Have a Plan

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Have a Plan

By Travis Dotson

Have you been to that fire where there isn’t a plan? I’m betting you have.

Sometimes the plan is a bit informal. Maybe it’s a typical local IA and you show up on scene right alongside your sister engine crew and you work together so often that it’s almost telepathically understood: “you go right, we go left, anchor, flank, pinch…high five”. Of course you should always take the time to make sure you are on the same page and conduct a briefing before you start putting the hurt to the heat, but it can still seem like the plan was understood before it was spoken.

Now, the other type of fire where there isn’t a plan. When you show up to an incident that has been going for a while. Maybe it’s even been through multiple teams. You show up and get an assignment. Eventually you get out to the line. You tie-in with your assigned supervisor and they can’t quite describe to you what the task, purpose, end state really is. Sometimes through no fault of their own. For whatever reason, we all end up on that assignment from time to time. It is frustrating to experience this partly because we know better. Our training pounds the importance of planning into our souls.

Not having a plan is a bad way to do business. We all know this. We also know that the plan is often super flex (because we all know Mr. Murphy). What is that clever saying, something like: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” We all get it because we all have lived it.

All this discussion about plans is in reference to operational incidents. But the importance of planning is true in other areas as well, such as your self-development.

Do you have a current self-development plan? If you don’t, guess which type of operation you are running?

Don’t worry, there is a guide and a worksheet:

• Follow the guide and fill-out the plan for yourself.
• Prompt those you influence to do the same.
• Your development as a leader is extremely important. Invest in it.

Travis Dotson is an Analyst for the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center. Additionally, Travis serves on the NWCG Leadership Committee as a coordinator of the self-development and tactical decision game tools for the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program. All expressions are those of the author.