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Grant Writing
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The Pragmatic Principles of
Positive Politics PURPOSE: The purpose of this Politics module is to help students understand the value neutrality of politics, the necessity of politics and the various level of politics in the successful operations and administration of VFD/EMS departments. OBJECTIVE: Upon completion of this module, the student will: 1. know 100% of the time that the fundamental concept of politics and that bad politics doesn't mean "corrupt" politics, but rather politics that do not yield results, 2. recall 100% of the time that the 3 elements to any negotiation are Power, Information & Time. 3. know at least 7 different types of political and negotiation power, 4. identify the eight (8) levels of politics that effect the effective operations, management and success of VFD/EMS departments. Prerequisites: Elections vs. Popularity Contents with a 100% proficiency. Procedure and General Information Content: The management of a volunteer fire department has politics which permeate throughout it and at every level. Many fire department members, officers, and fire departments generally say they hate politics; but if there is any group that has multiple levels of political realities, it is a fire department. Without politics, certainly inter-department politics, you will not get elected or appointed to either a line officer's or an administrative officer's position. Politics are NOT bad or good, although there are good politics and yes plenty of examples of bad politics . . . politics are just politics and they are a fundamental functional reality that you just have to manage. Likewise, there are good politicians and there are bad politicians . . . which type are you? What we call a bad politician is what we really mean to be a corrupt politician. A bad politician, without the value judgment and focus on corruption, is one who doesn't use the politics of persuasion to get their needs, the department's needs, the community's needs and the needs of the other person/agency met in a negotiated agreement. Politics are the interaction of people meeting each other's needs. As an example, an agreement to have sexual relations, requires an initial political interaction and negotiation, thus your very personal existence is a product of politics...you're here, thanks to politics! And as adults, we've all had to exercise political negotiations . . . "you've got to give a little to get a little". Therefore the better politician you are in this arena, under these conditions and at all levels where political realities exist, the better and more frequently you successfully get your needs met. This translates to all levels, situations, and conditions; where fundamentally politics are the reality. Politics are essential to your existence and operations of your fire department and not just for your financial needs. Politics are your vehicle/medium in all of your negotiations. The better your politics, the more your aware of them, and the better you manage them; the more smoothly your negotiations flow. In any negotiation, you have three (3) primary elements of Power, Information & Time. Power has many forms. You have the power to reward, power to punish, persuasion power, situation power, information power, power to assist & support, and walk-away power. Information, although a somewhat separate commodity, is also one of your forms of power. Sir Francis Bacon said it best: "Knowledge is power". Knowing what others need, equally as you have succinctly defined your own needs will make you a better negotiator and better politician. Time is the last element in negotiation and with politics. With time, you have one of two conditions in that you either have plenty of it (slower the negotiation process) or you have urgency, which reduces your power to negotiate and causes you to really have to exercise a much higher level of political persuasion. Also with time in negotiation, just like at a fire scene, it is never time to panic . . . it is either too soon to panic . . . or it is too late to freakin' panic . . . it is never time to panic! Compromising will always be something you will need to do in your politics and negotiations. You cannot look at an "all or nothing", with what you ask for and what you offer. Sometimes you get everything, sometimes you get part of it, and sometimes you get nothing. You therefore have to be willing to politically compromise and also have the flexibility to think outside the box and the traditional. As an example, I have an orange. You need some orange rind to make marmalade, but I need my orange to make orange juice and it is my orange! Now if I give you half of my orange, you're only getting half of what you need for your marmalade and I'm sacrificing half of what I need. Nobody is happy. However, if we compromise in our negotiation and you can have 100% of the rind and left over pulp and I get 100% of the juice that I can extract, then we both get everything that we want/need and everybody is a happy camper! Also per politics, don't forget to later offer me some of your marmalade for my bagel! How much more willing might I be the next time you come to me and ask me for some orange rind and pulp? Thus, the more you have exercised the "Pragmatic Principles of Positive Politics", the better your negotiations for anything will flow and the easier it will be generally to negotiate to successfully achieve the meeting of your needs. Always think of what the other party needs, try to meet those needs and place more emphasis on their needs and benefits to them, as you ask for whatever it may be that you or your fire department needs. Here are some examples of the different types of politics at various levels. Think of all of the ways these level of politics historically, currently and in the future will effect your fire department and your position as a member of the department's management. Inter-department politics This one is pretty obvious in that every volunteer and combined fire department is ripe with cliques. In exercising the pragmatic principles of politics between each, one must continue to remind all cliques of the general mission of the company, what are the common goals of the company, what are