Leader Down - Step Up and Lead

(Photo: Geralt/Pixabay)

You and your team are working dutifully on an incident. As part of Team Bravo lead by one of the service's greatest leaders, you and all those around know you are in good hands. Your leader is well-respected both on the line and outside fire operations. There isn't a part of duty, respect, and integrity that isn't reflected in your leader.

Today is a normal day on the line, until.... (aren't those words found all too often in our accident reports). Something happens to your great leader, putting them out of commission. The specifics behind the event are not important. Your beloved leader is incapacitated and cannot lead. What next?

The answer to this question depends on what your leader and your team did prior to the event. Is there someone able and willing to step up and lead? Has your team conducted pre-mortem exercises to ensure continuity of operations?

Leadership during crisis is not how someone wants to become a leader. The reality is many individuals become leaders because of a void in leadership. The make the decision to lead!

Continuity of operations is critical within the wildland fire service. Our leaders have a duty to ensure that those below them are prepared in the event they become incapacitated. Closely related is decentralized command through a bias for action where those under our command can make decision without approval from above—not freelancing. We are all leaders at all times!

"Hard training is the solemn duty of trainers and leaders every day." - Jacko Willink

No team wants to train for the loss or injury of a team member, especially their leader; but we MUST.

The Authority to Lead versus the Decision to Lead
(Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, pp. 5-6)

The authority to lead is established by law. Whether this authority is based on federal, state, or local law, we are legal agents exercising authority on behalf of our organizations.

The ability to lead is a different matter; it is something that cannot be legislated. To be effective, leaders must earn the trust and respect of others. A leader’s journey is a perpetual cycle of acquiring, shaping, and honing the knowledge and skills of leadership. The leadership journey is never finished.

Once we commit to becoming leaders, our focus is no longer ourselves. Fire leaders assume the serious responsibility of putting others into harm’s way and for making decisions that profoundly affect citizens, communities, and natural resources.

Leadership is a tough choice. Leaders choose to sacrifice their own needs for those of their teams and organizations. They routinely face situations and makedecisions that others criticize and second-guess. Leaders take risks and face challenges every day.

So why do we choose to lead? We lead because leading is where we make a difference.
Fire leaders bring order to chaos, improve our people’s lives, and strengthen our organizations. Leading enables us to leave a legacy for the leaders of the future so that they can take our places well prepared for the road ahead.

These are the rewards of leadership. Their effects will be seen and felt long after our careers end.

Wildland Fire Leadership Challenge - Digging a Little Deeper

• Read The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jacko Willink and Leif Babin. Part II, Chapter 5 - "Train Hard, but Train Smart" inspired this post.
• Develop and implement a pre-mortem training plan that includes a vacancy of leadership.

---

About the Author: Pam McDonald is a writer/editor for BLM Wildland Fire Training and Workforce Development and member of the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee. The expressions are those of the author.