The 3 Biggest Leadership Mistakes New Company Officers Make

Getting promoted to company officer is one of the biggest transitions in a firefighter's career. One day you are riding the rig as a firefighter, taking assignments, and following your officer's lead. The next day you are the one making decisions, setting the tone, and being held accountable for everything your crew does or fails to do. That shift happens fast, and most new officers are not fully prepared for it no matter how much time they spent studying for the promotional exam.

I made every one of these mistakes when I first got promoted. I have watched dozens of new Lieutenants and Captains make them too. The good news is that these mistakes are fixable. The bad news is that if you do not recognize them early, they will undermine your credibility with your crew and make your job significantly harder.

Let me walk you through the three biggest leadership mistakes I see new company officers make, and more importantly, how to avoid them.

Mistake Number One: Trying to Be Everyone's Friend

This is the most common trap for new officers, especially those who get promoted within the same department or even the same station where they worked as a firefighter. Yesterday you were eating dinner with these people as equals. You joked around, complained about the brass together, and had each other's backs. Now you are their supervisor, and the dynamic has to change.

That does not mean you stop being friendly. It does not mean you become cold or distant. It means you accept that your relationship has fundamentally shifted. You are now responsible for their safety, their performance, and their development. That responsibility requires you to have difficult conversations, enforce standards, and make unpopular decisions. You cannot do any of those things effectively if your primary concern is being liked.

I watched a new Lieutenant at my department refuse to address a performance issue with one of his crew members because they had been friends for years. The firefighter was consistently late to shift, skipped morning checkout, and performed poorly during training evolutions. Everyone on the crew knew it, and they were watching to see what the new Lieutenant would do. He did nothing, because he did not want to damage the friendship. Within two months, the rest of the crew lost respect for him. They figured if he would not hold one person accountable, he would not hold anyone accountable, and that meant standards were optional.

The fix is simple but not easy. Set clear expectations from day one. On your first shift as a company officer, gather your crew and have an honest conversation. Tell them what you expect in terms of performance, attitude, and professionalism. Tell them you are going to hold those standards consistently for everyone, including yourself. And then follow through. Consistency is the foundation of credibility.

You can still have a positive, respectful, and even enjoyable relationship with your crew. The best company officers I have worked for were people I genuinely liked and respected. But they never let that relationship prevent them from doing the hard parts of the job. Your crew will respect you more for holding the line than for letting things slide to keep the peace.

Mistake Number Two: Micromanaging Everything

New officers are terrified of something going wrong on their watch. That fear manifests as micromanagement. They hover over every task, second-guess their crew's decisions, and refuse to delegate. They position themselves at the pump panel, the nozzle, the search line, and the ventilation point simultaneously because they do not trust anyone else to do it right.

This approach is exhausting for the officer and demoralizing for the crew. When you micromanage, you send a clear message to your people: I do not trust you. Experienced firefighters will resent it. Even newer members will feel like they are not being given the opportunity to learn and grow. Over time, a micromanaged crew becomes passive. They stop thinking for themselves because they know the officer is going to override them anyway. That creates a dangerous dynamic on the fireground, where you need every member of your crew thinking, observing, and contributing.

The root of micromanagement is usually a lack of confidence in your own leadership, not a lack of confidence in your crew. You are afraid that if something goes wrong, it will reflect on you. And you are right, it will. But trying to control every detail is not the solution. Building a competent, well-trained crew that you can trust is the solution.

Here is how you fix it. Start by training your crew to the standard you expect. If you want your crew to throw ladders a certain way, train them on it, drill on it, and let them practice until they own it. Then step back and let them execute. Your job as a company officer is to set the direction, provide resources, remove obstacles, and evaluate performance. It is not to do everyone else's job for them.

On the fireground, give clear assignments and then trust your people to execute. "I need you and Smith to conduct a primary search on the second floor, starting left from the top of the stairs. Report your findings on the radio." That is a clear assignment with specific parameters. Now let them do it. Stay aware of their progress through radio communication and situational awareness, but resist the urge to follow them up the stairs and tell them which way to turn.

There is a distinction between micromanaging and supervising. Supervision means you are aware of what your crew is doing, you are monitoring conditions, and you are prepared to intervene if safety requires it. Micromanaging means you are doing their job for them because you do not trust them to do it themselves. Learn the difference.

Mistake Number Three: Avoiding Hard Conversations

This one ties into the first mistake but goes deeper. New officers often avoid difficult conversations entirely, not just with friends, but with anyone. They see a performance issue and hope it resolves itself. They hear about a conflict between crew members and look the other way. They notice a safety violation and rationalize it as not a big deal. Every time they avoid a hard conversation, the problem grows.

Unaddressed issues in a firehouse do not fade away. They fester. A small performance gap becomes an entrenched bad habit. A minor interpersonal conflict becomes a toxic crew dynamic. A single safety shortcut becomes a cultural norm where cutting corners is acceptable. By the time the officer finally decides to address it, the problem has grown so large that it requires a much bigger intervention than it would have if dealt with early.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my first year as a Captain. I had a senior firefighter who routinely pushed back on training evolutions. He would grumble, do the minimum, and make dismissive comments that undermined the morale of the younger members. I let it go for weeks because I told myself he was just old school and it was not worth the battle. By the time I finally addressed it, the younger members had started mimicking his attitude because they figured if the Captain did not care, why should they?

The conversation itself was not as bad as I had built it up to be in my head. That is almost always the case. The anticipation of a difficult conversation is usually worse than the conversation itself. I sat down with the firefighter privately, told him specifically what I had observed, explained why it was a problem, and told him what I expected going forward. He was not happy, but he adjusted his behavior. More importantly, the rest of the crew saw that standards were being enforced, and the overall attitude improved.

Fire Engineering at fireengineering.com publishes excellent leadership content written by fire officers who have navigated these exact challenges. Their articles on company officer development, crew dynamics, and leadership philosophy are worth reading regularly. Learning from officers who have already made these mistakes and figured out how to correct them will accelerate your own development.

How to Have Difficult Conversations

Here is a framework that works. First, address the issue privately. Never correct someone in front of their peers unless it is a safety issue that requires immediate intervention. Pull them aside, close the door, and have a one-on-one conversation.

Second, be specific. Do not say "your attitude has been bad lately." Say "during yesterday's training evolution, you told the crew the drill was pointless and refused to participate in the second repetition. That undermines the training program and sets a negative example for the newer members."

Third, explain the impact. Tell them why the behavior is a problem, not just for you, but for the crew and the mission. "When senior members dismiss training, it gives newer members permission to disengage. That means the crew is less prepared when we catch a working fire."

Fourth, state your expectation clearly. "I need you to participate fully in every training evolution and to set a positive example for the crew. If you have concerns about how we are running training, bring them to me privately and I will listen. But disengaging in front of the crew is not acceptable."

Fifth, follow up. Check in after a reasonable period to see if the behavior has changed. If it has, acknowledge the improvement. If it has not, escalate to formal documentation. Do not let it slide back.

The Bigger Picture

Leadership is not a title. It is a practice. You do not become a good company officer by getting promoted. You become one by doing the hard work of leading people every single shift. That means holding standards, developing your crew, making decisions under pressure, and having the courage to address problems directly.

The best company officers I have served under shared three qualities: they were technically competent, they genuinely cared about their crew, and they held everyone to the same standard without exception. They were not perfect, and they made mistakes. But they owned those mistakes, learned from them, and got better. That is the standard you should hold yourself to.

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