the common needs of the company, and that every group/clique in the company is important and needed meet the goals and the objectives the company has as a whole. Intra-agency politics Intra-agency politics relates to the interaction, cooperation and goodwill between yourself, your department, other departments in you municipality and other departments where you have mutual aide agreements and calls. This is important, because in addition to the obvious, per jointly answering alarms, you need each other when it comes time to write grants and establish you certification of needs. Many times, like communications equipment, HAZMAT apparatus/equipment, rehab units and other special operations units these are needed by all and should be shared by all. Although the special apparatus/equipment may be house at one department due to space, you're going to have to exercise politics when it comes to training for the use of the this special apparatus/equipment, its maintenance, and the costs for its upgrading. Also, intra-agency politics is important when you look act general training, planning, and mutual aide practice drills. Having a proactive political is thus essential, because just like a major fire/accident/incident scene, this political cooperation is necessary for everybody to understand and respect one another for the successful management of your fire department on the microcosm level. Local Level Politics Everybody understands the political realities when it comes to dealing with local elected officials. Negotiating their financial and other support is NOT the time to try to exercise the "pragmatic principles of positive politics, because you are now going to them asking for something you need, rather than having an on-going relationship where you clearly and regularly define what all you offer. Better to walk into a situation with your hat on your head and not in your hand. Remember, in many instances the local elected official may not have any fire/EMS experience. Therefore, they don't have a clue of what you specifically do, what you need, why you need it, and why it costs so much. You have to educate them on a continuous basis. Also, these folks have their own political realities in they have to keep the citizens/constituents happy and show that they are serving their best interests and within budget parameters. And fire and police protection are certainly political hot buttons. Community Politics Community politics is closely related to your public relations activities. In fact, they're pretty synonymous. Letting the community see you drill on a regular basis, you holding special fund-raising events, you visiting local businesses for pre-plans, your visiting schools beyond doing so during Fire Prevention Week, you making special announcement in the local newspapers, and your sponsorship/participation in community events, will go a long way for when you also need to reach out to the community for tag day fundraisers, raffles, submarine sandwich and bake sales, carwashes, auctions and general donation solicitations. They need to see you active for more than just fire scenes and when it comes time to ask for their financial support with donations. They also need to know your needs which are necessary to serve their own interests. Also by have effective public relations and community politics this makes it far easier to have successful recruitment campaigns. When you take an approach of telling the community what all you do and generally ask them for their help, so that you can serve them better, will always prove successful. Area Politics Area politics is just a broader geography of your community politics. When you have special events such as concerts, community days, carnivals, bingos, and such; you are drafting people from the entire area. Special considerations are also do in that you must be sensitive to all of the fire departments in the area, to protect/enhance your intra-agency politics. Supporting them with their fund raisers and events, along with always promoting "Support Your Local VFD", scores many point with everybody and at all levels. Regional Politics Regional politics is best defined a managing your relationships with other departments, FF/EMS associations, county elected officials, county agencies, and the general public in the region. A regular dialogue or meeting attendance with the regional associations, elected officials and county agencies is very important for financial support, training programs, and when it comes time to apply for state and/or federal grants. State Politics Get to know the state agencies, elected officials (representatives & senators), their support staffs, and your state-level association members. Keep them involved with you by calling or writing them often. Send them a copy of your newsletter or invite them to visit your web site to read what is happening with your department and with your community. You need to know these people and their support staff on a very friendly basis, to get them to call and write letters supporting either your state or your federal grant application. Invite them when you have special event at the department or in the community. Remember, these folks, emphasis elected officials, need to be at these events to show the voters that they are involved back home locally and not just sitting in meetings, sitting in voting sessions and attending cocktail parties at the state capital. National Politics The situation with your national politics is the very same as with your state level politics. Get to know these elected officials (representatives & senators), their staff, and certainly the receptionist(s), who are the gate-keepers you're trying to get to assist you with immediately putting you in contact with the proper person, while they also remind them that you've called and ask if they got your message. Conclusion With the "Pragmatic Principles of Positive Politics", you have got to make and court those contacts/resources who are in a position to meet your needs/requests and the best way to do this is to always be aware of what their needs are and how you can help them and you are willing to help them meet their needs . . . certainly their own public relations and political needs. Last modified: August 06, 2008
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