Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) aim to provide the highest levels of service to support our mission of Creating the Safest Community.
To do this, we strive to develop and demonstrate the highest standards of both performance and behaviour.
The way we behave and treat each other is the foundation of our workplace culture and guide how we engage with and deliver our services across our communities.
TWFRS has established values and a behaviours framework which outlines the actions that all our people, volunteers and those who work for us must demonstrate and promote.
Our Values
Our values have been developed considering engagement surveys, our cultural review, a wide range of reports and feedback, and the culture expected from public sector organisations.
Safety
Ensuring that our people feel secure, protected and qualified to perform to their best, not only promotes
our safety-first culture but puts health and wellbeing at the heart of our organisation.
Our focus on physical and psychological safety for all, serves our vision of creating the safest community.
Integrity
Demonstrating integrity, encouraging ethical behaviour and accountability creates trust and provides
transparency with our people, key stakeholders, strategic partners, and throughout our communities.
It is essential that integrity is demonstrated by people at all levels, recognising both the organisational
and individual responsibility to act with integrity at all times.
Inclusivity
Promoting a warm, welcoming environment where everyone feels heard and respected, while valuing
diversity encourages creativity, innovation and improvement.
Embracing new and different ways of thinking, effective collaboration and engaging with people inside and outside our organisation supports our culture and is reflected in our approach to leadership.
Inclusivity is integral to every part of organisational life and enhances openness, fairness and people’s voice.
Learning
Learning (in its widest context) supports all our other values, enabling our people to continue to
effectively adapt and respond to change, reflect on our experiences and drive continuous improvement
in all we do.
It encourages lifelong learning, professional curiosity and accountability for personal
development.
Building learning into everything we do is a critical enabler of safety and improvement,
at both an organisation, team and individual level.
Values Statements
Our value statements outline how we work, regardless of what activities we are doing.
The following statements offer a summary of what our values mean and how they look in action:
Behaviours Framework
To support our values, the behaviours framework clearly outlines positive behaviours and examples of how they can be demonstrated.
The behaviours apply to everyone in TWFRS, including volunteers or others working for us.
Demonstrating our values and behaviours is part of everyday working life and foundational to how we effectively achieve our personal, team, department and Service goals.
The behaviours framework is aligned with our values, the NFCC Leadership Framework and The Fire Standards for Leading the Service and Leading & Developing People.
The behaviour framework is made up of four areas
It sets out clear behaviours of our people in these areas as shown below:
Personal Impact
- Accountability
- Value Diversity & Inclusion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Personal Development
- Effective Communication
- Openness to Change
Outstanding Leadership
- Collaboration
- Wellbeing
- Developing Others
- Empowering Others
- Challenging Inappropriate
- Behaviour
Organisational Effectiveness
- Achieving Strategy
- Information & Messaging
- Achieving Organisational
- Objectives
- Managing Risks
- Continuous Learning
- Continuous Improvement
Delivery of Service
- Customer & Community
- Focused
- Decision Making
- Effective Planning
- Efficient Resourcing
- Problem Solving
These behaviours are expanded further with descriptors for four groups of people including:
- Personal Behaviours
- Leading Others
- Leading the Department
- Leading the Service
Putting the values and behaviours into action
The values and behaviour framework is directly aligned with the strategic goals
set out in our strategy.
Examples of where the values and behaviours framework are used, in addition to day to day
working, includes but is not limited to:
- Recruitment and selection processes
- Job descriptions and person specifications
- Assessment and promotions processes
- PDR and career conversations
- Managing performance and development
- Addressing grievance and discipline processes
- Engaging with partners and people across our communities
- Decision-making processes
Embedding and upholding our values, ethical principles and behaviours will drive our workplace
culture and create inclusive and fair workplaces.