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EDSAR Field Team Leader
By Robert Haen, Tahoe Unit
How do Team Leaders get chosen? What are they supposed to do? What if (oh, no!) I'm the Team Leader? Tahoe SAR's Robert Haen has written this excellent four page practical guide.
Becoming and performing the function of Team Leader with this unit is a very important duty, but becoming a good one is a whole different story. Traditionally, the member who has the most experience becomes the Team Leader and this works out most of the time, but sometimes experience doesn't relate to being a good manager.
Being a Team Leader means that you are responsible for many things. In order they are:
- Safety - both of yourself and your other team members
- Welfare - a searchers attitude will greatly affect their productivity
- Productivity - the more productive you and your team all are, the better for the subject or patient
"The Team Leader's role is to guide the team to the successful completion of the task."
Selection of Team Leaders & Teams - In some counties the selection of Team Leaders is made with the assignment of the team - a list of names are grouped together in alphabetical order and the name at the top is picked to be the Leader. This is exactly backwards from selecting a well motivated cohesive team. While preparing to assign teams, the IC or Operations chief should decide how many teams are needed and where, with the number people you have enroute or on scene. Once that is done Team Leaders should be selected to guide those teams and then team members should be picked to fill different teams. There is no perfect way to do this - often people have friends and others who they feel more comfortable deploying with in the field than people they either don't know or just don't trust. With the amount of members we have though, you can't always deploy with the people you want. So, it's a good idea to get to know everyone and what their abilities are.
Members will be assigned to your team based on several things, some examples are medical knowledge such as EMTs, knowledge of the area, and member ability.
Know Your Team - The team will be most efficient when the Team Leader knows who the people are and what they can do. If the Team Leader doesn't know them to start with, he/she must find out names and ask questions to assess Team Member's skills, knowledge, and most importantly, their limitations.
Briefing - The briefing is the most important time for Team Leaders on any assignment. You need to know the following:
- Your assignment, AKA objective, including the exact areas to be searched, where your start point is, what kind of patterns or techniques should be used, what kind of clues to look for, and hazards in the area.
- The Point Last Seen
- The victim's name
- Possible behavior of the victim
- Any other special information about the search or the victim. Is it high risk? Is the victim a public figure making this a major media event, etc…
- If it is a rescue, where exactly are they, and what are their injuries?
Once you have obtained all the pertinent information be sure to pass all of this on to your members including:
- Situation: Advise the team of the "Big Picture"- what has happened so far, what the circumstances are, and what will probably happen in the future.
- Objective: Tell the team what your assignment is and what you expect out of your team members - tell me when you want to take breaks, tell me when you feel uncomfortable, etc…
- Execution: Explain how the mission will be achieved. What methods will be used, who will do what roles, etc.
- Administration: What equipment will be required (personal and team), times, water availability, etc.
- Control and Communications: Discuss radio frequencies and what your team will do if you find the lost or injured person.
At the end of your Team briefing all the Teams members should have the same "minds eye view". Ask questions of team members to check that they have understood the briefing. Listen to team member suggestions, and kill bad ideas tactfully - the team member you offend is not likely to perform 100%
Make sure all members know what the team and its methods will look like, what their individual role is, and what other roles there are and covered by whom.
While in the Field - While your team is working to complete the objective there are a lot of things you, as a Team Leader should do to keep your team operating at the highest efficiency.
- Communicate clearly and in detail. For example "Tom an Jim go search that shed" compared to "two people go over there and check that out." People don't have ESP.
- Delegate by name. Don't ask for volunteers (we're all volunteers).
- Keep everyone heading in the same direction- When you see someone heading off on a tangent stop it early, because the longer it goes on the worse it will get!
- Don't drive the team into the ground without a break, but do keep them from getting distracted from the job at hand.
- Be decisive. You will probably have to make several decisions during an operational period, so base decisions on task success. If you're unsure or unable to decide, consult with your team members but you must still make the decision. Remember several less than ideal decisions will get the job done faster than a debate to reach the best one.
- Watch for fatigue and stress. Don't over-stretch the team, or the quality of the job and their safety will deteriorate.
What Team Leaders are Supposed to Do - The Team Leader really has only two jobs:
1. Completing the objective
2. Developing fellow members to someday act in this role themselves.
There is no place better to learn than in the field on a real mission. When volunteers are placed in roles of responsibility it motivates them to become better, more well trained members, and besides, it lessens your workload so all you have to do is hike and provide basic direction.
The Team Leader shouldn't "do" anything. Of course, like all good rules, there are sometimes exceptions. If you find yourself placed in a situation when you as a Team Leader must get involved in detail, try to pick or take over simple tasks that will allow you to still perform as much of your Team Leadership role as possible.
The Team Leader needs to stand back and take in the big picture, to see how the whole team is going, and to be able to focus his attention where it is needed now. A team leader that is involved in detail cannot do this. Consequently, the Team Leader needs to keep his/her hands off and let the team do the work.
The Team Leader will see things which the team must respond to, so he will sometimes guide the team in a slightly different direction. Often these factors are not apparent to all members of the team, and would not be apparent to the Team Leader if he/she was preoccupied with detail.
If team member needs help, another team member or Assistant Team Leader should provide it. The Team Leader should only get involved if the assistance required is trivial or very quick to do, or the rest of the team is so hard pressed that the Team Leader believes there really is no one else to help.
An Assistant Team Leader should always be appointed, no matter what. If nothing else, they are a back up if the Team Leader gets hurt or can no longer perform the role. Even if you have a team of three and have no use for an ATL, appoint one any way. Assistant Team Leaders may be used to delegate large or complex tasks to, or you can simply let them take the lead under your supervision for a training opportunity. Once you have assigned an ATL and have given them a task to perform, even if it's as acting Team Leader, stay out of their kitchen unless you drastically disagree with the decisions being made.
Debriefing - Debriefing is extremely important. When doing a debrief there are a number of things you should ask yourself and the team.
- Start on a positive note. What went right or worked well?
- Then get to improvements that can be made. What went wrong or not so well?
- Then find ways to improve. What can be done better next time?
- Be Constructive. Make comments that are useful, relevant, and factual.
- Praise where praise is due. (Of course, this is best done on the spot during the job!)
- Accept criticism but don't take it personally. Use the feedback to learn and improve next time.
- If you must get critical, don't get personal. Talk about the problem, not the person.
- Look for ways to improve. This is the main purpose of the debrief.
- Plan for next time. Revise polices or protocols if necessary.
Summary
Do Nothing - Don't get involved in the detail of the task
See Everything - While you don't have to see everything, you need to be as confident as if you had seen it yourself. That is, you must be confident that your team has done the right thing. A good team can make a [big] difference.
Focus on the Goal - A distracted Team Leader is not effective.
Guide the Team - The Team Leader is in the best position to do this.
Troubleshoot - Keep calm and deal with problems or changes in plans as they arise.
Succeed - Success, of course, may depend on a great variety of things, but with effective Team Leadership the team has a big head start!
Have Fun - Just remember why we're all here in the first to place, to have fun and help other people!!!!!!
Team Leader Hints Team Leader Tips
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