Challenges: 2024/2025 NWCG Leadership Campaign – The Roots of Wildland Fire Leadership

Leading in the Wildland Fire Service

• All – Read “A Framework for Leadership”

Self-Reflection:

• Spend some time reflecting where you fall within the Levels of Leadership. This role could change based on your environment or assignment.
• Consider a time where you didn’t necessarily have the “authority to lead” but felt compelled by your “decision to lead”?

Reflection & Action:

• Follower – During a future briefing consider whether you can identify a clear task, purpose, and end state from the briefing. If not, what are the additional pieces of information you need to bring clarity to your leader’s intent? Practice leading up by respectfully sharing your gap in understanding of planned operations.
• Leader of People – Team members develop a perception of command climate based on their understanding of how they are expected to perform, how they are treated, and how they must conform to their leader’s individual style and personality. Take time during a staff briefing to give crew members the opportunity to identify what characteristics represent a positive command climate. Evaluate whether those expectations reflect the command climate you’re cultivating and consider opportunities to better align with the expectations of your crew members.
• Leader of Leaders – The distance between leader and those being led increases the challenges of leading. Develop regular connections to field-level staff to understand how your leader’s intent is communicated by subordinate leaders. If not, how can you work with subordinate leaders to cultivate a command climate that solidifies receipt of your leader’s intent as intended to field-level staff.
• Leaders of Organizations – Communication is the primary tool for establishing an effective command climate. The ability to communicate effectively is universally rated as one of the most important leadership behaviors. Over the course of the year, contribute two blog posts the Wildland Fire Leadership blog.

Professional Reading Program

• Select a book from the 2025 Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program’s Professional Reading List.
• Use the discussion guide for personal reflection or create an opportunity for implementing a reading program on your local unit, within your incident management team, or wherever you find community.

Briefing & Intent

• All – Become familiar with Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program’s Briefing & Intent resources.

Lead by Example Award

• All – Become familiar with the Paul Gleason “Lead By Example” award.
• Are there names of past recipients you recognize?
  • If so, what comes to mind when you think about their leadership style, contributions they’ve made to the wildland firefighting community and any lasting impressions they’ve had on you?

Self-Reflection

• What are three ways you want to grow your leadership journey this season?
• How can you cultivate a community of leadership, learning, and growth within your unit?
   

Leading in the Wildland Fire Service

• All – Read “Duty: Accomplishing the Mission”.

Self-Reflection:

• Situational awareness is a cycle of gathering information through observation and communication. All perceptions are subject to filtering and focusing. Consider what filters you may apply when developing situational awareness. Are there filters that may be inadvertently decreasing your awareness?
• The more visible power is, the less it works. The less explicitly leaders rely on power to accomplish tasks, the greater their power actually is. Who is someone that you consider a strong leader. Reflect on how and when they assert their power – how do you experience their engagement and leadership?

Reflection & Action:

• Follower – Leader’s intent can help fill in the gaps when top-level decision makers can’t incorporate new information into a formal planning process. During your next fire assignment, consider whether or not the leader’s intent you receive from the Incident Commander at briefing is translated through the actions taken by divisions or those you might be directly reporting to on the fireline. Would you consider the gaps to be a lack of understanding, or a lack of agreement in direction or something else?
• Leader of People – Leaders help their people grow by mentoring and sharing experiences. Make time to individually meet with each crew member to hear how they think about their role in leadership, how they may want to grow their leadership skillset, and what you can do to support and mentor them.
• Leader of Leaders – Fire leaders employ command by putting plans in place, communicating leader’s intent, making decisions, and directing people to take action. Fire leaders maintain control by soliciting feedback regarding the status of the unfolding situation and the results of the action. Control flows upward. Fire leaders provide intent and direction and then gather feedback from subordinates. Consider a time when you didn’t respond well to feedback you received from a subordinate implementing your leader’s intent. What made it challenging to accept that feedback? How did you or how could you address and incorporate growth from this exchange into your leadership style?
• Leaders of Organizations – In a learning organization, leaders treat honest mistakes as opportunities to do better next time. Understanding that failure is a part of learning, they establish command climates in which young leaders are motivated by desire to succeed rather than fear of failure. Serve as a coach for L-481, Advanced Leadership for Command and General Staff, or develop a tactical decision game for your organization.

