| | "Our goal is effective decision making at all levels of the FWC."
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In this section we lay out the strategies we will employ to accomplish our mission. They are not in priority order. Divisions and offices have plans that specifically address implementation of these strategies. Develop proactive, integrated research that anticipates emerging issues and ensures positive resource outcomes. Develop leading-edge resource management programs. Develop proactive, preventative enforcement programs that enable FWC to avoid potential and emerging problems.
Develop fish and wildlife recreation opportunities and programs that foster resource stewardship. Improve our resource leadership position by clearly communicating where we are headed, why it is important, and how we plan to get there. Increase stakeholder involvement and interaction on emerging issues to proactively reduce resource conflicts. Initiate partnerships as a means of addressing the big resource issues facing Florida. Integrate human dimensions insights into management planning and decision making.
Integrate human dimensions... | | Human dimensions is about recognizing humans as part of the fish and wildlife management equation and considering human issues in management planning and decision making. Insights come from understanding how people value fish and wildlife, how they want fish and wildlife to be managed and how they affect or are affected by fish and wildlife and fish and wildlife management decisions. Activities involving human dimensions include social science research, public participation, stakeholder involvement and policy analysis. This strategy is about learning more about the human part of the management equation and integrating those insights into our management planning and decision making, including setting objectives and designing management interventions. |
Integrate our activities to better achieve sustainable populations of species, protect critical habitat and high quality environmental resources. Foster and develop the multi-disciplinary expertise of the FWC needed to ensure strategic, integrated solutions that address and solve resource problems. Build a collaborative workforce built on professionalism, with the skills and resources needed to maximize effectiveness.
Agency Code of ConductAs we implement this plan, we will do so in a manner consistent with the value we place on respect for the individual and recognition of what teamwork, genuinely employed, can accomplish. Lead and Make Informed Decisions FWC leadership is about: creating a vision, aligning agency resources to accomplish the vision, and empowering people to do the work. We will work with our employees, customers and stakeholders to set the vision for Florida's fish and wildlife future, align the resources and empower people to make this vision a reality. These, in no order of priority, are our guides. Balance the needs of citizens with the needs of the resource, putting the resource first in our decisions and actions.
Balance the needs... | The paramount objective of resource management decision-making is to maintain the long-term well-being of the fish and wildlife resources of our state for the benefit of our citizens. We seek to base decisions on the best information available, including biological, sociological, economic, cultural, historical and other information deemed relevant by the Commission. The biological basis for decision-making includes stock assessments, biological surveys, management plans and other science-based studies or information.
With respect to harvested populations, we seek to permit reasonable means and quantities of harvest, consistent with optimum sustainable populations. Optimum sustainable populations shall mean the highest degree of population productivity within available habitat to sustain fish and wildlife for the long term use or enjoyment of citizens. |
Make resource decisions based on the best available science with a balance of enforcement and management practicality.
Make Resource Decisions... | Our goal is effective decision-making at all levels of the FWC. We believe that decisions should be guided by objective scientific information and that subject-matter experts are integral in framing decisions.
Decision-making can be broadly categorized as: (1) operational or programmatic, (2) public policy development, and (3) regulatory. It should be recognized that all FWC employees are expected to have a role in making operational or programmatic decisions. This perspective is reflected in our desire to push decision-making to the level closest to the issue. To do this, agency leadership must facilitate informed decision-making rather than making all of the decisions. The process is to: (1) delegate more decisions, (2) identify the appropriate level for making the decision, and (3) convey any constraints, terms and conditions that should be considered when making a decision. If successful, this will break the decision bottlenecks and improve the timeliness of decisions.
Decision-making related to public policy development and regulations is the prerogative of the Commissioners. In formulating these decisions, the Commission must assess and evaluate a broad array of data and information based on biological science, social science, and public preference. The role of FWC employees is to use the best available science to recommend baselines, thresholds, or a range of values that will serve as the constraints for decision-making. In doing so, it needs to be recognized that many decisions are made with incomplete or less than perfect science and that some decisions are time-sensitive. The desired outcome is to use science to provide the framework within which decisions are made.
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Make consistent, thoughtful and timely decisions that keep pace with the needs of the resource. Seek first to influence others rather than regulate them. Develop collaborative approaches to address conservation needs. Be proactive in our actions, anticipating emerging issues and getting out in front of them.
Be proactive in our actions... | | Being proactive means recognizing our responsibility to make things happen. It's taking the initiative and getting out in front of issues before they run us over. It means identifying potential issues and acting upon those most likely to need our attention soonest. By being proactive, we are better able to commit time and energy to our priorities and do less "fire-fighting". |
Adopt a landscape or big picture approach that uses interdisciplinary teams to address complex resource-management issues.
Adopt a landscape or big picture approach... | | The Landscape or Big Picture perspective recognizes that we cannot examine or manage complex systems one component at a time. We must focus on how species, habitats, and human influences are inter-connected, in addition to understanding specific attributes of each. Our perspective cannot be restricted to a specific temporal or spatial scale and must take into account the actions of other agencies with missions that potentially overlap FWC’s. There are institutional and ecological components to this perspective. We cannot accomplish our mission without understanding how our decisions fit into and integrate with those of other natural resource agencies. Also, we must understand how our management actions impact the structure and function of natural systems as a whole with humans considered as part of those systems. |
Effectively involve citizens and staff who are closest to an issue in the decision-making process. Use teamwork and collaboration to integrate our work effort.
Use teamwork and collaboration... | Integration is the act of forming into a functioning or unified whole (Merriam-Webster Online dictionary). Prior to Restructuring in 2003, we had merged but not integrated. In the Restructure we achieved some integration by combining like functions together in divisions and offices. Examples: we had licensing & permitting in 3 divisions and an office. But this only gets us part way to full integration – teaming, i.e., working in cross-functional groups, gets us the rest of the way.
When you look at our Agency-level and DOI plans, a lot of our work is cross-functional, i.e., cuts across more than one DOI (remember each DOI has a different function, e.g., enforcement, research, habitat & species management, etc.). So we want staff available to work on whatever work is most needed and that they could contribute to, in effect, making them available to the entire organization. Teams are an important way to do this.
That said teamwork is more than just being on a formal team. Teamwork is also about all of us working together to plan and to implement because we can do a better job if we bring all FWC’s expertise to bear. We want to use our multi-disciplinary strengths to create better decisions and better results.
As you make decisions, think “who else other than me is affected by these decisions and who among those affected needs to be aware of or involved in them?†Here’s the checklist:- Do you need the assistance of others? Do others need your assistance?
- Does your work significantly affect the work of others?
- Do others depend on your output?
- Has everyone affected by your work been informed and involved in the planning process?
Figure out who you need to integrate with and do it. Use DOI operational priorities as a guide. |
Communicate well up and down the organization, across the organization, and externally with others.
Communicate well up and down... | | Communication is about exchanging information – clearly, concisely and with no loss of content or meaning. We use the term "3-Dimensional communication" to refer to communication up and down your division, office, or institute chain of command, across divisions and offices, and from FWC to those outside FWC. FWC staff tells us we need to do a better job of listening to their issues and letting them know they have been heard. Communication is a two-way street: don’t forget to listen. You have to take some initiative. Speak up when you have issues and come with ideas on possible solutions. 
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