Fire Department's Mission Statement

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Unit 7 Writing Assignment An effective mission statement at a fire department can be incredibly influential on the morale of the personnel—which as a result, can dramatically improve the performance of personnel when put into practice. Furthermore, because of the importance of a fire department’s mission statement, there should be a considerable amount of thought put into the drafting of one; and one of the most vital parts of an effective mission statement is to make sure that it can be put into practice. With that being said, the mission statement at my fire department is “One Team, One Group, One Fight”. Moreover, I think that my department’s mission statement can easily be put into practice, because this concept of coming together as one …show more content…

Unfortunately, according to an article by Christopher Brennan (2010), most firefighters do not even know their fire department’s mission statement, which as he states, makes it impossible for personnel to live out their department’s supposed mission and values (Brennan, 2010). Additionally, it’s important to keep personnel in mind when drafting a department’s mission statement, for all too often, leadership in fire departments create mission statements that sound great to those outside of the fire department, but it is either confusing to personnel or just plain out impractical (Brennan, 2010). After stating that, I definitely appreciate the simplicity and applicability of my department’s mission statement. Furthermore, I think our mission statement is practical for the internal use of personnel at my department because it is nearly impossible to misunderstand, and like I previously mentioned, can be applied in a variety of …show more content…

An article discussing the importance of a mission statement states that a mission statements’ job is to outline the organization’s unique purpose and establish the basis of its values and traits, as well as describe the attitude that is to be expected of those a part of the organization. Furthermore, this philosophical foundation sets the “tone” for physical actions, meaning that the content of the mission statement can determine the behavior of personnel (Hitt & Ireland, 1992). Likewise, a quote in an article regarding mission statements, in my opinion, sums up the idea of what a mission statement should be about perfectly; “Mission statements usually provide a lighthouse that the company culture can look back to when the company loses track of itself” (Reeves, 2015). Along that same line, mission statements, when used properly and used to its maximum potential for the organization, can reorient us to what we’re supposed to be doing and, if we’re willing, it can show us where we need to

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