FSEEE is accepting applications for the following position (posted April 2009).
FSEEE Advocate
A “JOB DESCRIPTION” FOR A JOB THAT DEFIES DESCRIPTION.
Many of today’s most successful corporations have eliminated the practice of defining a person’s job within rigid, bureaucratic, and hierarchical constraints. For example, at Microsoft Corp., new employees are told to spend several weeks just looking around the company to see where they would like to plug in. Microsoft, a company founded by heretics, thrives on the ingenuity of its employees. Confining those employees to the four corners of a written job description undercuts the very creativity that has made this company among the world’s most successful. (Written before US v. Microsoft!)
At the other end of this spectrum are organizations like the Forest Service and most other government agencies. These organizations have elaborate systems for controlling their employees’ every move and thought. The consequences are devastating and explain many of the Forest Service’s problems.
FSEEE’s mission is to foster an environmentally sensitive resource ethic within the Forest Service. To do so requires, among other things, that we strive to create a Forest Service work environment where that resource ethic can prosper, a workplace where people can blossom. There is no better place for FSEEE to try out new ways of working than at home, in our own workplace. FSEEE is about the size of the permanent staff of a small ranger district. We can learn from our own experiments and, if the lessons are useful, teach them to the Forest Service.
BEING AN ADVOCATE
There is no college course of study in public interest advocacy. Yes, law schools teach courtroom advocacy, but the courtroom is a very small slice of our political society. The FSEEE advocate must be skilled in many arenas, including:
The Forest Service Workplace. FSEEE is no stronger than our committed Forest Service members. Fostering FSEEE membership requires:
respect for each and every Forest Service employee, whether or not we agree with his/her resource ethics;
understanding the bureaucratic straitjacket Forest Service employees often suffer;
listening, listening, and listening to Forest Service folks at every opportunity. An FSEEE advocate’s best sale’s point for FSEEE is that we prefer listening over preaching;
a well-rounded knowledge of Forest Service processes and procedures. Although no one can be an expert on everything that happens on every national forest, a working familiarity with the day-to-day life of a Forest Service employee is important.
getting out of the FSEEE office often and meeting Forest Service folks in their offices and in the field;
letting Forest Service employees know at every opportunity what FSEEE is doing for them and for the environment, including promoting Forest Magazine and encouraging articles by Forest Service folks;
maintaining FSEEE’s independence as a Forest Service employee organization, and not a captive of any environmental group.
The Media. FSEEE uses the media for public education, political influence, grassroots organizing, membership development and fundraising. As a non-profit, we cannot afford to buy media time as corporate giants do. Instead, we invite media interests to do our advertising free of charge. This requires:
cultivating friendly, informal relations with reporters and editors;
giving top priority to media inquiries (reporters work on deadlines that we must respect);
constantly seeking media exposure in every newsworthy thing we do;
digesting complex information and rendering it into simple terms that are accurate, interesting, and quotable without using unnecessary emotional hyperbole.
The People. FSEEE educates and organizes people to take action in defense of the environment. This requires:
an out-going personality that can make a personal link with people from many different walks of life;
public speaking before groups of all types;
making environmental protection a real-life concern to people caught up with the demands of child rearing, making a living, paying the rent, and other pressing day-to-day business;
giving people something meaningful, tangible, yet simple to do to protect the environment.
The Legislature. FSEEE engages in permitted lobbying activities as a 501(c)(3) organization. This requires:
cultivating friendly, informal relations with legislative staff;
developing our reputation as knowledgeable advocates who have our facts straight and organized for the layperson to understand (the lobbyist who once skates over the edge of the truth is never again trusted by legislators or their staff);
understanding how legislation becomes law, including in which chamber bills originate, how committee hearings are structured, how co-sponsors are gathered, the conference committee process, and the basics of parliamentary procedure.
The Scientists. FSEEE relies upon a myriad of scientific and technical people. By association, these experts provide FSEEE credibility, prestige, access to information, help in understanding complex issues and other services. Cultivating these relationships requires:
credibility on our part. Good scientists steer clear of organizations that misuse or oversimplify scientific information;
asking good questions of scientists. Scientists like to teach—give them the chance and we will learn a lot;
organizing scientists to take political action. Scientists can be a very powerful political force, but they usually need to be organized to be effective.
Our Financial Supporters. FSEEE relies upon foundations and our members to provide the financial means necessary to accomplish our mission. Sustaining these finances requires:
cordial personal relationships with our major donors and foundation supporters;
following through on our grant commitments;
being excited about our work and mission and sharing our enthusiasm with our financial supporters.
The advocate’s goal is to change public policy. Existing public policy is generally rooted in political realities. That is, there are usually special interests of one sort or another who favor the status quo. Thus, changing public policy requires changing the political realities. This is fundamental to effective advocacy—we do not work “within” political realities; we change political realities.
However, to be effective, we have to be cognizant of the hurdles we face. Some are best hit head on, others sidestepped. The most effective advocate picks fights that most pundits believe are unwinnable and then proceeds to win them. To do so requires a strategy that synthesizes the six arenas discussed above. For example, we organize scientists and/or Forest Service employees to explain an environmental problem, which we then translate into terms the public can understand and the press can publish. This is followed by a letter writing campaign to Congress to gain co-sponsors on a bill to solve the environmental problem that we shepherd through hearings, passage, and signature by the President. All of this requires that money be raised to pay the bills.
THE FSEEE WORKPLACE
Every FSEEE staff person and volunteer is an FSEEE Advocate. Each brings a unique set of talents and skills to the organization. No one is an expert in all of the six arenas, though each is learning new skills. Thus, we need to help each other to be effective advocates.
We borrow our workplace mantra from a now deceased environmental leader, Ric Sutherland, former President of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund:
”Kick ass, have fun, and don’t f—— up!”
Preferred location is Eugene, OR, but, as with salary, negotiable depending upon the chosen applicant’s skills and preferences. Send appropriate materials to fseee@fseee.org or to PO Box 11615, Eugene, OR 97440.