You may know the Field Manual in and out and understand how to do everything that you need to do on the Hammer’s Fist administration page, but these things mean very little when it comes to actually leading your unit. As an officer, you are going to be in charge of a relatively large unit of members, all of who are depending on you to make sure that they have things to do and are just having fun in general. They will come to you with questions and concerns, and will likely criticize you both to your face and behind your back. It is important that you have the ability to communicate with your members, understand their concerns, and keep them happy. If you are able to combine all of these skills and run a successful unit, you will really feel like you have accomplished something special.

Communication

Communication is the absolute most important leadership skill that you should focus on as an officer. From the early days of the Emperor’s Hammer, when single player flight simulator gaming was extremely popular, to today when the future lays more in first person shooter multiplayer, a unit that communicates often with one another will achieve much more than those that do not. Units that do not communicate well have members that feel isolated and really only participate in activities for their own enjoyment. Units that have members that communicate well with one another generally have a better turnout for activities. This is because members feel much more like they are part of a unit, and will often participate in activities not only for themselves but to better their unit.

The most simple and common form of communication is through email. Although you should always be emailing your members individually to get to know them more on a personal level, one on one emails do not really do anything to better the community of your unit. A solution to this is to create an email group (Google and Yahoo both host good email group services) for your unit and use it often. Use the email group to have fun conversations with your members and also to keep them constantly informed of ongoing activities.

Another good method of communication is through message boards. The Hammer’s Fist has its own forum on the Emperor’s Hammer message boards, and is often frequented by the EH command staff and HF Special Operations Command. Message boards are a good venue to use for roleplay runons as well.

You should also always be open to communicating through other means, such as instant messaging or voice chat, as well. Voice chat especially is highly popular with multiplayer gamers, so if your unit is heavily focused on gaming, it is highly recommended that you encourage communication through voice chat as well.

Encouraging Activity

One of the biggest mistakes I see leaders make is to treat members like they are actually in the military by ordering them to complete activities “or else”. While we are based on a military dictatorship, role-play as soldiers, and have a military chain of command, we should never treat each other inappropriately on a personal level. While it is perfectly fine to have fun and role-play in character, you should always treat your fellow members with respect.

The best way to encourage activity is to always have something for your members to do. Most of us lead busy lives and cannot always participate in everything that there is to do, but by always providing things to do to your unit, you are giving everyone the opportunity to participate. You should always be encouraging participation through reports and other means of communication, and you should always be clear about the rewards that can be received for participating.

You should always be consistent when it comes to awarding medals and promotions. While you should never hand out awards too easily, you should make sure that you have a set standard that allows every member the opportunity to be recognized for their efforts. You should make a big event out of promotions and medal awards to your unit so that other members can see what they could be getting. A good idea is to write a paragraph or two in character that describes the award or promotion ceremony.

Finally, you should always be working together with those above you in your chain of command. While you have authority over the happenings of your unit, your superior officers may have their own set standards or procedures that you will need to follow. It is important that you develop a good relationship with your superiors to ensure everything runs smoothly with minimal confusion.

Abuse of Power

As an officer, you will have certain privileges that other members do not. If you ever want to be a successful leader in this group, you should never abuse these privileges that you have been trusted with. Doing so not only compromises trust with your superior officers, who are responsible for your actions, but with your unit’s members as well.

The biggest abuse of power that many leaders commit without even knowing is favoritism. Favoritism is easy to commit accidentally, so you should always be watching yourself to make sure you are treating everyone in your unit equally. An example of favoritism would be this: PFC Bob and PFC George have both been equally performing well over the last couple months and are both eligible for a promotion to SPC. PFC Bob is a good friend of yours, and you have a good relationship with him. You talk to him often privately over non Hammer’s Fist matters. You do not have a good personal relationship with PFC George, but he has been doing just as well in the Hammer’s Fist as PFC Bob. When it comes time for promotion, you immediately promote PFC Bob to SPC. However, you don’t realize until a month later that PFC George was also up for a promotion, so he does not get his promotion to SPC until a month later. While you may not have intended for this to happen, you have just committed an act of favoritism, which is an abuse of power. Other abuses include treating a member poorly due to personal conflicts, using your position to influence other members into acting improperly, etc.

Most accidental abuses that you are caught committing will simply result in a private reprimand by your superiors. But if you are ever caught purposely abusing your power as an officer, you could face demotion or worse by the Emperor’s Hammer Security Officer.