IGNITE: The Food of Relationships

 

 “Nourishing and healing communication is the food of our relationships.” - The Art of Communication by Thich Nhat Hanh

[Photo: Entiat IHC]

Challenge #13 - 2023 WFLDP Campaign

 

Challenge #13: Servant-leaders invite feedback.

• Reread “Guidelines for Receiving Feedback” in Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership, pp. 65-66, by Sipes/Frick.
• Practice giving and receiving feedback with members of your team using the guidelines.
• Dig deeper on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal.

IGNITE: Give Yourself Grace

 

We should give ourselves grace daily in realizing that the self we know at this moment is constantly evolving. – George Raveling

[Photo: Platte Canyon Wildland Fire Module]

A Call to Leadership

(Photo: Chris Ayer)

What are your first actions when you take over a new program or position? How do you deal with the unknown parts of a job that you just got? How do you step out of a role and lead a new program? 

The "Cost" of Caring

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Empathy is exhausting. Compassion fatigue is real. - Dan Rockwell

Pain and distress is around every turn these days. As wildland firefighters, we see the effects of climate change on the communities in which we live and serve. Many of you have protected those communities only to see them burn to the ground. We push our emotions aside in order to accomplish the mission and head to another. Some of us have loved ones gathering our belongings as fires bear down on our own home while we protect someone else's home. Each image is a slide with emotion attached. That slide carousel is getting heavy. For some, the cost of caring is a great burden.

So what do we call this heavy load? Is it depression? Maybe, but likely it is "compassion fatigue." 

This blog is about awareness of the "cost" of caring. Once we have knowledge, we can better search for answers. We hope this is a first step in taking care of yourself by seeking understanding.

IGNITE: Leadership in a Crisis

 

Leaders aren't built in a crisis. They are revealed. - Jacob Espinoza, Leadership Lens

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS]

Challenge #12 - 2023 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge #12: Servant-leaders practice empathy.

• Download and take the 12-Day Challenge Guide from 4 Essential Keys to Effective Communication – In Love, Life, Work—Anywhere! " by Bento C. Leal III
• Dig deeper on the Portal at http://ow.ly/jVBj50M1zKB.

IGNITE: Study Hard

 

“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible.” — Richard Feynman

[Photo: Eric Pelletier/BLM]

IGNITE: Head & Heart

 

To improve yourself, use your head to handle yourself, and use your heart to handle others. - Chris Hemsworth,

[Photo: Utah BLM]

Challenge #11 - 2023 WFLDP Campaign

 

Challenge #11 – Servant-leaders practice self-awareness and compassion.

• Read about SHARP on “Mindfulness, Self-Compassion and Leadership in Wildland Fire.”
• Transfer the SMART tool to your leadership journal.
• Practice. Practice. Practice.
• Dig deeper with other servant-leaders on the Portal.

IGNITE: In Their Shoes

“Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place." ♦ Daniel Pink ♦

[Photo: La Grande IHC]

#fireleadership

IGNITE: Empathy and Attunement

“Empathy and attunement are not a waste of time in today’s business climate, but essentials for success.” ♦ Daniel Goleman ♦ 

[Photo: Kari Greer/USFS] 

#fireleadership

Challenge #10 - 2023 WFLDP Campaign

Challenge #10 – Servant-leaders practice validation in order to communicate with empathy.

• Watch Naomi Feil’s “Validation, communication through empathy” Ted Talk

• Dig deeper with other servant leaders on the Portal.

IGNITE: Empathy - The Connective Tissue

 

If communication is the joint that holds relationships together, empathy is the connective tissue. 

James Sipe & Don Frick, Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership

[Photo: Kari Greer]

IGNITE: Through Each Other's Eyes

 

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau


[Photo: Kress Sanders/BLM]

Challenge #9 - 2023 WFLDP Campaign

 

Challenge #9: Effective leaders hone their people skills. 

• Take the “How are YOUR People Skills” survey in Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership by James Sipe and Don Frick. 
• Dig deeper on the Portal.

#servantleadership #2023WFLDPCampaign

IGNITE: When Presence Precedes Practice

 

“For empathy, presence must precede practice.” – Carl Rogers quoted by James Sipe and Don Frick, "Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership"

[Photo: Ventana Handcrew]