Rom Duckworth
Presentation catalog

Leadership & Management

8 programs  ·  Full abstracts and learning objectives below

When Opportunity Knocks

Preparing For The Promotional And Hiring Process.

Description: Using his experience on hiring and promotional interview boards, the instructor will break down the interview process into easily digestible bites and straight forward guidelines to help navigate you through basic hiring interviews and promotional interviews. This presentation contains the information that you need to excel including how to prepare a top-notch résumé and curriculum vitae.

Learning objectives

  • The importance of both mental and physical preparation for the interview.
  • The broad categories into which virtually all interview questions fall.
  • How to make a great opening statement and an even better closing statement.
  • How to handle those questions that you didn’t read about in any book (or even this lecture).

Win Every Firehouse Argument

Use Critical Thinking To Win Friends And Influence Enemies.

Description: Great leaders do more than communicate, they influence. It is a fact that Americans spend 68% of their day bombarded by people trying to affect their decisions. On top of that, they spend another 52% trying to persuade others. This presentation will help you learn to quickly identify myths and factual errors (like the one above) and improve your critical thinking skills to avoid falling victim to logical fallacies and other arguments that sound good, but don’t hold water. These skills are crucial to every leader and educator in emergency services.

Learning objectives

  • How to use and improve critical thinking skills.
  • The fundamentals of reasoning, debate and building a sound argument.
  • How to identify and avoid logical fallacies.
  • How to identify and avoid common factual errors, myths and misunderstandings.
  • The use of logical reasoning and persuasion in management, education and around the house.

The Steps to Successful Succession Planning

Preparing Others to Lead.

Description: Identifying and preparing the next generation of leaders for your department is a critical responsibility. What will happen to all of the hard work you’ve put into your organization when it comes time for you to leave? Who will take your organization to the next level? Will they be ready to face the challenges that await them? Will they know how? Training your replacement takes work. Making a plan, finding a candidate, helping them develop, and handing off the reins isn’t just a good strategy; it is the only choice for your organization to survive. It can take time, money, and work and may seem counterintuitive to train people for a job they aren’t currently doing, but the “Train Your Replacement” mindset and the four steps it requires will help your organization get ready for the next set of challenges. This intensively participative workshop helps attendees evaluate their organization and themselves with the goal of “deepening the bench” of future emergency services leaders.

Learning objectives

  • Utilize the “first steps-next steps-step up-step out” format of successful succession planning.
  • Ask the key questions necessary to frame a succession plan or program.
  • Outline the job requirements as they exist now and as they may exist 5 to 15 years into the leadership development process.
  • Apply NFPA 1020 or NEMSMA 7 Pillars to leadership development in their organization.
  • Link job performance requirements to knowledge, skills, and attitude requirements for positions that will need to be filled.

Improving Morale

Simple Steps to Make Work a Better Place.

Description: Have you stopped asking “How are things?” at work, for fear that people might actually tell you? It can be said “They don’t have to LIKE it, they just have to DO it.”, but employee morale plays a vital role in job performance. It has been proven that employees who are happy with the workplace are more effective, more productive, have lower absenteeism and less turnover. Collecting the best “We should do that!” ideas from emergency service organizations large and small, this program presents simple, low-cost to no-cost methods to help make work a better place for everyone.

Learning objectives

  • Recognition that not all problems can be solved with a gift certificate.
  • The benefit of positive employee engagement.
  • The dangers, risks and costs of non-engaged and disengaged employees.
  • Top drivers of employee attraction, retention and engagement.
  • Simple, low-cost ideas to cultivate professional development.
  • Simple, low-cost ideas to increase employee commitment and organizational buy-in.
  • Simple, low-cost ideas to foster the workplace as a family-friendly environment.

Team Building

Successful Leadership Techniques to Build Exceptional Groups.

Description: While leaders are often focused on the management of individual employees, no 911 call is ever answered by one single emergency responder. The team approach that is required on scene must begin in the station. This team-based approach is fundamental to high-performance organizations ability to respond to dynamic situations under changing environmental, economic and social conditions. This program gives leaders examples of effective vs ineffective groups and explores the individuals, interpersonal dynamics, organizational structure and leadership strategies that are required to build not just a collection of responders, but an effective, high performance emergency service team.

Learning objectives

  • The benefits of successful team building to team leaders, members, and the mission of the organization.
  • The power dynamics fundamental to team success.
  • The team member skills that must be selected and / or developed.
  • Effective strategies to foster organizational success through team leadership.
  • Hazards to team development, operation and longevity.

