True Confessions - Seeking to Understand

As part of the 2022 Wildland Fire Leadership Campaign, we are reading Learning in the Wildland Fire Service. If you are following along, we are discussing the wildland fire service learning pillars (inquiry, opportunity, and dialogue) and their associated tenets. Today's blog discusses the "inquiry" pillar.

I have been on a hunt for knowledge my entire life; however, it wasn't until I was meeting with a former high school classmate did I really embrace the phrase "seek to understand" and understand the power it held to learning. Annie is a successful and highly-motivated corporate executive known for leading high-performance teams. I had asked Annie to work with a group that had been having some morale and processes issues. During our lunch meeting, Annie asked a lot, and I mean A LOT, of questions. She kept saying she "wanted to seek to understand."

I had heard and used the phrase "seek to understand" many times. After all, I loved to learn. I knew a lot of the answers; I was well-trained. Annie was doing more than seeking answers. Her questions weren't meant to educate. Annie was seeking to understand so that she could create an experience that would lead the group to success. She did it with me and she did it with the group.

Great story, Pam; but what does it have to do with leadership and Learning in the Wildland Fire Service?

In 2018, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center (LLC) released Learning in the Wildland Fire Service. I was aware of the publication, but I hadn't read it. I hadn't opened myself up to learning about learning. As I finished the 2021 campaign, I felt it important to focus on the LLC and their 20th anniversary. I remembered their publication, downloaded it, and finally read it. (Did I mention I work in training...) I had failed to seek to understand—to open myself up to something new. The little yellow book (Leading in the Wildland Fire Service) had been my life; I had ignored the companion document from our sister organization. I had failed to honor the 14 firefighters who died on South Canyon. I owed it those who died before and since that fateful day in 1994. I vowed to seek to understand and bring our followers along. 

Here is how we seek to understand as a learning organization:

• Be Humble
• Always allow for the possibility of improvement.
• Know the System
• Be able to articulate the formal and informal learning system around you and your part in it.
• Be Accountable
• Take inventory on what and how you are teaching and learning.

To say that I am humbled is an understatement. I have a lot to learn and much to improve upon. This tenet of Inquiry is not lost upon me nor is being accountable to you as I take inventory of what/how I share information with you.

As far as knowing the system, I am a work in progress. I am dedicated to ensuring I understand the system around me and the part I play in it and do my best to create a positive learning environment for those in my sphere of influence.

Wildland Fire Leadership Challenge - Digging a Little Deeper

• If you haven't downloaded and read Learning in the Wildland Service, do it today!
• If you haven't been participating in the 2022 WFLDP Campaign, follow us now. 
• Read previous blog posts beginning January 1.
• Follow us on social media (all available via https://www.fireleadership.gov.
• Make a commitment to learn every day in every way.

---

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.