How do we define leader?

What does the wildland fire leadership development program consist of?

How long will it take to build and implement all the courses in the five levels of the formal training program?

Will leadership training be recommended or required in the NWCG's Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualifications System Guide (310-1) system?

Will the wildland fire leadership development program cost agencies more money and time due to additional training?

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?

Shouldn't we be using agency instructors with wildland firefighting experience to teach courses such as Fireline Leadership, instead of using contract instructors?

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?

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?

What assurance do we have that folks won't be passed through the leadership modules before they are ready for the next level?

Does the new leadership training apply only to Operations personnel and Incident Commanders?

 

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: A leader is an individual 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 assessments, professional reading, SOP’s and on-the-ground training. Formal training includes a curriculum with five 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 Advanced Incident Leadership courses.

How long will it take to build and implement all the courses in the five levels of the formal training program?

It will take at least until the 2005/2006 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 has made specific recommendations to the Incident Operation Standards Working Team (IOSWT) regarding leadership course requirements for certain positions. The recommendations are only for the L-180, L-280 and L-380 courses, as higher-level leadership courses are still being beta-tested. In general, the recommendations support 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, as they are decision makers both on and off the fireline. The IOSWT will take the Leadership Committee’s recommendations into account during the current (2004-2005) revision cycle for 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 was 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 not currently stocked in the cache system (as of March 2004) and S-381 will no longer be stocked as of October 2004. Credit for attendance at these courses will still register in agency qualifications systems, and qualifications that were 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 web site 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”. These are the items that must be included in the design and delivery of L-380 or 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, however, then those agencies need to review and certify the course as well.

The Leadership Committee has developed an Evaluation Process that is posted on the Wildland Fire Leadership web site 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, it is uncertain which positions in the Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualifications System Guide (310-1) will have leadership training requirements and which positions will have leadership training as recommendations. NWCG’s Incident Operations Standards Working Team (IOSWT) will make a final determination on this issue by February 2005. 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.