Leadership Dialogue for fire, police and ambulance services

What your crews know rarely makes it all the way up the chain of command.

Shift model, equipment or a new set of rules: the people on duty often know exactly what works and what doesn't. Yet at the briefing it's usually the same few who speak. In the Leadership Dialogue, crews and officers write anonymously what they think about your questions and weigh each other's contributions. By smartphone, after a shift or between two calls, across all stations and corps.

After 21 days you know what is necessary, what is desirable and what is superfluous. And how many stand behind it.

Proven with more than 60 clients, including the building insurers of Zurich and Solothurn. On average, our clients did not know 8 of the 10 strongest contributions.

What you get

1. The whole force, not a sample: Professional and volunteer members have an equal say. Including the small stations nobody usually asks.

2. Consensus across all ranks: The decision matrix shows where officers and the base think alike and where you need to build bridges.

3. Backing for your decision: Whoever later asks why you decided as you did gets an answer backed by your own people.

How it works

• Strategy workshop: Three hours. We arrive with a concept and set the questions and participants with you, for example on procurement or command regulations.

• Launch: Within 48 hours the dialogue is ready. We write the invitation, you send it through your channels.

• Dialogue: Three weeks, moderated daily. Every contribution is checked before it goes live. You follow along live.

• Result: Report with analysis by corps, region or function, a one-pager for command and the response to your crews.

Why BrainE4 is different

• More than a consultation: Instead of statements from the three largest corps, you hear everyone. And you see which arguments carry weight.

• The loudest don't decide: In the Idea Duel it's not rank that counts, but what convinces. No one has to expose themselves in front of the commander.

• No extra load on operations: Ten minutes per person, spread over three weeks. No meeting, no appointment, no reporting for duty.

• Insight Guarantee: In the strategy workshop we record six assumptions per question: what you expect. We mix them covertly into the contributions. If on average at least five of the top 10 are new to you, your knowledge has doubled. Otherwise we refund the dialogue.

For whom

• Fire inspectorates and building insurers: when concepts, regulations or procurement for many corps are on the table.

• Police commands: when you want to know what frontline officers think of a reorganisation.

• Ambulance services: when shift models, workload or recruitment are on your mind.

In practice

Building Insurance of the Canton of Zurich: With requirements changing, Renato Mathys wanted to know what is necessary, desirable and superfluous. Around 6,800 firefighters took part directly instead of a sample. The results won over even initial sceptics. Read the interview

«Instead of the loudest voice deciding, we found solutions with consensus across all levels of the hierarchy.» Renato Mathys, Head of Fire Services

Solothurn Building Insurance: Around 600 officers were brought into the dialogue to revise the command regulations, with 113 decisions per person on average. The report was ready for publication one day after closing. Finding: the small fire brigades don't want special rules for the large ones. Read the interview

«A workshop doesn't deliver that. There you only hear the loudest voices.» Markus Grenacher, Fire Inspector

Ideal for:

Fire service concepts · Command regulations · Procurement · Reorganisation · Shift models · Recruitment in the militia system

Frequently asked questions

Will volunteer members actually take part?
At Solothurn Building Insurance, 34% of invited fire officers in the militia system took part. The invitation is what matters: we write it so it's clear what is concretely at stake.

Doesn't this undermine command?
No. Orders still run through the chain of command. The dialogue provides a basis, not a mandate. Command decides what gets implemented.

What happens to harsh criticism?
Insults stay out, criticism stays in. If a critical contribution still ranks high, many people see it that way. Then it's better you know.

Does it stay internal?
Nothing becomes public during the dialogue. The results reach you first, and you decide what to communicate.

All questions and answers

See more

Video: The Leadership Dialogue in brief. Watch the video

Leadership Dialogue: Use cases and process. Learn more

Try it yourself: An Idea Duel from the crews' point of view. Experience the Idea Duel

Your crews know the situation.
Ask everyone, not just the loudest.

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