National Weather Service Professional Development Series Professional Competency Unit

Description of Job Duty Competency to be Achieved

Interact effectively and professionally with cooperators and other water-related users, the news media, River Forecast Centers, and other NWS personnel.

Description of Need

In order to effectively represent the requirements and capabilities of the Hydrologic Services Program to others both inside and outside the NWS, personnel need to learn from the experience gained by their counterparts on interacting effectively with water-related users, the news media, and other NWS personnel.

Specific Job Task Skills and Knowledge

1. Coordinate forecast and data issues among NWS field offices.

2. Coordinate forecast and data issues with external agencies.

3. Coordinate with internal and external customers to ensure optimal services.

Instructional Components

Instructional Component 7.x - Regional Workshop: Service Hydrologist/Hydrology Focal Point Workshops. Periodically held regional workshops will include training on approaches for improving coordination with other NWS offices, customers, etc.

Instructional Component 7.x - Residence Course: WFO Hydrology Program Management. A segment of this course will cover the following:

• Resources available for identifying hydrologic customers and partners and approaches for determining their requirements.
• Interpersonal approaches proven to be effective when interacting with users and cooperators.
• Interpersonal approaches proven to be effective when interacting with the news media.
• Proven approaches for effective interactions with RFCs.
• Approaches for effective Service Hydrologist/Hydrology Focal Point interaction with coworkers and regional/national headquarters personnel on hydrology-related matters.

The following lecture materials are available for this segment of the course:

	External Interactions
	Interacting With River Forecast Centers
	Process of Changing Flood Stage

Instructional Component 7.x - Documentation: Service Hydrologist Reference Manual. The following topics in the manual apply to interagency coordination activities of service hydrologists and hydrology focal points:

 	Interagency Coordination 
	RFC Web Sites

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