“We Will Never Forget You—Remembering Andy Palmer”

Submitted by Jim McMahill (Regional Fire and Aviation Management Officer, Midwest Region - National Park Service and NWCG Leadership Subcommittee NPS Representative) and the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center

This—wildland firefighter Andy Palmer’s tragedy—is the story of how we arrived at today’s Dutch Creek Protocol guidelines for emergency medical response and extractions.

Fireline Leadership Challenge:

1. View the video and share this with your employees and incident management team members, either during your annual fire refresher or at your annual team meetings.
2. After viewing, discuss the contents of the video, which challenges us with three questions we should ask ourselves each time we are weighing the decision whether or not to engage on a wildland fire incident.

• What will we do if someone gets hurt?
• How will we get them out of here?
• How long will it take to get them to the hospital?”

This is the Wildland Lessons Learned Center's second presentation in this year’s “Firefighter: Remember This” video series. Check out the first, "Firefighter: Remember This - Engine Rollover: Why This Accident Started Months Ago."

Happy Thanksgiving

On behalf of the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee, I would like to wish all readers a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. May each of you take this time to reflect upon all for which you are thankful.

Exposing Our Roots: 1997 - 1998

In 1998, the TriData Corporation completed the four-phase Wildland Firefighter Safety Awareness Study.

• Phase I -Identifying the Organizational Culture, Leadership, Human Factors, and Other Issues Impacting Firefighter Safety
• Phase II - Wildland Firefighter Safety Awareness Study - Setting New Goals for the Organizational Culture, Leadership, Human Factors, and Other Areas Impacting Firefighter Safety
• Phase III - Implementing Cultural Changes for Safety
• Phase IV - Developing a Cooperative Approach

Wildland Lessons Learned Videos - 10-Year Anniversary

• Introduction
• Successes
• Continuing Challenges
• Looking to the Future

Additional Events from 1999

• The Safety and Health Working Team (now the Risk Management Committee) sponsors L-180 development.
• A 40-hour leadership development training course is proposed.

Help Wanted

This blog was created as an avenue for wildland fire leaders to share their experiences in writing. Unfortunately, few have contributed. The following Seth Godin interview conducted by Dan Cathy may provide some insight and encourage wildland fire leaders to use their written voice.

Communicating Across Generations

I recently had an encounter with a young man of about 13 years of age. I had given him answers for a Halloween station he was to facilitate. As soon as he attempted to read the paper I had given him, I knew we had a serious problem. A deep sense of fear overtook him and he handed the paper back to me saying he could not read what was written. I had used cursive writing instead of printing. Our ability to communicate had taken a direct hit.

While attending L-580 this past spring, a number of participants had discussed the coming trend of public school systems eliminating cursive writing from the curriculum. Little did I know that it would be only a few months until I encountered my first experience with this new barrier to communication.

The new generation firefighter communicates differently. Right, wrong, or indifferently, changes in communication methods generally require that the older generation adapt.

I enabled my young friend to succeed by printing my work; however, there may be times in the future where technological ineptness or other factor(s) may render me unable to communicate. I keep myself open to new ideas and methods; but, I may find myself in a similar situation as my young friend some day.

How do feel about the ever-changing face of communication? How are these changes affecting communication in the wildland fire service?

Exposing Our Roots - 1995/1996

Where were you in 1995? Some of you may have been employed in wildland fire and can remember focus on changing our culture. Every once in a while I think there is great value in "exposing our roots"--letting those new to the wildland fire service know where the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program (WFLDP) began. Over the next few weeks, we'll revisit our history.

A Glance Back at 1994

Thirty four lives were lost on wildland fire incidents in 1994. Fourteen of those fatalities occurred on South Canyon fire near Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

1995

The Missoula Technology Development Center (MTDC) hosts the 1st Firefighters Human Factors Workshop.

• "To begin to address some of the human factors questions, experts in psychology, sociology, organizations, fire safety, and wildland firefighting attended a 5-day workshop in June 1995 to discuss ways of improving firefighter safety" (Finding from the Firefighters Human Factors Workshop, p. 3).

Smokejumpers and pilots participate in Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) training.

Following the deaths on South Canyon, the BLM commissioned the Firefighter Awareness Study--a four-phase study awarded to the TriData Corporation. Phase I - Identifying the Organizational Culture, Leadership, Human Factors, and Other Issues Impacting Firefighter Safety was completed in 1996.

1996

The National Park Service develops and tests a human factors course. The WFLDP now administers L-180 - Human Factors in the Wildland Fire Service. The 2010 video component of L-180 is available on YouTube. The course is currently under development for online delivery.

When Wrong Feels So Right

"I err therefore I am." - St. Augustine

In this blog entry, I share Kathryn Schulz's video from TED-Ideas Worth Spreading titled "On Being Wrong."

