Always Remember

This Saturday marks the 5th anniversary of the 2006 Krassel Helicopter incident. On August 13, 2006 at approximately 1730, helicopter N355EV, a Eurocopter AS 350 B3 under contract to the Forest Service by Evergreen Helicopters, Inc., crashed on the Payette National Forest 18 miles west of Yellowpine, ID. The Pilot, Quinn Stone, 42 and three Forest Service employees (Michael Lewis, 37-Assistant Helitack Manager; Lillian Patten, 32-Wildland Firefighter; and Monica Zajanc, 27-Wildland Firefighter) on board were fatally injured.

For those who have not seen this site: Always Remember provides a permanent location to collect, organize, maintain, preserve, and share current and historical incidents in which wildland firefighters lost their lives, to remember our fallen firefighters, their contributions, and the lessons learned from their lives or in their passing.

This site is another great "tool" to add to your leadership toolbox; this site is a great compliment to the Wildland Fire Staff Ride Library as well as the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.

The challenge during, and after tragic events...is not letting their lessons get lost in history. WE must be vigilant in keeping their lessons alive for those who follow in their (our) foot steps. We are human, we are fallible, and we will continue to make mistakes at critical moments in time in a very dynamic environment. Some will be fatal, some serious, and some will simply be "near misses"...it's up to us to learn from those mistakes and teach these valuable lessons. WE must do better at being there for the next generation of firefighters. Not just being there, but passing on the wisdoms we've come to know.

The core to everything we do as Fire Service professionals is to never forget the firefighter on the ground...do not let the "administrivia" of today's fire management world drive you away from staying engaged at every level of your fire organization.

"ALWAYS REMEMBER"

Do You See What I See?

Look closely at the picture above. Do you see what I do?

My husband and I recently took a vacation with friends to Bryce Canyon National Park in Southern Utah. On our first day in the park, we opted for the shuttle tour led by a jovial man named Spike.

Spike was well versed about the history of the canyon, including how weather events help shape the Clarion formations into beautiful fins, windows, spires and slot canyons. Along the way Spike would point to a hoodoo and ask if we could guess what animal or person could be found in the rock formation. Each of us had our own idea of what was found within the formation. Spike would then tell us the name the park rangers had given the formations. On more than one occasion, Spike really had to work to get tourists to "see" the object found within the rock. A few formations were a real stretch of the imagination. Do you see the hunter (Elmer Fudd) in the picture above?

One person's perception may not be another's reality. Just as with the hoodoo formations, one person may see something that another cannot. Leaders who believe that their own perception is the one and only risk creating a warped sense of reality. They may never "hear" what their subordinates are telling them.

The impetus of this entry came from an article on Leading Blog titled "Who's the King?" The author provides a parable about a lion and his quest to determine who is the king of the jungle. Read for yourself how some of us "reshape feedback until it supports what we want it to mean."

What do you see in this picture?

How about a poodle?

Briefing and Intent Revised

A few weeks ago, members of the Briefing and Intent Revision Task Group uploaded new information to the Briefing and Intent webpages.

The "History" page provides a look into briefing through lessons learned from the military. Also included is the evolution of the briefing checklist that is found in the Incident Response Pocket Guide.

Included in the update to the "Types of Briefings" page are the four steps of a briefing as well as a document explaining the different types of briefings: information, mission, decision, and staff.

Under "Briefing References," readers will find numerous articles and documents to assist them in furthering their skills. Listed below are a few references:

• "Affect Them with Intent"
• "Communicating Intent and Imparting Presence" (Lt. Col. Lawrence Shattuck)
• "What a Good Briefing Will Cover"
• "Tips for the Timid and the Bold"
• "Ten Commandments of Good Listening"

Remembering Mann Gulch and Iron 44

Today we reflect upon those 13 firefighters who lost their lives on the Mann Gulch fire in Montana in 1949 and 7 firefighters in California in 2008.


Mann Gulch:
Stanley Reba; Silas Thompson; Joseph Sylvia; James Harrison; Robert Bennett; Newton Thompson; Leonard Piper; Eldon Diettert; Marvin Sherman; David Navon; Phillip McVey; Henry Thol, Jr.; and William Hellman http://www.nifc.gov/safety/mann_gulch/index.htm


Iron 44:
Shawn Blazer, Scott Charleson, Matthew Hammer,
Edrik Gomez, Steven Renno, Bryan Rich, and David Steele

Photo credit: Grayback Forestry

Shared Purpose

Four-star General Stanley McChrystal shares what he learned about leadership over his decades in the military. How can you build a sense of shared purpose among people of many ages and skill sets? By listening and learning -- and addressing the possibility of failure.

General Stanley McChrystal is the former commander of U.S. and International forces in Afghanistan. A four-star general, he is credited for creating a revolution in warfare that fuses intelligence and operations.

Why You Should Listen to Him (taken from a TED video)

“With a remarkable record of achievement, General Stanley McChrystal has been praised for creating a revolution in warfare that fused intelligence and operations. A four-star general, he is the former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and the former leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military’s most sensitive forces. McChrystal’s leadership of JSOC is credited with the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein and the June 2006 location and killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. McChrystal, a former Green Beret, is known for his candor.

