Opportunities for Inquiry and Dialogue - Sand Table Exercises

 

Tactical Decision Games can be delivered using various table-top visual platforms such as: sand tables, solid terrain models, computer-generated terrain animations, terrain photographs, topographical maps, as well as sketch maps or even dirt, sticks, and rocks on the fireground.

The sand table platform has the additional advantage of being easily and quickly reconfigured for any variety of terrain representations.

The tactile component of these table-top platforms will generate a more engaging learning experience. Having a hands-on spatial frame of reference will also help participants suspend their disbelief and draw them into their role within the exercise.

[Click here to download Learning in the Wildland Fire Service.]

Challenge #17 - 2022 WFDLP Campaign

Challenge #17: Leaders are readers.

• Review “Implementing a Reading Program on Local Units” on the WFLDP website.
• Implement or refresh a reading program on your local unit.
• Encourage members to read at least two books a year.

IGNITE: To Be

 

To be persuasive, we must be believable. . .

To be believable, we must be credible . . .

To be credible, we must be truthful.

Edward R. Murrow

[Photo: Entiat IHC]

Opportunities for Inquiry and Dialogue - Tactical Decision Games

 

Tactical Decision Games are role-playing small group exercises designed to place individuals in some sort of decision space. TDGs are valuable because pattern recognition skills, decision-making skills, and communications skills, can all be practiced, refined, and improved.

Pelletier on Three Distractions of 2022

Three Distractions of 2022
e. L. Pelletier (04/2022)

It's that time of year again, crews, modules, and engines coming together, sniffing butts, and forming cohesive teams. At least in the wildland fire world, that's what is happening on the ground level. No doubt there will be talk, questions, and rumors about a new job classification, higher pay, and whether we need to suppress every fire start immediately. Depending on where you fall in your organization's food chain, these things are just a distraction for most of us.

Challenge #16: 2022 WFLDP Campaign

 

Challenge #16: Effective leaders are critical thinkers. 

• Review “Clocks and Clouds” in Learning in the Wildland Fire Service,” p. 23. 
• Watch “Karl Popper, Science, & Pseudoscience.” 
• Apply this analogy when reviewing incidents or accidents on the fireline.

Opportunities for Inquiry and Dialogue - Simulations and Drills

Transfer of knowledge and skills from the learning environment to the job is most likely to happen when the conditions of learning best replicate what is being required on the job.

Students are more likely to remember when instruction is active and geared toward their learning style within the actual operating environment they work in—with all the variables of direct human interaction, field conditions, stress and fatigue.

IGNITE: Learning and Sharing

In a learning organization, every member of the team is responsible for leading themselves in learning and sharing what they know with their peers. - Learning in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 22

[Photo: Midewin IHC]

IGNITE: Conversations with the Past

 

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” - Rene Descartes

[Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC]

Opportunities for Inquiry and Dialogue - Professional Reading

Most successful organizations with sustained high-risk missions have professional reading programs. A key part of those programs is the recommendation that every leader read at least two books a year. Many corporations have required readings for their supervisors and managers.