Pete Michalak, Part 2: Earn the Trust Before the Tough Conversation

Send us Fan Mail Pete Michalak comes back for Part 2 with a mentoring mistake he owns, the relationship he had to repair, and what he learned about showing people you care. We talk about accountability, potential, everyday firehouse behavior, and being a good teammate. A tough conversation can still be the wrong conversation if you haven't built the relationship first. In Part 2, Pete explains Northville Township's mentoring approach and why he believes it helps the new firefighter, the mentor and the department. Then he tells a story about a pairing that went badly. He doesn't put that one on the other person. He talks about what he missed, his apology, and the strain he says remained years later. We get into owning mistakes, learning from the people around us, and being willing to say we got something wrong. There's also a conversation about potential versus performance, with Pete acknowledging that experience, personal circumstances and his own changing perspective matter. We close by talking about the whole firefighter. What you bring to the crew every day belongs in the conversation, too. In this part: - What a formal mentoring program can do for a department. - A hard lesson about rapport and showing care. - Sharing mistakes so somebody else can learn from them. - Accountability, attitude and initiative. - Looking beyond a single fireground skill when judging a teammate. - A brief update from me about the book, as discussed at recording time. Thanks to Fire Facilities for supporting 3 Point Firefighter: https://www.firefacilities.com/ Explicit language. Email me at 3pointFirefighter@Gmail.Com Check out our Facebook Page 3 point Firefighter Podcast https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560769894306 YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAv_hMC8vxrurhIunXtaJXg 3 PFF Merch https://3-point-firefighter.printify.me/products #JakeBarnes,#3Pointfirefighter