Closeness Only Counts...

(Photo credit: Dark Souls1/Pixabay)

There is an old adage that says, "closeness only counts in horseshoes and grenades." We know these two things are not the only places where closeness matters. In this blog, we will discuss the effects of closeness on relationship development.

Challenge #33 - 2021 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge #33: Good leaders celebrate team success with their people.

•  Brainstorm the successes your team has experienced this year.
•  Host a way to celebrate these accomplishments.

Opening Up Can Make Your Team Stronger

(Credit: John Hain/Pixabay)

You do not build trust in order to be vulnerable. When you're vulnerable, it builds trust. Being vulnerable together builds closeness and creates it. - Daniel Coyle

"There I was..."

IGNITE: The Ultimate Team

The ultimate team result is resilience: teams that can bounce back when problems or errors threaten cohesion and synergy. - Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 55)

IGNITE the Spark for Leadership. LIKE and SHARE throughout your networks.

[Photo credit: Josh Neighbors/South Dakota Wildland Fire]

The Sticky Truth About Crew Cohesion

 

Image by Elena Mullagaleeva from Pixabay

The Sticky Truth About Crew Cohesion

e. L. Pelletier – February 1, 2021

 

“Yup, I’m Sure of It. I Hate Him!”

~ Doc Holiday, Tombstone (1993)

 

In case you didn’t notice, the world has changed. January 2020 friends new and old greet each other with handshakes, fist bumps, and hugs; today, we cover our faces with masks and keep six feet distance between ourselves. It’s not an easy adjustment for anyone, but it’s one we have to work within. The new normal presents new and possibly deadly obstacles for leaders to overcome in wildland fire service, communications, interpretations, and crew cohesion.

When Given Lemons, Make Lemonade

(Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC)

The crew is done with the Little Book Cliff Fire. It was a good fire to do a test run of our logistical planning. 

 

There was a push for crews to be more self sufficient this year with food. There are few things more important on a hotshot crew than good nutritious food. Besides helping recovery and fueling crew members through strenuous days, good food is tied to high moral and attitude. These are things we knew when we started the planning process in late March. 

IGNITE: Team Chemistry

When you encounter a group with good chemistry, you know it instantly. ♦ Daniel Coyle ♦ 

[Photo: San Juan IHC]

#fireleadership

IGNITE: Smoothness in the Transition

The smoothness of turn taking is a powerful indicator of cohesive group performance.  

Daniel Coyleœ

Teamwork on the Fly

"The issues we face today are so big and so challenging, it becomes quite clear we can't do it alone, and so there is a certain humility in knowing you have to invite people in."

I recently read a statement by Granite Mountain Hotshot survivor Brendan McDonough. He stated, "We have gone from a fire season to a fire year." There is always a fire season somewhere; however, where there were fire seasons with the occasional off-season response, we now have year-round responses. This presents a myriad of problems. For this blog installment, I want to talk about the effect on our teams and the importance of leadership in today's wildland fire service.

Murmurations

(Photo: Geralt/Pixabay)

Wouldn't if be great if our teams could function like a flock of starlings during a murmuration? Imagine what we could do and where we could go.

Now, I am going to be transparent. I am not fond of the bird itself. They are, in my humble opinion, a very loud, dirty bird, and annoying bird. However, I didn't really know much about murmurations until a project I am involved with recently adopted the starling and their murmurations as a way for various groups with similar missions to come together as a whole.

IGNITE: Safe Connections

[Photo credit: UAF Wildland Fire Crew]

Cohesion happens not when members of a group are smarter but when they are lit up by clear, steady signals of safe connection. - Daniel Coyle, Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Effective Groups

IGNITE: Connections

[Photo credit: La Grande IHC]

Group performance depends on behavior that communicates one powerful overarching idea: We are safe and connected. - Daniel Coyle

Leadership and Morale in Wildland Firefighting

Leadership and Morale in Wildland Firefighting

By Thomas Dockery

When you think of building a team in the wildland firefighting community what do you normally think about? If you have previous experience in leadership roles, you may have slides to go off of, some do’s and don’ts that you’ve experienced through trial and error. If you’ve been in a junior role (which we’re all in no matter the title), you’ve hopefully observed leaders in action and have created slides on what not to do and some goals on what you would like to do if you were given the opportunity. Building a team in the wildland fire community is extremely complex and there are a million different ways to do it. However, the tools we have access to are the same. How many of you reading this paper have read Leading in the Wildland Fire Service published by the NWCG or visited the Wildland Fire Leadership Development website?  If you haven’t read the book or visited the website, it’s definitely worth your time. In the book you’ll find information on framework for leadership, duty (accomplishing your mission), respect (taking care of people), and integrity (developing yourself). But I would like to add to it by writing about a nameless entity that can destroy a team or make others jealous and that is morale.

IGNITE: Building a Solid Team

A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

[Photo credit: BIA Uintah and Ouray Agency]

Are We Hard-Wired to Fight?

I am often called the "heart" of most groups with which I associate. My compassionate nature is such that I opt for love over hate. In fact, my husband often refers to me as a "people pleaser." As with nature, I have a balance to my compassionate nature--the side that reflects the following quote:

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Learn As If You'll Live Forever

"Live each day as if it is your last," said Mahatma Gandhi. "Learn as if you'll live forever." - Ben Dunlap

In "The Life-long Learner," Ben Dunlap shares many leadership stories. We share this video with you as promotion of the 2016 Wildland National Leadership Campaign—Never Stop Learning. Fire leaders are duty-bound to develop their subordinates for the future. Followers are duty-bound to own their development. By working together, teams can accomplish their missions as well as grow in the process.