Professional Reading Program

• Select a book from the 2025 Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program’s Professional Reading List.
• Use the discussion guide for personal reflection or create an opportunity for implementing a reading program on your local unit, within your incident management team, or wherever you find community.

After Action Review

• All – Become familiar with the Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program’s After Action Reviews resources.

Lead by Example Award

• All – Think about the three leadership categories of the Paul Gleason “Lead By Example” award: Mentoring and Teamwork, Motivation and Vision, and Initiative and Innovation.
• For each category, make a list of famous people you would recommend for this award.
• Consider what characteristics or actions influenced your decision to recommend them.
• Are these traits you see in yourself, or can you think of ways that you might incorporate them into your leadership style?

Self-Reflection

• Are there ways your communication and leadership styles directly impact your unit’s ability to accomplish a task?
   

Leading in the Wildland Fire Service

• All – Read “Respect: Taking Care of People”.

Self-Reflection:

• The wildland fire service approach to taking care of people encompasses mind, body, and spirit. While physical safety is often top of mind when developing assignments, what are some ways that you consider physiological and mental well-being when either developing a task or accepting one?
• Stress represents a significant risk to safety and operational effectiveness. By understanding your own stress reactions, you can potentially implement mitigations to reduce them. Make a list of your triggers for stress, identify the symptoms of your stress, and consider what control mechanisms you have for evolving your stress response.

Reflection & Action:

• Follower – Leadership is about influencing others to accomplish tasks that are in the best interest of our organization; this often means influencing those above us and leading up. Consider if there have been opportunities in the past where you may have provided a valuable perspective to your leaders. Did you share this with them? If not, what held you back? Are there ways you might feel more empowered to speak up in these situations?
• Leader of People – Each team member has personal beliefs and interests. By aligning individual points of view toward team results, leaders can leverage individual attitudes to build positive results. Next time you’re preparing an assignment, consider how you’re leveraging each team member’s values and experiences. Are there opportunities to help them grow by giving them a new type of assignment? Is this a situation in which you need your team members to feel in their element? Do you feel like you have a sense of each member’s unique perspective?
• Leader of Leaders – Leaders create teams that engage in healthy conflict enabling a dynamic exchange of ideas, the voicing of diverse viewpoints, and ultimately, innovative solutions. Are there particular perspectives that you are challenged to consider or with which you resist engaging? What personal biases may be influencing this disconnect? How might you reframe conversations and your own approach to better incorporate diverse perspectives into a cohesive decision?
• Leaders of Organizations – Fire leaders show respect by keeping people informed. Situational communication involves selecting the appropriate communication tools given the people and the situation involved. Develop a communication plan that identifies various types of audiences within your organization and how you and your peers can tangibly connect with them.

Staff Rides

• All – Review the Staff Ride Resources. Develop a local staff ride that reviews an incident on your unit as a learning opportunity.
• Consider the following:
  • Selecting an Event:
    • What event happened last year on your unit that is worth exploring? The event can have an operational challenge or ultimate success.
    • Why is the event worth studying or what do you want people to explore? What are the human dynamics, culture, and processes?
  • Stand 1 Initial Response – How did the organization respond?
  • Stand 2 The Build Up – What are the elements leading up to the event?
  • Stand 3 – Key Situation – This is why the event is worth studying. Consider all the factors that occurred: including human, processes, operational, and the moment in time.
  • Stand 4 – Reactions to the Event – How did people respond?
  • Stand 5 – Aftermath – How was the organization impacted afterwards?
  • Integrations – What learning outcomes of the staff ride can you use moving forward? Integration is a critical element of a staff ride. Participants are encouraged to consider the impact to their current mindset.

