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How do we define leader?
Based on our own experiences, most of us could probably
come up with a pretty good definition of an effective leader.
For the purposes of the wildland fire leadership development
program, the following working definition is used:
Leaders are individuals whose values and
character enable them to influence others by providing
purpose, direction, and motivation, in order to accomplish
the incident response mission and improve the organization.
What does the wildland fire leadership development
program consist of?
The program is built on three distinct components: wildland
fire values and principles, self-development, and formal
training. The values of Duty, Respect, and Integrity and
the 11 supporting principles are the foundation of wildland
fire leadership, providing leaders a firm ethical base for
the practice of leadership in the wildland fire environment.
The self-development component includes a professional reading program as well as guides for experiental training techniques such as After Action Reviews, Tactical Decision Games, and Staff Rides. Formal
training includes a curriculum with six levels of training
from the least complex (follower) to the most complex (organizational
leader) levels. A basic course in Human Factors lays the
foundation. After that, firefighters advance to a course
with a focus on the transition from Followership to Leadership.
More extensive training follows in the Fireline Leadership,
Incident Leadership, and Incident Management Team Leadership courses.
How long will it take to build and implement all
the courses in the six levels of the formal training program?
It will take at least until the 2009 training season
to integrate all components of the leadership development
curriculum and make the related changes to other interagency
documents such as the Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualifications
System Guide (310-1).
Will leadership training be recommended or required
in the NWCG's Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualifications
System Guide (310-1) system?
The Leadership Committee made specific recommendations
to the Incident Operations Standards Working Team (IOSWT)
regarding leadership course requirements for certain positions.
In general, the recommendations supported some
requirements for leadership training for certain positions
in the Operations and Command functional areas. This is
due to the fact that the highest levels of risk are associated
with these positions. The IOSWT considered the Leadership
Committee’s recommendations and decided not to make any leadership training required for any positions in the
current (2005) version of the PMS 310-1.
Will the wildland fire leadership development program
cost agencies more money and time due to additional training?
Developing effective leaders who operate in one of the
riskiest occupations in the country will require training,
cost money, and demand time and management support. However,
consider the leadership development program as an investment – in time, money, and management support – that
will help increase the effectiveness of our fireline leaders,
which will, in turn, help ensure the safety of firefighters
and the public during wildland fire incidents. It should
also be noted that the first three formal courses in this
leadership development curriculum are either being integrated
into current S courses or replacing current S courses. So
the additional training load is not as significant as one
might assume at first glance. It might also be worth asking:
what is the cost of a single accident that could have been
prevented by the exercise of good leadership? Not developing
our leaders can be incredibly costly.
I heard that Supervisory Concepts and Techniques
(S-281) and Leadership and Organizational Development (S-381)
were phased out. Will the S-281 or S-381 courses that people
have already attended still count?
Neither of these courses were required for any position
in the Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualifications System
Guide (310-1). In some cases, individual agencies had specified
a requirement for these courses in their own manual direction.
S-281 is no longer stocked in the cache system (as of
March 2004) and S-381 is no longer stocked (as of October
2004). Credit for attendance at these courses (prior to the above discontinuation dates) will still
register in agency qualifications systems, and qualifications
that were previously obtained with these courses as prerequisites are
still good.
Shouldn't we be using agency instructors with wildland
firefighting experience to teach courses such as Fireline
Leadership, instead of using contract instructors?
Most fire agencies don’t have the resources to support
the cadre skill and delivery demands for the type of training
courses required at the higher level of a true leadership
development curriculum. However, the Leadership Committee
has established course design criteria for the Fireline
Leadership and Incident Leadership courses. This allows
agencies to develop their own course material, establish
cadres, or use vendors to meet their internal delivery needs
if they choose to take that approach.
I'm interested in developing a Fireline Leadership
(L-380) or Incident Leadership (L-381) course for my company
or agency. How do I go about doing that?
Course design criteria can be found on the Wildland Fire
Leadership website at http://www.fireleadership.gov/courses/courses.html.
There is a pulldown menu that says “More Information”
and one of the menu items is “Design Criteria.” The info found here will clarify the intent and cover the
topics which must be included in the design and delivery
of L-380 and L-381.
Once I have a course developed and I'm ready to
deliver it, how do I get it "approved" or "certified" as meeting the design standards so that it will count when
employees take it?
NWCG and its Working Teams do not approve or certify courses
developed by third parties. Course certification is an individual
agency responsibility. Let’s say a large county fire
department wants to design and deliver its own L-380 or
L-381 course or contract with a vendor to have this done.
The county fire department can certify, on its own, that
the course meets the design criteria when delivered
internally. If the county wants to deliver the
course to firefighters from other agencies, then
those agencies need to review and certify the course as
well.
If the NWCG does not approve or certify third
parties, what is their role?
The NWCG Leadership Committee has taken the position
that the leadership curriculum should not be about the
minimum requirements. The NWCG Leadership Committee's
position expresses the curriculum's potential to have
a positive impact. Although third parties are not required
to seek approval or certification, the Leadership Committee
has extended an open offer to wildland fire agencies to
provide assistance to agencies working on course review
and certification, upon request. Contact Bill
Miller at 406-829-6942 for questions.
The Leadership Committee has developed an evaluation process
that is posted on the Wildland Fire Leadership website
at http://www.fireleadership.gov/courses/courses.html.
The link can be found in the pulldown menu titled “More
Information” next to either L-380 or L-381. The Leadership
Committee has extended an open offer to wildland fire agencies
to provide assistance to agencies working on course review
and certification, upon request. A list of committee members
and the agencies they represent can be found at http://www.fireleadership.gov/committee/committee.html.
What assurance do we have that folks won't be passed
through the leadership modules before they are ready for
the next level?
A training and development curriculum cannot be expected
to replace supervisory and management responsibility. Screening
and promotion is an agency’s responsibility, and supervisors
or managers in an organization determine who will fill their
leadership positions. Within the interagency wildland fire
community, individuals who evaluate and sign Position Task
Books have this responsibility.
A structured leader development process should give the
people in our organizations more knowledge about leadership
in general. In turn, it should be more difficult to promote
underdeveloped leaders because everyone will be able to
clearly define what leadership is and easily identify whether
people in leadership positions embrace commonly accepted
values and principles.
Does the new leadership training apply only to Operations
personnel and Incident Commanders?
Absolutely not. Although effective leadership is critical
to incident operations, it’s also very important to
other aspects of incident management and helps ensure overall
effectiveness and response. At this time, the Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualifications
System Guide (310-1) does not have any leadership training requirements. The
NWCG’s Incident Operations Standards Working Team
(IOSWT) makes final determinations on this issue. If you have strong feelings about leadership
training and how it should be dealt with in the 310-1, contact
your agency’s representative on the IOSWT. The committee’s
membership list can be found at http://www.nwcg.gov/teams/ioswt/roster.pdf.
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