We Reap What We Sow - Sowing

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

He who sows bountifully, will also reap bountifully

2 Corinthians 9:6

Undoubtedly you've heard the old adage, "We reap what we sow"? Good or bad, we may never know the results of our efforts.

Every stage of the process is critical and worthy of attention. Therefore, this will be a multi-part series using the leadership environment framework and a farming analogy. This is the third installment in our series (Part 1 and Part 2).

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Within the wildland fire service, we believe that leaders are made not born. Operating upon that premise and that leaders create other leaders, sowing is vital to the sustainment and success of the organization. Taking an active and dedicated approach to developing our leaders strengthens the effort started some 20 years ago when the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program was formed following the death of 14 firefighters on the South Canyon fire.

SOWING

Now that we have made the proper preparations for planting, we enter the process of sowing—plant the land with seed. Farmers have a variety of methods by which to spread seeds:

• Broadcasting - throwing handfuls of seed upon the ground (a manual and often random approach)
• Drilling - using mechanical means to drill seeds into the soil (a methodical approach with consistent spacing and depth)
• Hand sown - planting by hand (a manual, more methodical approach)

Leaders are no different when developing their people.

Broadcasting

In this analogy, broadcasting has little leader involvement, allowing team members full control over their development. This learning-is-learning approach is less about a specific need of the organization and more about encouraging learning for learning's sake.

Within the wildland fire service, fire personnel are encouraged to be lifelong learners and take personal ownership of parts of their leadership development. This self-development approach might include participating in the Professional Reading Program, Leadership Media, or online training.

DrillingLeaders may opt for a more mechanical approach and have entities from outside the organization/team conduct training sessions or workshops. These entities are hired to present knowledge/information for a desired end state or specific purpose. Team members are participants instead of instructors.

This is much like the wildland fire's approach to leadership development. L-380 can be taken through an approved provider from outside the service or through agency-approved instructor cadres.

Hand Sown
The hand sown approach puts leaders fully in charge of and present for the development through mentoring or coaching situations. 

This is much how the NWCG position task book system works within the wildland fire service. The trainee performs a series of tasks to become qualified to assume a specific position within the fire operation.

Each approach has value in the sowing a wildland fire leader. As a leader with a duty to develop their people for the future, know the needs of your people and of your organization and select the method that has the best chance of producing the desired end state. Remember, "we reap what we sow."

In our last installment of the series, we will discuss tending and harvesting.

Until next time...

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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. Neutral pronouns were used.