to hold IAFC elective office, serve of the IAFC board of directors, have IAFC voting privileges, or be eligible for IAFC life membership.”
Company officers are also now included as associate members of their respective divisions, while still maintaining a significantly discounted rate.
The task force is currently looking into issues they feel will impact affiliate members’ abilities to interact as an integral part of the IAFC. Some of those issues include:
- What do company officers need from the IAFC to perform better in their current positions and to help them with their professional development?
- What tangibles can company officers contribute to the broader issues facing IAFC members?
- What can the company officers who maintain membership within the IAFC contribute to other company officers and how can the IAFC facilitate those contributions?
- How can the IAFC enhance communication between company office and chief officer members?
- How can the IAFC improve upon its message that officers of any rank are welcome to join?
After looking at the issues described above and other concerns that may come up along the way, the task force will develop specific recommendations and a plan for both short- and long-term actions they feel are necessary to move the membership forward in a positive manner.
One of the developments to date has been the new IAFC Company Officer subgroup on the LinkedIn. The task force will try to generate ideas and solicit feedback on some of the issues described earlier and other topics that may arise as things progress.
