Challenge #50: 2021 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge #50: Effective leaders develop themselves as well as their people.

In your journal, respond to the following questions:

• What are the tasks and responsibilities that only I can do?
• What is the most valuable and productive use of my time and energy in this organization?
• What changes do I need to make in order to accomplish more of the most important things that I am called to do?

IGNITE: Changes to Self

 

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. - Nelson Mandela

[Photo: Baker River IHC]

The Path of Self-Leadership

(Photo: geralt/Pixabay)

Since the early 2000's, the wildland fire service has had access to a leadership development program. Prior to the establishment of this program, leadership development was likely more reliant on your supervisor’s ability to plan for your progression, circumstances that would lead to leadership moments and other activities outside of work that would lead to leadership experience.

IGNITE: The Process of Change

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” - Dr. Maya Angelou, Poet 

[Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC]

Challenge #49 - 2021 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge #49: Good leaders share their stories.

• Read the Summer 2021 edition of Two More Chains.
• In your journal, create a list of your prominent stories. Tell those stories to someone.

Understanding the Value of Storytelling

From my first moments working in wildland fire, I understood that we are a storytelling culture. I attended Guard School the same week I “celebrated” my 18th birthday. The only cadre members I remember from that week were members of the Zigzag Hotshots. They told stories that captivated my young impressionable mind. Through their words and story sharing, I began to understand how my choices and the choices of those leading me could directly affect the safety of everyone involved. I was drawn into the adventure of the job as they relayed details of what I might expect as I began life as a wildland firefighter. I was learning from their experience. When someone shares their story, we cannot help but become active participants in the events. Listening, judging, and processing each detail to determine if we would have read the context clues in the same way, ultimately arriving at the same actions. Or would we have done something different? Either way, through this process we develop our own experience. 

IGNITE: The Importance of Your Story

 

purposeful leader understands the important role that their story contributes to the clarity and direction of their leadership. - Quinn McDowell, “Purpose Driven Leader”

[Photo: Bryan Bell/BLM]

IGNITE: Stories Out of Ashes

 

The meaning of flames depends on the story that grows out of the ashes. ♦ Stephen Pyne ♦

[Photo: Austin Catlin/BLM]

Challenge 48: 2021 WFLDP Campaign

 

Challenge #48: Effective leaders use a variety of leadership styles.

• Complete WE’s “Exploring the Four Leadership Styles” activity with your team. 

IGNITE: A Spectrum of Styles

There are a lot of men with feminine leadership styles and there are a lot of women with masculine leadership styles. - Jill Soloway

[Photo: Austin Catlin/BLM]