I. Organizational and Agency Responsibilities

A primary key to employee development is in knowing what systems are in place to support this process. A number of programs and procedures are identified in this section that should be in place to support organizational and Agency development responsibilities. If a system or process does not exist, or exceeds the capabilities of the organization, attempt to determine who can help and request assistance in taking corrective action.

A. Organizational Needs Analysis: Identify an ideal organization. Keep a list of jobs and fire positions that are continually difficult to fill at the local unit. Attempt to measure whether shortages are associated with the lack of qualified individuals or the lack of availability. Do you need to spend time training more people or should you work to free up qualified individuals? Increased availability may require incentives or working more with their supervisors.

B. Organizational Fire Position Needs: Organizational benefits should be explored when developing individual fire position needs. Development priorities should be based primarily on the needs of the local organization. The following suggestions should be considered in developing or sustaining those organizational benefits.

  • Supervisors should work with their employees to determine long-term goals that might develop skills to meet a critical shortage position (i.e. Safety Officer, Air Tactical Group Supervisor, Finance Section Chief, Demobilization Unit Leader, etc.).
  • Individuals should be encouraged to look at broadening their options early in their career. Everyone who reaches the Single Resource Boss level in the Operations function should be encouraged to co-develop a fire position path in a non-Operations position. In this way, the Operations person develops a broader understanding of the fire organization and gives them an alternative position path if, for example, they burnout, become injured or a personal situation limits their mobility.
  • Those who develop along a non-Operational path should be encouraged to co-develop an Operations path by the time they qualify as a Unit Leader or equivalent level. The non-operations person is well served in many support roles by having first hand knowledge of fire operations.
  • Many individuals will require some direction even when developing fire position skills naturally associated with their job description (i.e. Hired as a seasonal Helicopter Crewmember, they should naturally be looking at becoming a Helicopter Manager).
  • The personal interest of an employee may motivate them to seek a position counter to the normal progression (i.e. Hired as a seasonal Engine Crewmember, they have an interest in working in the Warehouse).

C. Management Support: Measure the level of proactive support from Staff Officers and Human Resources for career development and employee support. Work with them to establish and/or maintain support.

D. Recruitment: The Unit/Organization needs to make a commitment to an effort, beyond job announcements. They need to develop tactics to recruit bright and skilled individuals. A number of recruitment suggestions are listed below.

  • Work with Human Resources (HR) staff to be actively represented at schools during “career days” events. Also, see if they will assist with local or regional job fairs.
  • Check to see if job opportunities and the application process within the organization are clearly defined and the application process is easily accessible to everyone interested.
  • Determine whether anyone has been recruiting non-fire personnel who have shown an interest and are available to assist with fire. Also access whether the organization has been paying for non-fire personnel training and helping them acquire meaningful assignments.

The following example is representative of the current status of our workforce. The Aviation Officer who also staffs the local Air Tactical platform is nearing retirement with no apparent replacement. This example could be avoided with some long term planning. Attempt to determine whether this is primarily a lack of interest, lack of qualified replacements or lack of recruitment. Solving this may involve getting the individual currently in the position to assist in recruiting likely candidates or may be a joint effort with the Human Resources (HR) staff to expand hiring recruitment efforts.

E. Training Budget: Keep adequate notes in order to determine whether there is adequate money budgeted for training to meet Organizational targets and goals. If funding shortfalls occur, estimate the amount of financial support needed. Provide your estimates and justifications to those that may assist you in procuring adequate funds.

F. Trainee Prioritization: Prioritize training that benefits the Unit goals first, the individual goals second and regional goals last. The following elements should be considered in the selection and prioritization of course candidates and trainees for incident assignments:

  • Availability the individual has demonstrated in the past.
  • Position or course association with a critical position qualification.
  • Estimated time remaining to complete qualifying assignments and/or Task Book.
  • Interruption in completing higher priority developmental tasks.
  • Potential benefit for the Unit/Organization for a minimum of three years after the training or experience.

G. Mentoring Program: Establish whether an active mentoring program has been outlined and implemented at the Unit level (See Section II. E. and Appendix A).

H. Task Book Implementation: Check to see if the staff understands and is familiar with the Task Book Administration Guide (See Position Task Book Administration, Appendix A, NWCG Wildland and Prescribed Fire Qualification Subsystem Guide, PMS 310-1).

I. Physical Fitness Program: Assess whether the current physical fitness program is adequate for fire position needs and individual development. Determine whether the program has adequate equipment and/or financial support.

J. Qualifications and Certification System: Determine whether there is adequate and knowledgeable staff to implement the current technology to track Qualifications and Certification.

