POSTING NOTICE. Supplements are numbered consecutively by title and calendar year. Post by document name. Remove entire document and replace with this supplement. Retain this transmittal as the first page of this document. The last supplement to this Title was R8 Supplement 1400-94-1 to FSM (1410-1416).

This supplement supersedes Supplement 1400-94-1 to FSM 1410-1416.

Superseded New

Document Name (Number of Pages)

1410-1416 4 6

Digest:

1416.23 - Issues procedures for conducting Regional Forester's General Management Reviews.

ELIZABETH ESTILL

Regional Forester

1416.23 - Regional Forester's and Director's Review Procedures. Evaluate the Forest/Unit management to provide managers with the information needed to make strategic responses to current and emerging situations:

1. Objectives.

a. To monitor progress on meeting the Chief's Natural Resource Agenda and the Government Performance and Results Act (Results Act).

b. To provide an integrated and strategic opportunity for the Regional Forester, Deputy Regional Foresters and Staff Unit Leaders to evaluate program accomplishment as a team in the field.

c. To evaluate the quality of performance in managing natural, people and financial resources of the Region.

d. To provide Forests an opportunity to provide direct feedback to the Regional Forester and Staff Unit Leaders.

e. To look at trends, patterns and general management issues Regionwide by looking at several Forests annually.

f. To look at how effectively the Region is moving toward a multicultural organization.

g. To evaluate the Region's boundaryless behavior.

2. General Management Review Process Overview. Provide managers with the information and feedback needed to establish future management strategies.

a. Evaluate the current management situation on a National Forest, including the results and effectiveness of Forest Plan implementation, amendments and related management operations and activities.

b. Conduct user-friendly reviews and provide direct feedback.

c. Document a set of observations for the Forest Supervisors' consideration that the Forest Supervisors of the reviewed Forests may use to define the management strategy or set of future management conditions that they will strive to achieve.

d. Complete Management Reviews on each National Forest every four or five years in two parts. One part should relate to the management of the specific forest and one part should relate to the management of the Region.

(1) Complete the forest related part of the process after:

(a) The Review team provides the Forest Supervisor with a report that documents its observations.

(b) The Forest Supervisor responds to the observations through the performance appraisal process. The Forest Supervisor should prepare documentation in a manner suitable for internal communication.

(2) Complete the Regional related part of the process after:

(a) All scheduled Reviews have been completed for the Fiscal Year.

(b) The Regional Leadership Team has considered the combined set of observations that seem to warrant Regional attention.

(c) The Regional Forester has incorporated appropriate action into the Regional Program of Work.

e. Select Forests to be reviewed each year based upon the amount of time that has elapsed since the last review, emerging issues, new initiatives, or changes in a Forest's management situation.

f. Each management review is conducted by an interdisciplinary team led by the Deputy Regional Forester. The Regional Forester may be available only for the review close out. The team should consist of:

(1) Deputy Regional Foresters (3)

(2) Forest Supervisor of reviewed Forest

(3) Regional Office Unit Leaders (4 - 6)

(4) Assistant Director from Savannah River Forest Station

(5) Optional - Forest Supervisor from another R-8 Forest or from another Region as interest and/or space dictates.

g. The team may split up for special needs.

3. Planning and Preparing for a General Management Review.

a. The Team Leader and Forest Supervisor should establish the date for the review and the time frames for the prework.

b. Forests to be reviewed and the Review Team Leader are determined by the Regional Forester in the Regional Annual Program of Work. During the year in which a Forest is scheduled for a GMR, Regional Office activity and/or Compliance reviews must not be scheduled for that Forest.

c. The Regional Office Leadership Team Members and Forest Supervisors will be requested to suggest topics that they would like to have considered during the review. Send a consolidated list of the topics suggested for each Forest to the team members and Forest Supervisor. The Forest Supervisor and Team Leader should agree on a list of topics to be reviewed. Based upon the agreed topics, the Forest Supervisor should provide:

(1) A suggested list of people to be contacted.

(2) A proposed agenda. The purpose of the proposed agenda is to help the review team and the Forest reach early agreement about field sites to be visited, the topics that will be discussed at each site, people who will be available for discussion at each site and external contacts to be visited.

(3) A proposed list of prework. The Forest proposed list of prework should include any information the Forest Supervisor wants the review team to become familiar with before the team visits the Forest. The prework should include the following:

(a) A summary of budget trends.

(b) A summary of Forest Plan information, monitoring report and amendments.

(c) A summary of initiatives and special emphasis areas.

(d) A summary of safety record information.

(e) A summary of the changes or trends in the composition of the workforce that have ocurred in the past three years.

(f) A summary of Regional Partnership Programs and projects on the Forest.

(g) A summary of State and Private Forestry programs within the state. Focus on the Forest's support role and communications.

d. The Forest list of prework does not need to include specific information on sites that are to be visited during the review. Site specific information is normally distributed on site.

4. Conducting the Review. Complete the on-site portion of the review in one week. During the on-site portion of the review, the review team should focus its attention on the Forest's management including internal and external relationships and Forest Plan implementation, rather than on specific functional program activities.

Team members are expected to become familiar with the content of the Forest's approved Forest Plan prior to the review. Team members should prepare for each day's activities by reviewing the prework material and objectives for each site visit. The review should be simple and interactive.

5. Guidance to Forests Preparing for a General Management Review.

a. Plan for good exposure to as many units or parts of the Forest as possible.

b. Insure union and employee group involvement.

c. Make an effort to be inclusive of all program aspects of the Forest.

d. Look at opportunities to have field-oriented experiences such as hiking, touring, horseback riding.

e. Make key external contacts an integral part of the review.

f. Assure there is time for the review team to just listen to Forest employees.

g. Allow time for unique specific Forest issues.

h. Provide the opportunity for the review team to share Regional/National direction and strategies.

i. Consider and look for a chance to informally network at a picnic, barbecue or other event.

j. Look for continuity between reviews, but don't be driven by it.

k. Provide review team ample time to meet and prepare observations of the day.

l. Plan for a late morning close-out on Friday. An entrance conference is not necessary.

6. Record Observations.

a. Record observations of the review team as bullet statements. There should be no issue statements, narrative descriptions or lists of alternative actions. Judgement statements such as "the Forest needs to" or "the Forest should" should not be included in the report. Organize the review team's observations into three major sections:

(1) Commendations, notations of some of the positive things observed.

(2) Observations for the Forest Supervisor's consideration.

(3) Observations for the Regional Forester's consideration.

b. The close-out documentation of no more than four pages should be available within two weeks following the review.