Need Help with Your Staff Ride?

(Credit: George Risko)

Have you and your organization ever considered developing your own local staff ride?

Do you have an idea and materials but are not sure what direction to go?

Challenge 42: 2020 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge 42: Good leaders promote building confidence in themselves and those they lead.

• Recognize and celebrate your successes and the successes of others.
• Journalize about your successes and the attributes, skills and actions that contributed to your achievements.

IGNITE: Listen Completely

“When people talk, listen completely.” ♦ Ernest Hemmingway ♦ 

Photo: Baker River IHC 

www.fireleadership.gov

#fireleadership

Cultivating Command Presence

(Photo: Kari Greer/USFS)

I was recently listening to the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned podcast and came across this episode about “Command Presence”. In the interview they discuss the definition of command presence and how to cultivate it. One of the conclusions of the conversation was that, in order to cultivate powerful command presence, you need to be able to be comfortable and confident with your own style of leadership. The podcast started me reflecting about the ways that I ground my own leadership style. Two thoughts jumped out at me:

IGNITE: Building Strong Cultures

“Building a strong culture is what builds a strong organization..” ♦ Simon Sinek ♦ 

[Photo: Midewin IHC]

#fireleadership

Challenge 41: WFLDP 2020 Campaign

Challenge 41: All leaders are human.

• Think of a time when as a leader you felt inadequate.
• Journalize about the following:
• What were/are your thoughts?
• Were/Are those thoughts valid?
• What would an alternate thought be?

#2020WFLDPCampaign

IGNITE: Practice!

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” - Malcolm Gladwell

[Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC]

#fireleadership

The Courage to Say "No"

(Photo: Gordon Johnson/Pixabay)

Why is it so hard for some of us to say no? Is it because we don't want to let someone down? Is it because we fear reprisal? Is it because we don't know how to?

IGNITE: The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” ♦ Stephen Hawking, physicist ♦

[Photo: Justin Vernon]

#fireleadership

Challenge 40: 2020 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge 40: Effective leaders spend time with their people.

• Estimate how much time you spend, both digitally and face-to-face with your people.
• Vow to make face-to-face time with your people a priority.

#2020WFLDPCampaign #commandpresence

IGNITE: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

 

To gain respect from our people, we first respect them.

♦ Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, p. 45 ♦

[Photo: Pioneer Peak IHC]

#fireleadership

Change is Coming

("Swiss Cheese" by thenoodleator is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

We live in a period of such uncertainty. Worldwide pandemic. Wildfires raging across all western states. Double hurricanes forming. Meteoroid headed to earth. Political and social unrest. Worldwide hunger and water shortages.

IGNITE: Beyond the Illusion of Control

Adversity teaches us how to live beyond the illusion of control. ♦ LaRae Quy, author/trainer/coach ♦

[Photo: Justin Vernon]

#resilience #adversity #fireleadership

Challenge 39 - 2020 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge 39: Effective leaders are good communicators.

• Read Braja Deepon Roy’s blog “Active Listening and Its Importance in the Workplace.” (https://bit.ly/3dPXqHL)
• Write the tips in your journal. Develop a plan to increase your active listening skills.

#2020WFLDPCampaign #commandpresence, #fireleadership

IGNITE: More Than Working Together

 

“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”

 ♦ Sinek Sinek♦

Photo: La Grande IHC

www.fireleadership.gov

The Eternal SWEAT award

I am fortunate. I worked as a hotshot under a leader that provided purpose to my daily grind. As a hotshot you can find yourself working on crews that are the most physically fit, the best trained, the highest qualified, the most skilled group of firefighters that you can imagine. But when you get down to what comprises the highest performing crew, I point to leadership’s ability to ensure purposeful work day in and day out. It’s the ability to make sense of chaos; it's the ability to see through the myriad of shit and persevere with a plan that gives you a sense of why you are there. You find yourself contributing to the mission. The influential leader motivates you to give a little more effort so the next crewmember has the capacity to also give a little more effort. The work ethic is contagious; it stirs in you. You fight to bear the burden of the work and relieve the next in line. There are times when you physically wrestle the responsibility of additional work away from your peers. You mentor others with less experience, you follow, you learn, you listen, you are respectful, and you show up with a smile or at least are as cordial as you can be after swamping for five days in poison oak. You take care of each other. When you are with your crew there is a synergistic energy fueled by purpose to overcome obstacles in the day’s mission. There is not a better experience in wildland fire than the experience of hotshots working at the highest level of efficiency, with trust in each other, communicating without having to speak.

IGNITE: Leadership Challenges

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” ♦ Publilius Syrus ♦

[Photo: Kyle Miller/Wyoming IHC]

#fireleadership

Challenge 38: 2020 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge 38: A leader's command presence is highlighted during times of crisis.

• Select one leader who currently exhibits good command presence and one who does not.
• Journalize the characteristics shown by the leaders. Select one positive aspect you would like to follow.

#2020WFLDPCampaign #commandpresence #fireleadership

IGNITE: Know Your People

If you don’t know what your people need, how can you lead best? ♦ The Daily Coach ♦ 

[Photo: La Grande IHC]

#fireleadership