K. Reference Library: Develop a list of recommended reference sources, including the Internet i.e.:

  • “ (Click on Working Teams then on Publications). Then click on the following Icons: “Training Courses” (Field Managers’ Course Guide) which outlines courses, prerequisites, target groups etc.

“Qualifications” (contains the 310-1)

“Task Books”

“Job Aids”

  • FSH 5109.17:“
  • Course schedules and other links: “

A number of proven reference sources are also listed in Section V and the Bibliography of this document.

Organization Employee Development Program Check List

Yes / No
Organizational needs identified and documented?
Staff Officer Support (financial)?
Human Resources Support (recruitment, hiring and orientation)?
Recruitment program in place?
Recruitment effort in area schools?
Recruitment effort at local and regional job fairs?
Recruitment of non-fire personnel for fire positions?
Application process clearly defined?
Application process easily accessible?
Training budget adequate?
Training prioritization system established?
Adequate training organization?
Mentoring program in place?
Task book administration understood?
Physical fitness program adequate?
Qualifications & certification support in place (Red Card Administration)?
Reference library available?

“If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.”

-Kurt Lewin

“Don’t aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, & it will come naturally.”

-David Frost

II. Individual Employee Development

There are a myriad of elements that contribute to individual employee development. Listed below are a number of these elements.

A. Individual Development Orientation: Upon reporting for duty,all employees should receive an initial orientation. An effort should be made to coordinate any orientation with the information that the Human Resources unit is obligated to present. The predominate element of an initial orientation is identifying the expectations and roles of everyone the individual will work for, work with or be supported by.

  • Additional orientations should focus more on specific issues such as an overview of the retirement process. This would enhance their ability to make informed decisions associated with their career and potential retirement status. In addition, several of the following items may not always be adequately covered in initial orientations.

B. Ethics: Like most human behaviors, ethics is learned. An individual’s ethical behavior is consciously and subconsciously measured by their supervisor, subordinates and peers. These judgments may clarify or cloud how performance is viewed. Several other factors associated with ethical behavior are listed below.

  • The Government deals with large amounts of money, property and influence. These are among the primary reasons the Government must attempt to represent the highest level of ethical behavior. The only way to maintain these lofty standards is to set guidelines and uphold rules.
  • Because ethical behavior is learned, all supervisors need to be vigilant in maintaining high standards and passing on appropriate behavior. Ethics courses are periodically available from the Human Resources branch of the organization. If you wish to further explore various ethics topics, see the information in “V. References” regarding the PBS video series “Ethics In America.” Also, investigate the U. S. Office of Government Ethics Internet site at: “
  • As a profession, Fire is an extremely dynamic phenomenon and it continually challenges our judgment associated with the decisions we make. The decisions we make on the fire line and in support roles may directly affect the safety, effectiveness and cost of an operation. Many of these decisions can have ethical implications. A common circumstance that has ethical implications is associated with rapid decisions that limit benefits for one person or group and may greatly affect another group or person (i.e. who gets what fire assignments or resource?).
  • Few decisions can be made without benefiting the person making the decision. A key to successful decision-making is in knowing how it will affect the operation and others. This will allow a decision to be made that hopefully has the greatest overall benefits. A good ethical decision maker will judge the costs and benefits as fairly as is practical without under or over-estimating self benefits.
  • The supervisor must set the ethical example. They can also encourage exploration of the ethical decision making process. Like safety, ethical issues can be discussed as a review associated with what has happened in the past or projected as a hypothetical scenario that might happen in the future. Some hypothetical scenarios are list below.
  • You are reasonably sure that someone you work with is “padding” their time. What would you do?
  • You’re attending a chain saw course and the instructor is demonstrating a cutting technique, but as they proceed, they drop start the saw. How do you feel about the unsafe procedure? Would you do anything about it?
  • Faced with an emerging fire that has serious potential, is it better to order exactly what you feel you need, or would you order more?

C. Reviews and Individual Development Plans: Reviews and Individual Development Plans (IDP) should cover previous availability, goals, accomplishments, evaluations and Red Card documentation updates. An IDP session should then develop or update one, two and five year goals and should be reviewed annually. This session should identify management and personal goals for training, OJT/Task Book(s), simulations, scheduled experience events, mentoring opportunities, anticipated availability, career ladder opportunities and any personal circumstances that might directly affect short or long term development. Additional information on review and IDP procedures are listed below.