After McChrystal graduated from West Point, he was commissioned as an infantry officer, and spent much of his career commanding special operations and airborne infantry units. During the Persian Gulf War, McChrystal served in a Joint Special Operations Task Force and later commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment. He completed year-long fellowships at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1997 and in 2000 at the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2002, he was appointed chief of staff of military operations in Afghanistan. Two years later, McChrystal was selected to deliver nationally televised Pentagon briefings about military operations in Iraq. From 2003 to 2008, McChrystal commanded JSOC and was responsible for leading the nation’s deployed military counter-terrorism efforts around the globe. He assumed command of all International Forces in Afghanistan in June 2009. President Obama’s order for an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan was based on McChrystal’s assessment of the war there. McChrystal retired from the military in August 2010.”

"One of America’s greatest warriors."
----Secretary of Defense Robert Gates


Wildland Fire Perspective
As we reflect on all the losses we've experienced in the month of July…think about what the General has to say about "Shared Purpose". How is our environment similar to those who are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere abroad? The wildland fire environment changes rapidly, our troops and fire ground leaders must have the ability and empowerment to act with speed and focus, positioning, and simplicity. Our environment evolves faster than people have time to reflect or react…

Leading a dispersed force in the wildland fire environment occurs daily for us…what techniques or technology do you use to communicate and empower your people? How do you build their confidence, trust and faith in you as a leader when you do not have the ability to be face to face during daily operations? How do you empower your people to take advantage of "merging opportunities"?...or as Col. Eric Carlson states, "Fleeting windows of opportunity".

How do we/ you lead a group of firefighters with the current generational differences…or "gap"? Our firefighters have changed…they are smarter, stronger, quicker and need more information…

One question that Gen. McChrystal asks during his speech is similar to the one the "Commander" (Jim Cook) asks during Redding IHC's annual staff ride of the 1994 South Canyon fire: “Where were you in 1994? How many people were fighting fire in 1994?” This year…the answers were similar to what Gen. McChrystal found out….."sir, I was in the 6th grade!" So, where were your firefighters in 1994? Where were they in 2001? It is the 10 year anniversary of the 30-mile fire…how many of your firefighters even know about the 30-mile Fire, or the South Canyon fire?

Similar to our Armed Forces of America (God Bless and thank-you for your service), we are operating a force of firefighters that must have a sense of shared purpose and shared consciousness...they have a different skill set (digital media) that we must capitalize on and which we can learn from this generation.

Through all this, we must also be mindful of the cumulative pressure on ourselves as leaders as well as our fire ground leaders. WE must watch out and take care of each other. We are in the business of Growing leaders and we must give back as our predecessors did for us…get engaged at the entry level, get engaged at the junior leader level, get engaged at the senior leader level…never lose sight of the most important asset the wildland fire service has….our firefighters.

Blink!

"...the real chicken is the one who doesn't blink." - Ron
Ashkenas

I've been drawn lately to the writings of Ron Ashkenas, managing partner of Schaffer Consulting and HBR Blog Network contributor. Last week, Ashkenas wrote a piece titled "Why Leaders Play Chicken." He contends that a lot of adults are playing a public version of this children's game and that the "outcome is rarely optimal."

The recent political climate and stress on the economy have caused a lot of unrest in the wildland fire service. Lines have been drawn, timelines have been established, and cuts have and will continue to occur. This is a time to collaborate and compromise like never before to meet our missions.

We must lead by example. Playing a game of chicken will undoubtedly have unintended consequences--most likely to the teams for which we are responsible.

Read for yourself "Why Leaders Play Chicken."

Too Much of a Good Thing

The wildland fire service has been deemed by many a high reliability organization (HRO). For those less familiar with HROs or those wanting to share the information with new members of the organization APMAdvisor.com has a great article called "Characteristics of the High Reliability Organization - How Does Your Organization Measure Up?"

Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe suggest that high reliability organizations (HROs) share the following characteristics:

• Preoccupation with failure
• Reluctance to over simplify
• Sensitivity to operations
• Deference to expertise
• Commitment to resilience

"Deference to expertise is the focus of this blog with information taken from Managing the Unexpected by Weick and Sutcliffe as cited in a Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center's HRO Stories article titled "Morning Briefings: Boring or Effective? How Our Conversations at Briefings Can Reinforce Deference to Expertise."

“Deference to expertise pushes decision-making to the field level, migrating decisions both up and down, reducing the consequences of errors in decision-making. Decisions migrate around HROs in search of a person who has specific knowledge of the event. Deference to expertise is as much collective as it is individual.”

“Expertise is relational. It is an assemblage of knowledge, experience, learning and intuitions that is seldom embodied in a single individual. And if expertise appears to be confined to a single individual, that expertise is evoked and becomes meaningful only when a second person requests it, defers to it, modifies it or rejects it.” They also write, “Expertise resides as much in
relationships as in individuals, meaning that interrelationships, interactions, conversations and networks embody it.”