Is Stinging in Your Nature?

(Photo credit: Christy Pack)

"To be effective, leaders must earn the trust of others."

Trust is a "firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something." Trust, however, is not something that is easily given. In fact, the element of fear can be a barrier to building trust in a relationship.

How Working In Wildland Fire Can Change Your Life For The Better

It becomes a home and family for so many, and that isn't something that you can find in every career.

I’ll be the first to say that wildland fire was never something that I was interested in. For the first 17 years of my life I didn’t even know that there was a difference between firefighters who protected our homes and firefighters who protected our land. Fortunately for me, the summer after my freshman year of college, I found myself working as a dispatcher for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in a center that focuses strictly on wildland fire and their personnel. And much to my surprise, this was one of the best decisions and opportunities that I could have ever received.

Working as a dispatcher, I don’t interact directly with the fires, which is fine by me because honestly I’m a little afraid of them. However, over the past three years I have been fortunate enough to interact directly with many of the firefighters, overhead, and personnel who face that fear all summer long and fight wildland fires to keep us safe...as well as those who offer support for the firefighters out in the field, so that we can protect them too. All of these people are different—they walk different styles of life and provide vastly different perspectives not only on fire, but on the ways of the world. However, there is one thing that every person I have ever met within the fire community has in common; an unwavering respect and support for themselves, those around them, and the land that they are working so hard to protect. These people love what they do, they love who they work with, and they have a unique passion for adventure and risking their lives to help keep our land beautiful and safe. These are some of the hardest workers I have ever known and some of the funniest and most honest influences that I didn’t know I needed in my life. Over the past three summers that I have returned to my hometown to work in our dispatch center, they have become my family.

Aside from gaining this family, I have gained knowledge about many aspects of the world that I would have never given a second thought. I have seen the ins and outs of working with the federal government, and I have a new respect for the many processes and people that are put into place in order to protect the land that we live on. I have been pushed out of comfort zone and have been challenged to keep learning and go as far as I can in my knowledge about this job. I have worked with people who believe in me, teach me, still like me even when I mess things up(which is quite often much to my dismay), and give me something to look forward to when I go home for the summer. I have learned far more than I ever would have about weather conditions, the lay of the land, the importance of fully putting out a campfire, and the significance of a lat/long from the point of origin on a fire. While providing entertainment to those around me, I also I learned that I am awful at sharpening tools, it is not smart to wear ankle socks when you will also be wearing hiking boots and digging fire line, copy machines never work the way that you want them too, and it is near impossible to read the weather over the radio when the Barney song starts playing on your coworker's computer.

Kelsey Kimber (left) in the field.

Needless to say, this job has been an opportunity that I am so thankful for. I’ve learned a ton, met some of the best people that I will ever know, and have been able to put my earnings towards my college degree, which is something that I will be eternally grateful for. And while this article only states my personal opinion, I know that many of the things that I have said here would resonate with the firefighters, overhead, and fellow dispatchers alike who have made this a career. There are so many fire personnel that I have met in the past three years, who ended up making fire their lifelong path, when like me, they had only planned on working in fire as their summer job. I truly believe that this is because the people you meet and the experiences that you get during your years as firefighter (or in my case, a dispatcher) make it a hard place to leave. It becomes a home and family for so many, and that isn't something that can you find in every career.

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Kelsey Kimber is a dispatcher at the Elko Interagency Dispatch Center. We acknowledge Kelsey for putting herself "out there" as a means to make a difference following a statewide preparedness review. All expressions are those of the author.

Special shout out to Mike Ellsworth for his inspiration and sharing of this resource.

IGNITE: Building Cohesive Teams

Fire leaders build cohesive teams—not simply groups of individuals putting forth individual efforts—to accomplish missions in high-risk environments. – Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, page 52

Adam Hernandez on Competitiveness and Camaraderie

Competitiveness and Camaraderie from The Smokey Generation on Vimeo.

Competitiveness can be a motivator for some people. A leader's job is to find the best way to blend competitiveness into the workplace—to make work fun yet productive and safe. Overly competitive members of a team can actual cause dissension. Know what drives your people and how to guide their motivation.  "How to Use Competition in the Workplace - For Dummies" by Marlee B. Sprenger gives a quick look at competition in the workplace.

Motivation and Expectations 
(Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, pp. 46-47)

Leaders understand that people derive motivation from individual values and needs; others cannot force a person to be motivated any more than one person can force another to change. However, we recognize that leaders are responsible for putting in place the conditions in which people are motivated to act. To create these conditions, fire leaders start by taking the time to learn about our people—understanding their internal motivations and accepting them as unique individuals.

In addition, leaders keep in mind that each team member has expectations regarding the benefits—overt as well as intrinsic—they will receive from their work.

Many barriers can prevent people’s expectations from being met: poor relationships with their peers, intrusive supervision, inadequate resources, or work without meaning. 

Fire leaders work to reduce barriers and increase benefits such as giving people a sense of achievement, recognizing accomplishments, resolving unhealthy conflict, providing meaningful work, increasing the responsibilities, and offering opportunities for advancement.

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What is your story? We challenge you to become a part of this amazing  project and share your leadership stories. Bethany Hannah began The Smokey Generation: A Wildland Fire Oral History and Digital Storytelling Project for her master's thesis. All members of the wildland fire service, not just hotshots, can share their stories by following her example. Click here for potential leadership questions. Visit The Smokey Generation website for complete information.