Communication and Conflict Management

Turning differences into strengths.

Description: Conflict occurs in every group, but how it’s managed determines the success or failure of both the individuals and the organizations involved. The goal of successful communication and conflict management isn’t to make everyone happy or to make sure the right person “wins”. Great leaders of every level have mastered the skills to help team members use differences and conflict to move the group forward, rather than to put up barriers or tear down long-term team progress to achieve individual short-term victory. This session will help attendees identify dysfunctional conflict, identify common goals, focus on the team mission, use a variety of tools and techniques to use different opinions and perspectives to build a more resilient and effective organization.

Learning objectives

  • Effectively differentiate between functional and dysfunctional conflict.
  • Appreciate the difference between conflict resolution and conflict management.
  • Facilitate effective communication between conflicting parties.
  • Formulate a conflict management plan that moves the team toward the mission of the organization.

Catch Them and Keep Them

Recruiting and retaining top employees and volunteers.

Description: Work in any organization, large or small, paid or volunteer, involves transactions of value where the member gets value from the organization and gives value back. Volunteer and employment exchanges have traditionally focused on the perspective of the organization and what they could get from members. Today, leaders must flip that perspective and consider what the member is looking to gain, rather than just what the organization is willing to give to the employee or volunteer. Getting this "employee value proposition" right can help organizations attract high-quality candidates, engage current members to boost performance, and improve the customer experience and business operations. With quality EMS candidates and providers at a premium, organizations that can provide good employee value propositions will thrive and those that do not will fail to survive.

Learning objectives

  • Describe the importance of the employee value proposition in today’s volunteer and employment landscape
  • Explain the four sides of the employee value equation.
  • Identify the top drivers that attract and retain emergency service providers

Crew Resource Management

Building a Culture That Values Success Over Blame.

Crew Resource Management (CRM) provides a structured approach to teamwork and communication, helping emergency services organizations reduce errors, improve safety, and foster an environment where learning is valued over punitive measures. This session offers a proven framework for introducing CRM principles, covering leadership, resource utilization, and communication, to create an organizational culture focused on collaboration and continuous improvement.

Reduced Errors and Enhanced Safety: By implementing CRM practices, organizations will mitigate risks, elevate patient outcomes, and minimize the potential for critical mistakes.

Sustainable Culture of Learning: Participants will leave with actionable steps to build an environment where continuous improvement thrives and errors become opportunities to learn.

Session outline

  • Brief Description
  • Brief Outline
  • 1. Foundations of CRM
  • History and core principles of Crew Resource Management
  • How CRM concepts reduce errors and enhance team coordination
  • 2. Designing Your CRM Program
  • Identifying organizational goals and assessing readiness
  • Adapting CRM training to your agency’s unique operational needs
  • 3. Implementing CRM in the Field
  • Essential communication tools (PACE mnemonic, checklists, debriefings)
  • Overcoming common barriers and addressing resistance to change
  • 4. Measuring Success and Sustaining the Culture
  • Establishing performance metrics and feedback loops
  • Reinforcing a blame-free environment that encourages reporting and improvement
  • 5. Case Studies and Practical Applications
  • Real-world examples of agencies successfully embedding CRM principles
  • Lessons learned and action plans for immediate implementation
  • Objectives
  • 1. Cognitive
  • 2. Psychomotor
  • 3. Affective
  • Desired Learning/Performance Outcomes
  • Improved Team Dynamics: Attendees will apply clear communication and resource allocation strategies to enhance collaboration and mutual support.

Learning objectives

  • Summarize the key principles of Crew Resource Management and explain how they apply within emergency services environments.
  • Demonstrate the PACE mnemonic (Probe, Alert, Challenge, Emergency) in a simulated team setting to improve communication and decision-making.
  • Commit to fostering a blame-free culture by promoting shared accountability, mutual respect, and open dialogue within the agency.
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Fifty-seven programs across nine domains, clinical through leadership.

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Education, consulting, and speaking services are provided independently through the New England Center for Rescue & Emergency Medicine, LLC. Organizations, agencies, publications, and employers named on this site are identified solely to describe professional history, service, and qualifications. Their appearance does not indicate endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation, and nothing offered here is offered on behalf of the Ridgefield Fire Department, the Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut, or any other organization named.