A Word of Caution

Ron Ashkenas wrote an article called "The Dangers of Deference" for the HBR Blog Network. Although this article talks about "deference to authority" where subordinates defer to hierarchical authority. I found the word of caution that Ashkenas provides about overly deferential cultures useful. Ashkenas says, "There's nothing wrong with a certain amount of deference in organizations. But when a culture becomes overly deferential, it can lead to frustration, resentment, and bad decisions."

Resources:

• Assessing the Deference to Expertise in Your Firm
• Deference to Expertise - Small Group Exercise (Wyoming BLM)

"Teaming" is "Winning"

A true success of the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee (LSC)is the use of our support cadre--also referred to as our "eyes forward" cadre. Randy Skelton, Dupty Fire Staff on the Payette National Forest, is the LSC's Support Cadre Coordinator. These men and women come together to complete a task or project and then disband when finished. This grassroots effort has proven quite effective for the program.

Recently, Karl Moore, Forbes magazine contributor and professor at McGill and Oxford Universities, interviewed Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School, regarding the death of teams.

Edmondson believes that teams are being replaced effectively by "teaming." To Edmondson, "teaming is a verb, teaming is a skill, teaming is an activity." "Teaming" is the LSC's support cadre.

In "HBS's Amy Edmondson on the Death of Teams," Moore and Edmondson discuss how organizations and employees may have to adapt to adapt to embrace the "teaming" way of doing business.

Here are some interview highlights from Edmondson:

• We're going to have to get better at learning how to quickly relate to people we don't know; learning how to trust them, learning how to share our knowledge, extract their knowledge, synthesize it, even though we come from very different backgrounds, different expertise areas and so forth.

• Trust must be built quickly.

• Team building will be conducted in the context of doing the work itself.

If you are unable to access the YouTube video, the interview transcript is available in Forbes' online article "HBS's Amy Edmondson on the Death of Teams.

Remembering Cramer

Photo credit: wildland fire.com

Today marks the eight-year anniversary of the tragic burnover on the Cramer Fire which took the lives of Shane Heath and Jeff Allen, helitack crewmembers from the Salmon-Challis National Forest.

We pause for a moment to remember these young men and fellow firefigthers and to reflect upon lessons learned from this tragedy.

As always, be safe.

References:

• Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Cramer Fire database
• Cramer Fire Management Evaluation Report
• OIG Report of Investigation

"Can You Hear Me Now?"

"Can You Hear Me Now?" was a Verizon Wireless slogan for many years. The slogan's application to leadership development, however, lives on forever. Listening properly is one of the most important skills a good manager can master. How attentive are you when dealing with your staff or crew?

In 1999, Gregory L. Rynders, Battalion Chief for the Sandy Fire Department, wrote a very informative research paper called "Listening and Leadership: A Study on their Relationship" as part of his Executive Fire Officer Program. I suggest that you read Rynders' paper as a review of listening fundamentals and consider conducting similar research on your organization.

Rynders showcases the following listening rules from Hunsaker and Alessandra (1986):

1. Remember that it is impossible to listen and talk at the same time. This most basic rule is broken most often.

2. Listen for the speakers main ideas. Specific facts are only important as they pertain to the main theme.

3. Be sensitive to your emotional deaf spots. Deaf spots are words that make your mind wander or go off on a mental tangent.

4. Fight off distractions. Train yourself to listen carefully to your employee’s words, despite external distractions.

5. Try not to get angry. Emotions of any kind hinders the listening process, but anger in particular is detrimental to message reception.

6. Do not trust to memory certain data that may be important. Take notes.

7. Let your employees tell their own stories first. When employees explain their situations, they may reveal interesting facts and valuable clues to help satisfy their needs.

8. Empathize with your employees. Make a determined effort to see their point of view.

9. Withhold judgment. Judge the value of the message, not the speaker’s delivery ability.

10. React to the message, not the person. Don’t allow your mental impression of the speaker to influence your interpretation of his message.

11. Try to appreciate the emotion behind the speaker’s words (vocal and emotional)more than the literal meaning of the words.

12. Use feedback. Constantly try to check your understanding of what you hear.

13. Listen selectively. Very often in conservation, your employee will tell you things that will help you identify his problems, needs, goals, or objectives.

14. Relax. When another person is speaking to you, try to put her at ease by creating a relaxed, accepting environment.

15. Try not to be critical, either mentally or verbally, of someone else’s point of view, even if it is different from your own. Hold your temper and your emotional feelings.

16. Listen attentively. Face your employee straight on with uncrossed arms and legs; lean slightly forward. Establish good, gentle, intermittent eye contact.

17. To the degree that it is in your power, try to create a positive listening environment.

18. Ask questions. Ask open-ended, feeling-finding questions to allow your employee to express her feelings and thoughts.

19. Be motivated listener. Without the proper attitude, all the foregoing suggestions for effective listening are for naught.

Resources:

• The Art of Managing People. Hunsaker, P., & Allessandra, A. 1986. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc. pp. 137-140.
• How a Manager or Leader can Develop Effective Listening Skills - One Simple Technique that Always Improves Team Morale, Dave Marr, director at t2 Management Training and guest blogger on MarkSanborn.com