  • Take time to note the personal skills of individuals, so that some thought can be given to correlating those skills with job requirements or fire position requirements (i.e. the person has a drawing ability and might do well as a Situation Unit Leader with skills potentially needed to draw maps).
  • Periodically focus on the individual’s ability to interact with others, and if there is room for improvement discuss a course of action.
  • During the IDP sessions, all training course nominations (See Appendix B - Common Nomination Form Errors) should be reviewed. It should be determined whether they meet the prerequisites and are part of the course target group. Later you may submit a nomination by the designated deadlines to your local training representative.
  • Field Managers’ Course Guide (available at: “ will allow you to rapidly review course prerequisites, objectives, timeframes, etc. Course Schedules are available at: “
  • Generate individual development plans that clearly identify on-the-job-training (OJT) and other performance enhancing experience that will assist in individual development.
  • Determine the individual’s readiness for OJT assignments. This should also be identified in the Red Card System and appropriate Task Books should be initiated.
  • If individuals are unfamiliar with standard evaluation criteria, documentation, record keeping and the process for updating fire qualifications, an orientation should ensue. Examples of local procedures should be added to the appendix of this document.
  • Individual physical fitness status and progress should also be addressed during annual IDP sessions. Program expectations, fire position requirements and a basic understanding of the Work Capacity Test should be included (See Appendix C).
  • If they are interested in becoming a part of an Incident Management Team, look ahead at training and experience requirements to be accepted for S-420, S-520 or S-620.
  • Availability is affected by individual interest in team commitments, regular workload, non-support of supervisor and a broad range of personal circumstances.
  • A lack of availability should be documented and directly related to training limitations. Determine whether individuals who are qualified, but are never available, should be removed from the Red Card System. Note: Current estimates indicate that about 20 to 30% of those attending courses use the information in Incident related assignments.
  • An annual calendar should be maintained that clearly identifies the needs analysis cycle, nomination due dates, etc.
  • Annually determine whether job or fire position qualification efforts are too broad or too narrow. One way of accomplishing this is to determine whether the individual has more task books than can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.
  • Finally, supervisors must ask, “AM I SETTING THIS INDIVIDUAL UP FOR FAILURE BY:”
  • Not being fully aware of their capabilities.
  • Expecting too much from them.
  • Not providing gradual developmental opportunities.
  • Potentially placing them in command situations without adequate leadership, decision making and/or communication skills.

D. Career Ladder: Determine whether there is a clear understanding of what career ladders exist within the organization. Also define the expectations of the training, experience and qualifications needed to move up the ladder. Again, this may require assistance from the Human Resources Staff.

E. Mentoring Process: Mentoring our employees is about as close to the medieval concept of apprenticeship, as is practical in today’s world. Time, distance and the number of people we work with render a true apprenticeship impractical. Time spent on an apprentice is time spent away from the organization’s immediate needs. These days, mentors often provide only general guidance. They are rarely allowed the luxury of keeping a watchful eye on their protégé.

  • It is unfortunate that this learning concept has been relegated to a bygone era. Regardless, the mentoring process has many desirable elements and its principles can teach us a lot about helping others with interpersonal development.
  • The National Park Service, in association with the University of Washington, has developed a Fire Management Mentoring Program. Early indications are that the program is quite good. The first 24 pages of the Mentor Handbook (See Appendix A) contain a number of recommendations that address the mentoring process. The topics include the benefits and objectives of mentoring; the roles of the supervisor; how to set expectations; guidelines for establishing and maintaining an effective mentoring relationship; how to communicate; diverse mentoring relationships; potential pitfalls in the relationship and how to handle them and helpful suggestions on where to look for information. If the material in the appendix appears to be of assistance, additional program references may be procured through the National Park Service or your Geographic Area Training Representative.

Individual Employee Development Check List

Yes / No
Adequate position information during recruitment and hiring process?
Orientation identified your obligations?
Orientation identified the roles of others you’ll work for and with?
Introduced to the importance of ethical behavior?
Adequately understand the review and IDP process?
Reviewed previous accomplishments and evaluations?
New goals and skill refinement were identified and documented?
Set individual short, medium and long-term goals?
Completely filled out Training Nomination Form & submitted by deadline?
Reviewed Task Book status?
Possible OJT opportunities were identified and prioritized?
Past availability was documented & projected availability was discussed?
Physical fitness status and targets were reviewed?
Career ladders adequately identified?
Involved in formal or informal mentoring program?

“I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.”

-Kurt Vonnegut

III. Developmental Support Programs

A. Facilitative Instructor (M-410): This course has been a very valuable tool in the qualification of instructors for Wildland and Prescribed Fire courses. It is recommended and often required if you are going to be involved in course presentations as an Instructor, Lead Instructor or Course Coordinator. It will also be of significant value if you become involved with course development as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) or Master Performer.

B. Technical Fire Management (TFM): This program is an accredited education program to enhance the Professional level skills of an individual. The program is aimed at individuals that do not currently qualify for a government professional employment series and are in mid-career (See Appendix D for an overview). If the information in Appendix D appears to meet the needs of one or more of your employees, contact your Geographic Area Training Representative for more details.