Endurance

(Paul Gleason and Jim Cook)

"I would like to challenge the contemporary thinking that something or someone has to be new to be good. We make a grave mistake when we look at the future with our backs to the past. The past is what brought us to where we are." - Ralph Shrader

I recently moved into a new office and had the opportunity to walk down memory lane as I sifted through my leadership files. One of the articles I came upon was “Ralph Shrader’s Leadership Test: Is Anybody Following?” as published on January 12, 2005, in Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program (WFLDP) is an example of an enduring institution found within the wildland fire service. Agency leaders tasked with maintaining the program have vowed to bring about cultural change through “innovation and adaptation, leadership that balances stability and change, and being committed to excellence” (Shrader, 2005).

The test of an enduring institution is whether or not it can survive through leadership turnover. The WFLDP has had many great leaders, including Paul Gleason who died in 2003 and Jim Cook who retires at the end of the year. Cook, co-chair of the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee, has been a guiding force in wildland leadership development. Cook’s departure will affect the institution, but Cook leaves an enduring institution as his legacy. Cook's contributions and mentoring leaves successors well-equipped and prepared to carry the torch forward.

Here are some encouraging words for upcoming WFLDP leaders:

• "The only way a next generation of innovators comes into existence is with the guidance and shaping of successful leaders who have gone before." ~ Gregg Fairbrothers, adjunct professor of business administration at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth speaking after the death of Apple's Steve Jobs.
• "Level 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success." ~ Jim Collins, from his book Good to Great.
• "I don't have to do it alone." ~ Coach Jim Caldwell, answer to "How will you fill those big shoes?" following Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy's retirement.

Thanks for showing us the way and being such a great leader, Jim!

Chilean Mine Disaster Revisited

It hardly seems like a year has passed since 33 miners were rescued during the Chilean mine disaster. The Washington Post's On Leadership contributor Melissa Steffan conducted a follow-up interview with Minister Laurence Golborne about his leadership under pressure during the crisis. I found his reflections in "One Year After the Chilean Mine Rescue, Minister Laurence Golborne Reflects on Leadership under Pressure" interesting in light of Monday's post.

Here are a couple of nuggets:

• Establish a relationship based on trust and truth.
• Hundreds of people working together can make miracles.
• Leaders must learn how to listen, how to listen to people and then make decisions.

Wildland Fire Leadership Challenge

Melissa Minister Golborne a few questions. Reflect upon your leadership and share your answers to similar questions below by commenting on the blog.

• What lessons have you been able to take away from your wildland leadership experience over the last year?
• What does good leadership mean to you?

Drifting Away

"Building the team" is a guiding principle of the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program. So, how do you know when your team begins to drift apart? Jesse Lyn Stoner presents the following warning signs of team drift in "Diagnose and Cure Team Drift," a blog entry on the HBR Blog Network.

• You leave meetings feeling like they've been a waste of time, or you decide to stop having team meetings because they're not productive.
• You have to redo work or discover there's been duplication of efforts.
• There is increasing interpersonal conflicts within the team.
• Team members don't have access to the information they need to do the job right and end up having to redo work.
• You are inundated with day-to-day demands. Everything is a priority.
• Crisis management has become a way of life. As soon as one problem is solved, another appears.
• Your team is not getting the recognition and respect it deserves from the rest of the organization.

What can you do to build the team? Here is some sound advice from Leading in the Wildland Fire Service.

Fire leaders set the stage by creating an environment in which cohesive teams thrive: establishing a foundation of trust, enabling healthy conflict, requiring commitment, setting an expectation of accountability, and bringing focus to the team result.

Trust

Leaders start by building a foundation of trust in teams.

• Communication is the key to building trust.
• Communicate openly with teams and make sure to convey the essence of your values, mission, and vision.

Healthy Conflict

Leaders create teams that engage in healthy conflict.

• Enable a dynamic exchange of ideas, the voicing of diverse viewpoints, and, ultimately, innovative solutions.
• Focus on the what not the who.

Commitment

Leaders create teams committed to the mission.

• Seek input and delegate appropriately
• Involve team members from the start and actively solicit contributions
• Make people responsible, give them enough authority to accomplish their assignment, and hold them accountable.

Peer Accountability

Leaders create teams in which team members hold each other accountable.

• Set the example by demonstrating that team members can hold us accountable.
• Encourage peers to give feedback on our own performance in meeting stated goals.

Team Results

Leaders create teams that focus on the team result.

• Articulate a clear end state
• Specify success criteria so that team members can turn intent into focused and decisive action.

Resilience

Leaders create an atmosphere that fosters resilience: teams taht can bounce back when problems or errors threaten cohesion and synergy.

• Establish and expectation that people at all levels communicate effectivly by practicing the Five Communications Responsibilities.
• Communicate clear leader's intent, making sure all team members understand the end state and the objectives needed to reach the end state.
• Define roles and responsibilities so all team members have a clear picture of what they are supposed to do and how they fit into the bigger picture.
• Track situation status so team members understand what progress has been made and can alert others when deviations occur.
• Develop contingency plans to extend decisional space. Maintain the advantage over the environment by planning for error or unexpected evetns and calculating responses in advance.