My partner and I bought a forest a few years ago in the Olympic Peninsula, known as “Earthbound”. It was intended as simply investment diversification, but the first time we walked and cleaned a trail, I knew that I’d found a new purpose. For someone who generally disliked yard work and gardening, not to mention camping, this was especially unexpected. But for my partner and myself, it was the real-life realization of years of creative gaming where we built things together (Minecraft being the most straightforward example), and provided us with a place far away from the complexities of “real life”; somewhere we could regularly reconnect with, and tend to, The Garden.
Unlike many of the well-groomed tree-stands or fields of Scot’s broom, our parcel was logged some 20 years ago, and then just let grow wild. It has relatively strong biodiversity, but was also an un-navigable $#!&pile (and fire hazard) of a space. As I approach 50, and am in need of “tuning my machine” so I can see 60, the steady stream of work in tending, curating, and burning of much of our hazard brush has made Earthbound easily the most real-world and cost-effective gym membership I have ever had. And part and parcel of this work has been learning to build and tend a fire capable of dealing with damp, would-be-flammable material. Three years into this process, this past Wednesday was yet another long day spent combining dry brush, sticks, chopped logs, and a daunting mass of wet, didn’t-see-the-sun-for-six-months green waste that will easily turn into a fire hazard in the coming weeks. Time, focus, and the patience for reflection yielded some interesting insights into the nature of firebuilding, and strategies for motivating teams.
Generally speaking, you make a fire with a combination of tinder, kindling, and fuel. And if you’re doing a brush burn – as I often do – you build a fire that can steadily consume enough fuel (and therefore generate enough heat) to burn through wet and dirty brush, and pieces like stumps that can be resilient in the face of extreme temperatures. The rough differences between tinder, kindling, and fuel have to do with their combustibility – how easily they catch fire, and their resilience under that state. Additionally, factors such as size, dampness, and the specific material can alter these two characteristics.
Tinder is the starting point for any fire, characterized by extremely dry, easily flammable material. Newspaper is great tinder, for example. Fun fact: I subscribe to the Seattle Times for the articles, and would prefer a digital-only subscription. As they apparently are still looking to justify their expenses around delivery, this subscription requires a paper delivery as well. Between that and a fair amount of packing material, I have plenty of tinder onsite. With a large pile of tinder, I can be assured of a roaring blaze of a fire, full of heat and light, for a few minutes at best. But because tinder lacks substance, its effects are fleeting. Critical in the early stages, but ultimately short-lived, and you need to be ready with the next tier in firemaking: kindling.
Kindling has some substance (unlike tinder) but still should be relatively easy to light and sustain. With enough tinder, kindling can be brought to sufficient temperature that it catches fire as well. Without this, the flame simply burns around the kindling, making a fiery show of bark while ultimately failing to ignite anything. When the tinder has burned out, you’ll be left with smoking kindling that will eventually cool. Once the kindling has caught fire, you can add additional kindling to increase the heat. Over time, this buildup of the fire will cause kindling to be quickly consumed. This can land you in the same state as over-using tinder: a pile of ash that burns itself out without leaving anything behind that can restart the fire. To avoid this, you need to be prepared with the next scale and size of material - fuel.
Fuel is what ultimately builds and sustains the fire. In my world, this is typically logs from felled trees. A log sufficiently heated to catch fire can sustain itself for hours. This is an important hazard and highlights the need to sufficiently douse campfires and brush burns. Ideally, a log is split into smaller pieces that are easier to manage, and prevent the fire from getting so hot that it burns out everything smaller. If you manage the size and rate of the fuel, you can generally sustain a burn with only fuel. But if, like me, you’re trying to burn brush – wet and dirty material that doesn’t actually work as tinder, kindling, or fuel – you’ll need to revert back to various forms of kindling and even tinder as the heat and power of the fire wanes under less flammable obstacles.
I see many parallels in this behavior and mechanic, and that of developing and maturing a team. Think of the tinder, kindling, and fuel as the motivators for your team. Tinder represents simple, easy wins that can bring cohesion and clarity. These achievements can be highlighted with recognition, reward, and other mechanisms that can help build the “fire” in your team. Morale events, summits, and team-building exercises are great examples of tinder here as well. But without advancing to the next stage, this is just a “fluff” exercise. See many financial scams that are built entirely on tinder to give the illusion of heat.
Kindling, on the other hand, can be thought of as basic tasks and accomplishment. Kindling is about actually getting things done, though they aren’t the true fuel that you’re looking to burn. They are about the tactics that can get you to strategic goals, and can often represent administrative and organizational tasks. Kindling is ideally supported by tinder as motivators and mechanics that recognize, reward, and create virtuous cycles of accomplishment. But ultimately, you need to remember that your team’s goal is not kindling – it is consumption of fuel.
In this overextended metaphor, consumption of fuel is the purpose of the team. It represents large goals and moonshots. But like firemaking, those goals are best split into smaller, more digestible pieces (milestones). You can “dry” them with sufficient planning and up-front design, and make them easier to achieve. When really optimized, the end of each of those milestones can leave coals: heat-producing remnants that can easily restart, or be spread to start new fires. Think of coals as the major recognition of accomplishments. While simple rewards might provide some lasting motivation for future efforts, we can be more creative about the “coals” left behind with each completed milestone. Celebrations, retrospectives, branded schwag and mementos can all create lasting fuel for future efforts. Though like the fire in the real-world, they don’t last forever. You need to be ready to capitalize on your coals with whatever comes next. Many a great effort has been derailed by failing to capitalize on the “win” in the moment, when the team is in the best state to move to what’s next.
Did this metaphor resonate with you? Do you have examples of tinder, kindling, or coals that have worked for you? Maybe you have a more relevant metaphor, or think it’s all poppycock! I’d love to hear from you below!
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