The discussion of the Employee Directory has taken us to some interesting places. I’m singling out one of our Anonymous commenters who said:
“People are, and have always been, the most important part of the Forest Service, IMHO”
Some employees don’t want to be harassed endlessly by the public for the decisions and agendas of line officers, who flagrantly ignored the scientific opinions or input of their specialists/staff, or even just initiated a project that staff find out *after the fact* about. They’re people as well.
So I think there is one question- contacting the public- and again the employee locator is for people who already know the last name of the individual they’re looking for. I can’t speak for anyone else, but if I am looking for someone I will probably now try a couple of different possibilities, potentially wasting other peoples’ time.
Still, is being “harassed endlessly” by the public a new thing? What does it look like? Do people think getting rid of the Directory will help?
As you can imagine if you read The Smokey Wire (and I had pretty much the same views when I was working) I’ve had my input ignored quite a bit, from line officers and others at all levels. When I was asked what my leadership qualities were, I’d say “I lead in having most ideas dismissed by our Regional Forester.” Not to speak of political appointees, the fores supes, and representatives of the ENGO’s or ski associations (how dare I make suggestions at all?).
So I have six possible hypotheses for these differences:
a) Degree of ownership of project -things matter more the closer to the ground you are, you have more of yourself invested;
b) Proximity of Line Officer. you might expect to personally influence a ranger or supe, but not so much a DRF or RF,
c) Personality (of staff)– my two mantras “the pay’s the same” and “if you’re not the lead mule the scenery never changes.”
d) Personality (of line) some people have jerky tendencies
d) Culture are there are cultural issues that have changed through time.. a change in backgrounds or other characteristics of line officers? a change in expectations of roles at work?
e) Under appeciation of technological expertise as evidenced by..
Please feel free to add your own.
I know there are many TSW folks, line officers and staff, who are working and who have retired.
Please tell us about your own experiences, maybe a specific story, and help us understand.
Holy crap, I don’t buy it; I get some Line Officers are buttheads, but they are still Line. However, I believe the Agency has allowed Line Officers to achieve positions through more of a “task book exercise” than actually building necessary skills by dealing with issues in the trenches. I came up as a GS 03, and always knew I served at the discretion of my superior. And, I’m not sold on “people” being the most important part of the Forest Service, the mission is!
But, I’m different; I come from a family of FS technicians and never squandered my duty to those whom I led. I always treated everyone as an equal, whether I was a GS 04 or 15.
It used to be, the FS was on the cutting edge of technology, employing new ideas and techniques, at the service to the American people. Now it seems, the FS is on the edge of a cliff! If an employee feels the wrath of the public for decisions of Line, somebody (Line) ain’t paying attention!
I’ve worked as a Staff Officer on a District and at the Regional level, but mostly as a Line Officer – not bad for a chicken farmer, eh? The only time I saw a disconnect between Line and Staff was at the Regional Office. And as far as priorities, I can tell ya a Forest Sup certainly does not have the decision space as they once enjoyed…..