ENVIRONMENTAL/NEPA 
News from across the Agencies

“Founded in 1936, Fire Management Today has served the wildland fire community for more than 60 years as a clearinghouse for new techniques, technologies, and ideas.” Fire Management Today On the Web  click to view
 

BLM Adds Energy Map Viewer to Popular NILS GeoCommunicator Web Site.
News Story - click to view
Map - click to view

National Fire News – Wildfire Update The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) is the focal point for coordinating the mobilization of resources for wildland fire and other incidents throughout the United States.
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If you have a news article you would like featured, please let us know.  shipley@shipleygroup.com

We are excited to introduce our new workshop on Natural Resource Policy & Economics
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Ten Principles for ID Team Management

1.  Put it in writing–Instructions to teams should be done in writing, not to avoid direct communication or confrontation, but to serve as an “anchor” for future reference. This will also avoid deteriorating interpretation of your direction as the message goes from person to person on the team.
   
   
2. The boss is the boss–The line officer is the ultimate arbitrator of disagreements on process decisions and decisions on allocation of resources, people, and dollars. A process should be put in place to elevate disputes among the team – a process the team can agree with. Settlement of any such disputes should be documented. One team member should be designated in a leadership role to provide day-to-day guidance.
   
   
3. Your problem is my problem–Team members should have a sincere interest in the problem and a strong desire to solve it. Members should keep a strong problem-focus as distinguished from a discipline-focus. However, some discipline focus is essential to attack problems successfully—a balance must be reached. Get early buy-in to the Need for Action.
   
   
4. Variety is the spice of life–It is not only essential that you apply diversity of technical skills to your problem, but also recognize the importance of varied personal temperaments, ethnicity, and other discriminators of diversity in thought. Such variety, although more difficult to manage, produce better results.
   
   
5. You’re OK, I’m OK–All members of the team are rational in their decisionmaking. Each member uses different values, and priorities to guide decisionmaking. Each arrives at reasoned conclusions. Respect each team member’s thought process—each is entitled to respect and considerate treatment by the team members.
   
   
6. Majority rules–Although consensus is desirable in team deliberations and recommendations, this is not always possible. Team rules should be put in place to guide group resolution of issues. At some point, majority rule may have to be used. However, provide a “safety valve” for “minority opinions.” Ensure that any minority opinions get addressed in writing by the team as a whole.
   
   
7. Don’t go to Abilene–It is easy for the team to get into “group think” and take a course of action, that in the end, none agree with. Provide opportunities for team members to re-examine and confirm previous team decisions. Do SWOT analyses on critical process decisions. Be willing to adjust and adapt.
   
   
8. Beware of red herrings–Team members can easily distract the team from the assigned task and chase issues that are either not relevant or tangential to the task at hand. Team and meeting management techniques can be put in place to avoid excess time devoted to these issues.
   
   
9. Water cooler talk–Team members should be located close enough to facilitate casual interactions and discussion of project affairs. Much good thinking and consensus is done outside of formal meetings of the team. Team members should be provided opportunities for such casual spontaneous interaction.
   
   
10. Time is fleeting–Team members should be able to devote major blocks of uninterrupted time for project work. Conflicting demands are responded to by the employee based on their priorities unless time and project management priorities are made by a single authority.
    
    

Excerpt from workshop manual “Managing NEPA Projects & Teams”

San Antonio, TX
August 7-10, 2007
How to Manage the EIAP/NEPA
Process: USAF

San Francisco, CA
September 18-20, 2007
NEPA Cumulative Effects
Analysis & Documentation

Las Vegas, NV
September 25-27, 2007
Integrating Federal
Environmental Laws with NEPA

Phoenix, AZ
September 25-27, 2007
Cultural and Natural Resource Management

Olympia, WA
September 25-28, 2007
How to Manage the NEPA Process & Write Effective NEPA Documents

Salt Lake City, UT
October 1-5, 2007
How to Manage the NEPA Process Managing NEPA Projects and Teams

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