Releasing the Pebble

(Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0

<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Author: Pam McDonald, BLM Wildland Fire Training and Workforce Development

Do you follow the Chinese new year and their zodiac animals? 

I was born in the year of the snake and formed in the womb during the year of the wood dragon. As I begin the glide to retirement, 2024 is the year of the wood dragon; I will retire in the year of the snake. Coincidence? Not really, the calendar is on a 12-year cycle. I will be eligible to retire on my fifth cycle of the Chinese zodiac. I (the snake) will be slithering away from 38 seasons of wildland fire suppression (the wood dragon). It was my destiny and my legacy.

Reugebrink Honored for Mentoring & Teamwork

(Michelle with Patrick Morgan)

Michelle Reugebrink
Resiliency and Personal Effectiveness Program Manager/USDA Forest Service (previously, now working for OPM HR Solutions)

Honored for Mentoring and Teamwork

Michelle Reugebrink has been selected as one of the recipients for the 2022 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Bea Day - 2021 LBE Winner for Mentoring and Teamwork

(USFS Photo: Bea Day receiving her award from Stu Rodeffer)

Bea Day
Incident Commander/Portland NIMO
Category: Mentoring and Teamwork

Congratulations to Bea Day for being selected as one of the recipients for the 2021 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals and one group from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Challenge #41 - 2021 WFLDP Campaign

 

Challenge #41: Leaders are mentors and mentees.

• In your journal, reflect on those individuals who have mentored you without being a labeled a mentor (e.g., you read a book or heard a talk). What did they teach you?
• Do you have a mentor? Are you a mentee? Reflect upon your relationship. Is this a good fit? How can you assist someone you have a relationship with?

Ben Jacobs on Skill Sets and Mentoring

Ben Jacobs, Fuels Management Specialist for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, discusses the importance of gaining both operational and administrative skills as well as mentoring.

 

Video Highlights:

•  As times continue changing, what skill sets do you believe will become most necessary for future resource stewards?
• Become specialized in what you do but ensure that you have well-rounded set of field  skills that they can share with others coming up in the ranks.
• Fire managers must understand resource management and issues.
• Develop your writing skills.
•  How important do you feel a mentor's role is in career development? And did you have a mentor or someone who inspired you?
• The relationship between the mentor and the mentee must be positive and rewarding for both individuals. If it doesn't work with one mentor/mentee, seek another out.
•  Learn by watching.
• Be open to learning.
• What is a great risk that you've taken in the past that paid off in the end?
•  Step outside your comfort zone. 
• Take a detail.
• What is a setback you've experienced that seemed like a failure but turned into an advantage at some point later on?
• At some point, you just have to let go of the negativity.
• What regrets do you have and how have you learned from them?
• Letting the work/life balance get skewed by prioritizing work over private life.
• How have you balanced work with the rest of your life?
• Make the time.
• Take your weekends when you can.
• Take your leave. 
• How has the experience of working with the National Park Service added to your life?
• Mission aligns with personal values.
• What makes this more than a job for you?
• Be passionate about what you do.
• Like what you do.

_________________________

Thanks to the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center for this contribution.

This blog first ran on November 16, 2012

IGNITE: People Grow By Mentoring

 

Leaders also help their people grow by mentoring and sharing experiences. Mentoring them begins their journey from followership to leadership. – Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, page 40

[Photo: Folsom Lake Veterans' Fire Crew]

Do your part and share throughout your sphere of influence!

#‎fireleadership‬ ‪#‎firememes‬
http://www.fireleadership.gov/

Josh Acosta Receives LBE Award

Randy Skelton, Shane Olpin, and Maeve Juarez present Josh with the award

JOSH ACOSTA
Fulton Hotshot Superintendent
USDA – Sequoia National Forest

Category: Mentoring and Teamwork  

Congratulations to Josh Acosta for being selected as one of the recipients for the 2020 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Four individuals and one group from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

IGNITE: The Walk Beside

A mentor is not someone who walks ahead of us to show us how they did it

A mentor walks alongside us to show us what we can do.

~ Simon Sinek ~

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]
#fireleadership

IGNITE: Our Organizational Leaders

 

Our organizational leaders plan for future operations as well as mentor promising people for key roles in our organizations. - Leading the Wildland Fire Service, p. 23

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]

Mentoring - Stories from the Fireline

During the five decades of his career as a firefighter, Paul Gleason worked tirelessly in many roles, ranging from hotshot crew member to specialist in the science of fire behavior. He influenced and inspired countless firefighters, many of whom name him as the one person who had the biggest impact on their lives and careers. 

Mentoring

Leaders also help their people grow by mentoring and sharing experiences. Mentoring them begins their journey from followership to leadership. Fire leaders coach and then step back to allow people to take on new responsibilities. Providing the opportunity to test new waters and try new behaviors is important in developing people for the future.

We consider the individual skill levels and developmental needs when delegating tasks, making sure people have appropriate challenges that press them to grow and expand their skills.

[Click here to download a copy of Leading in the Wildland Fire Service.]

Steven Hubner Honored for 2019 LBE Award for Mentoring & Teamwork

Steven Hubner

Regional Fuels Coordinator 

Great Dismal Swamp NWR/FWS
Honored for Mentoring and Teamwork

Steven Hubner has been selected as one of the recipients for the 2019 Paul Gleason Lead by Example award. Three individuals from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

IGNITE: Empowerment through Mentoring

"A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future and believe it can be obtained." ♦ Shawn Hitchcock ♦

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]
#fireleadership

Pete Barry Receives LBE Award for Mentoring and Teamwork

(State Forester Mike Lester, right, presents the Lead by Example Award to Pete Barry)

Pete Barry
Colorado State Forest Service
Honored for Mentoring and Teamwork


Pete Barry has been selected as one of the recipients for the 2018 Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award. Three individuals and one group from across the wildland fire service have been chosen to receive this national award.

Challenge #5 - The Art of Leadership

If you don't have a mentor, seek one or more out. 

Check out mentor selection tips from mentoring and career expert, Professor Ellen Ensher, Ph.D.

Teach Them to Fish

(Photo credit: sasint/Pixabay)

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

Chinese Proverb

Leaders help their people grow by mentoring and sharing experiences. Mentoring them begins their journey from followership to leadership. Fire leaders coach and then step back to allow people to take on new responsibilities. Providing the opportunity to test new waters and try new behaviors is important in developing people for the future.

IGNITE: Being Strong

Be strong enough to stand alone, be yourself enough to stand apart, but be wise enough to stand together when the time comes. - Mark Amend

IGNITE: Empower Your People

Empowerment is not just the right thing to do, it is good business and it has a personal payback. -  Patrick Townsend & Joan Gebhardt in "Five-Star Leadership"

[Photo: Baker River IHC]

IGNITE: Help One, Help Others

When you help a person become a better leader, you help all the people that leader impacts. - Perry Noble

[Photo credit: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC (Snake Fire, 2015)]

IGNITE: Passing the Torch

Life is no ‘ brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
~ George Bernard Shaw ~

[Photo courtesy of Buck Rock Foundation]