{"id":360497,"date":"2026-07-31T17:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/how-do-you-provide-opportunities-and-build-the-team-as-a-leader-when-there-is-no-opportunity\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:34:19","slug":"how-do-you-provide-opportunities-and-build-the-team-as-a-leader-when-there-is-no-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=360497","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Provide Opportunities and Build the Team as a Leader When There Is No Opportunity?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Author:<\/u> <\/span>Nick Terrell, National Wildfire Coordinating Group<\/i><\/p>\n

I signed up for the Great Basin Priority Trainee List for
\nthe 2025 fire season. I figured it was time to get serious about completing my
\nTFLD Task Book. Crossing my fingers on pulling a trainee assignment through my
\nnetwork had worked once but I had accepted the fact that it was a lucky get,
\nand was unlikely to happen again.\u00a0My window of opportunity opened in
\nAugust, and I got an offer for a fire in northern Nevada. I replied
\nthat I was available and got a call from the duty officer within 10 minutes. My
\nresource order was for a subordinate position on an Equipment number (E#) and
\nsaid in the Special Needs<\/i> “REPLACEMENTS FOR TASK FORCE 2.” On my
\nfirst TFLD trainee assignment in 2024, I showed up on a project fire and was
\nhanded 15 resources with no trainer. This time, I thought I was ready for
\nanything.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The roll would turn into perhaps the most logistically
\nchallenging one of my career. Operationally, crickets. Because of this, the
\nroll also posed a unique leadership challenge that I was not expecting: how do
\nyou provide opportunities for your people, build the trust climate, and
\nstrengthen the team when there is very little opportunity to provide? My order
\nwas for a regional surge task force that was assigned to a fire when I got
\nordered up. The region had ordered up replacement overhead for the task force,
\nbut so did the fire. The previous TFLD and Trainee had timed out and hit the
\nroad, so we didn’t get a debrief with them. The first shift was spent figuring
\nout what resources were ours, and which one of the two qualified TFLDs ordered
\nI would be working with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The task force itself had got yarded out to different
\ndivisions when they hit the fire. Our three engines were in a structure
\nprotection group on the west flank of the fire, the Type 2 Dozer and Heavy
\nEquipment Boss Trainee\u00a0(the Qualified had timed out and the Trainee was
\nrunning solo)\u00a0was on a division wrapping up line construction on the east
\nflank, and the Type 2 water tender was hanging out at the staging area near the
\nheel. The fire had got up into the goat rocks so the crews were engaged, and
\nall the equipment was staged up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the morning progressed, the resources rolled into the
\nstaging area. I shook hands, exchanged contact info, and briefed them on what
\nlittle I knew at the time. “The Type 3 Team is probably going to kick us
\nloose, but they want to see what the fire does today before they let all of
\ntheir equipment go.” The next morning, we were on
\nthe\u00a0demob\u00a0list. Thus began a long series of days of reassignment and
\nstaging, reassignment and staging, reassignment and staging.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We were reassigned four times following the initial fire. Each
\nmove involved making a travel plan, meeting up with a duty officer, getting an
\nin-brief, booking and cancelling lodging reservations, and finding a centrally
\nlocated staging area. Thankfully, but what turned out to be minimally so, one
\nof the reassignments was to a fire. We drew a few
\nshifts of night duty because the team wanted some fire presence at night. That
\nincident was on the Wasatch front so there were a lot of curious eyes around.
\nIt got our blood pumping to get that assignment but ultimately it turned out to
\nbe just a different setting to sit around in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was very little opportunity for all of us \u2013 overhead
\nand module personnel alike \u2013 to demonstrate our competency on
\nthe\u00a0fireline. What I found was that it had to be done delicately, in the
\nminute interactions throughout each shift. In the morning briefing I gave after
\nthe first reassignment, when the whole team was assembled – after the contract
\nresources swapped crews and we received our fresh Qualified Heavy Equipment
\nBoss – I set firm expectations and kept it casual: be on time, respond to communications
\npromptly, what’s your favorite cartoon character? Seriously. I ended that
\nbriefing with a round robin discussion of the task force’s favorite cartoon
\ncharacters. It was a phenomenal way to get a bit of insight into everyone’s
\npersonality type, and it completely disarmed everyone in the briefing circle.
\nThe dozer operator and transport driver were Yosemite Sam and
\nPepe\u00a0LePew\u00a0respectively. Wild boys to say the least. This could have
\ncaused folks to not take me seriously, or eroded the trust climate, but the
\nactions I followed it up with in the shifts to come prevented this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I highly value relationships and I made tons of effort to
\nget to know the people on the task force, giving them the respect they were
\ndue. I think about the sources of power when reviewing my actions on that roll:
\nI prioritized my experience power by subtly dropping hints of my operational
\nfire career, and my respect power by giving my attention to all the people on
\nthe task force, from module leaders to first year crew members. The sources of
\npower I did not prioritize were position power and discipline power. For
\nexample, on one reassignment I had the resources pick a park in the town we
\nwere traveling to, while the Qualified Task Force Leader and I headed for a
\ncounty fire station to in-brief with the duty officer we were reporting to.
\nAfter meeting with the duty officer, I called the task force resources to the
\nfire station to brief them. The station had a large equipment yard where we
\ncould park all our vehicles, including the dozer transport. I thought this was
\noptimal, but the group hated this idea and strongly advocated to stage in the
\npark. I was concerned about response times from the park because the dozer
\ntransport would not fit there, and the park was much more visible to the public.
\nI packaged that message in the form of leader\u2019s intent and the responses that
\nthey gave me made sense. I extended them some trust, and we staged in the park
\nfor the remainder of our time there. I could have used my position power to
\noverride them, but the travel time was nominal between both locations,
\ncommunity members were friendly, and the task force felt strongly rooted in
\ntheir position to stage at the park.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope that you never have to do what I had to do on that
\ntask force roll. I hope that your assignments have a high operational tempo,
\nand you draw engaging\u00a0fireline\u00a0missions. I think we know how to lead
\nin those situations. I think it\u2019s easier to lead in those situations.
\nEspecially when it comes to ad hoc teams. Established crews or Incident
\nManagement Teams have the entire fire season to build cohesion. A throw
\ntogether group of fire resources does not. Leadership is a complex and subjective
\nskill. There are so many flavors of leaders out there and there is no right or
\nwrong way to lead firefighters (as long as it\u2019s done safely of course). But I
\nfound that if you really pay attention to the minute interactions on a boring
\ntour, you can build a trusting and healthy team. I had no doubt in my mind that
\nif that task force group were to hit a going IA, that they would perform
\nexceptionally. And on the day after I briefed my replacements, while traveling
\nhome, I received a text with some photos of them doing just that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nick Terrell is a career federal wildland firefighter. Following a career altering injury, he left his position on a handcrew for a wildland fire support position. The career change has allowed him to pursue a master\u2019s degree at Boise State University studying Conflict Management and Leadership. He still maintains operational fire qualifications and is a diligent student of fire.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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