Professional Reading Program

• Select a book from the 2025 Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program’s Professional Reading List.
• Use the discussion guide for personal reflection. Create an opportunity for implementing a reading program on your local unit, within your incident management team, or wherever you find community.

Lead by Example Award

• All – Consider this sentiment from Paul Gleason: “I suppose I would want my legacy to be that firefighters begin to realize the importance of being a student of fire and that I was able to help make that happen.”
  • Take some time to reflect on the people you’ve encountered over the course of your career in wildland fire service.
  • Are there people that come to mind when you think of Gleason’s quote? Are there folks who have promoted this culture and who serve as significant leaders for your journey?

Self-Reflection

• Consider the dynamics of your current work unit (crew, department, etc.). Are you giving space to the quietest voice within your unit?
• We grow not only from the positive influences in our lives, but also those that challenged us. Reflect on moments when you were challenged by someone else’s leadership style. Are there ways this exchange has positively or negatively impacted the way you think about leadership?
   

Leading in the Wildland Fire Service

• All – Read “Integrity: Developing Yourself”

Self-Reflection:

• Integrity is a measure of where a person stands in times of challenge and controversy. Consider what qualities resonate for you when reflecting on leaders you consider to have a high level of integrity. In contrast, what qualities do you identify with a leader you perceive as lacking integrity?
• Develop a list of leadership qualities that you currently embody as well as a list that you strive to achieve. What are some action items you can take to increase your personal integrity and grow as a leader?

Reflection & Action:

• Follower – In many ways, our greatest challenge is to know ourselves. Self-awareness is an inward application of situational awareness. Make a list of what you perceive as your strengths and weaknesses. Ask a mentor to share their own list of what they perceive to be your strengths and weaknesses. Where do you see overlap? Are there elements of your mentor’s list that surprised you? Work with your mentor to develop strategies to address your weaknesses and develop tactics for growth.
• Leader of People – Effective leaders share information about themselves with others. Leaders who build rapport with team members can enable them to help the leader compensate for weaknesses. Consider the most recent assignment you’ve given subordinates. Were there opportunities to incorporate relevant thoughts that give folks a greater understanding of you as a leader? How might you incorporate more of this approach in the future?
• Leader of Leaders – The best leaders are lifelong students of fire leadership. What are the resources you use to continue learning? Consider sharing these resources with other leaders, creating a culture of learning and opportunities for others to feel comfortable sharing their resources.
• Leaders of Organizations – Fire leaders set the example by exhibiting strong character, by showing optimism, and encouraging others, even when facing setbacks. Participate in a 360-degree feedback review. Identify action items to improve upon in the next year.

Professional Reading Program

• Select a book from the 2025 Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program’s Professional Reading List.
• Use the discussion guide for personal reflection or create an opportunity for implementing a reading program on your local unit, within your incident management team, or wherever you find community.

Independent Study

• All – No matter how long you work in the wildland fire service, being a successful firefighter means being a student of fire. Along your career path you will have many opportunities to learn. A complete leadership development process will include formal training, challenging field experiences, and your own self-directed learning efforts. Enroll in the Leadership Self-Study program to continue growing beyond the standard leadership course delivery.

Lead by Example Award

• All – Review your list of people who have impacted your leadership journey in the wildland fire service. Send in a nomination for this year’s Paul Gleason “Lead By Example” award.
• Criteria for evaluating nominations includes:
  • Demonstration of significant accomplishment in the stated category (Mentoring and Teamwork, Motivation and Vision, and Initiative and Innovation).
  • Alignment with the Wildland Fire Leadership values and principles.
  • Scope of accomplishment, considering available resources.

Self-Reflection

• Take some time to reflect on the past year. Did you see any growth or change in your leadership style? Are there ways you may have wished you handled a situation differently? How will you carry the experiences of the past year into the future?
• Reflect on a time that you greatly admired someone’s leadership actions this year.
• What are your next steps in your leadership journey? Are there leadership courses you want to take? Are there growth opportunities beyond the classroom?