By Amanda Swenson
Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal​

Over the past several months staff at the State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD) have been working with Minnesota Management Analysis and Development (MAD) to create the next strategic plan for SFMD. First, thank you to all the stakeholders and partners who provided input and consultation into the planning process. It is very clear that the parties that provided feedback were intentional and thought globally of our office and the fire service in the state.

The work that goes into a strategic plan can be overwhelming. In fact, the team is not only working on a five-year strategic plan, they are also working on a new mission and vision statement for the division. The team has really had to take time to look to the future.

Many of us in the planning group come from backgrounds in the fire service. We are people who see problems and try to immediately fix them. It can be challenging for anyone to think strategically about getting to the desired outcome five years down the road; and not go straight to tactics.

SFMD has been very fortunate to be able to hire the team at MAD. Not every division has the ability to work with them or even consider taking a pause to think strategically.

Is your department fulfilling its mission? If not, what is missing to fulfill that mission for your community? Where do you want to be in five years and what are the priorities you can set to reach that goal?

 If you don't have a destination, then how do you know where you're going?​​​​​​​