Introduction

A leader in any setting, whether online or off has one primary goal and that is to accomplish tasks in the most efficient and effective manner, while making the experience as beneficial as possible to the group they lead. Now, there are as many different command styles as there are people willing to command. Each person will undertake the role of leader in their own fashion and using their own unique talents. This course is intended to be a primer on the core concepts of command and leadership that everyone utilizes in their own way.

With that in mind, I encourage you to read through this course and absorb these core concepts for use in your own command and to make use of them as you see fit. As long as you follow your procedures and rules, there is no “correct” way to inspire and motivate those under your command.

Qualities of Good Leadership

Good leaders, as mentioned before come in all types and from all cultural backgrounds, there is no single formula for describing a good leader, but interestingly they do share common traits.

1. Honesty
   I can’t stress this one strongly enough. A good leader is honest and forthright. This not only applies to how a leader deals with others but also with themselves. No one ever achieves the respect of his superiors, his peers or the people under his command by being dishonest. You need to be honest with yourself when you assume a leadership role and become responsible for a unit and its membership.
   
   Everyone needs help from time to time so ask for it when you need it. No one will ever fault you for this. Don’t deceive yourself otherwise, you will end up doing more harm than good. When interacting with others, whether above or below you in the chain of command it is always best to be honest. Gaining the trust of those around you is an essential part of leadership. Whether it’s your subordinates or your boss, they would much rather know that they are interacting with someone they can trust to keep their word rather than someone who makes promises that sound wonderful and then doesn’t follow through. No one will ever fault you for telling the truth and being genuine. Putting this into practice means standing by what you say and setting an example by telling the truth. You really cannot expect anyone to believe you and more importantly believe in you if you have been dishonest with them. Never make promises you can’t keep and always follow through when you say you’ll do something. Being honest isn’t only a good leadership trait; it simply makes good sense to practice.
   
2. Responsibility
   Responsibility will come in many forms and have many different names when you assume a leadership position, but what it comes down to in its simplest terms is that the success or failure of the people in your command lies with you. It’s not just filing reports and recommendations when you are required to. You can follow the rules and fulfill every regulation in the books and be a failure as a leader. You are responsible for every task you undertake and ultimately the welfare of your people. It sounds intimidating doesn’t it? It should, because it is a lot to carry on your shoulders. Now some people will say that I’m exaggerating things and they are entitled to that opinion. But consider this: If every leader in a group took the attitude that his work wasn’t to make the group as a whole better, but only to file reports, where would that leave us as a club? Now I’m not saying you have to, or even should worry about every decision made in the club. Other leaders are around and responsible for those things, but by doing all you can to make your area of responsibility perform as well as possible, it makes everyone’s job a little easier and more enjoyable. And that’s what we’re here for, to enjoy ourselves. If you shirk your responsibility it is left for another leader to take up that slack and in the worst case it may never be taken care of and we as a club become less than what we were.
   
3. A Sense of Duty
   This goes hand in hand with the first two qualities. It’s important that you have a sense of duty to not only the EH as a whole, but to those in your command. This is more than the responsibility mentioned before it’s an understanding that by accepting the position of leadership and the respect that goes with it you have also accepted the duty of living up to the respect and authority you’ve been given. When people give you the ability to direct their time you have a duty to make that time as productive and enjoyable as possible. This isn’t a lecture about ‘pleasing’ people either. Sometimes you, as a leader, will be called upon to make an unpopular decision for the good of the group. You will often be asked to give more than anyone in your command or to make sacrifices to achieve goals. Because you’ve accepted a leadership position it is your duty to do so. You may have to spend time judging competition results or writing a report when you’d rather be gaming or working on a pet project of your own, but it’s your duty to put aside your immediate desires to do what’s right for the group. The good news here is that doing your duty is almost always more rewarding in the long run than anything I can think of. In the end it even becomes fun as you see the positive results of your effort.
   
4. A Sense of Fun
   This is another essential leadership quality that all too often is overlooked or thought of as unimportant. A sense of fun is essential to being a good leader. I’m sure we’ve all had experiences with leaders that have no sense of fun. What usually happens is that we follow them, drudging along through task after task with no real enjoyment or sense of accomplishment. You as a leader need to make things as fun as possible for those under your command. Surprisingly even reports can be fun to write and read if a good leader makes them that way. Don’t be afraid to tell a joke or do something for the group that’s purely for fun. Not everything is about cut throat competition and discipline. Sometimes people need a laugh. Now, not everything can be exclusively fun as there is hard work to be done, but a leader that has a sense of fun can make even the most unwelcome task a little better by keeping the mood light and avoiding doom and gloom. You’re a leader and people listen to you, if you tell them something is going to be horrible and boring I can assure you that it will be.
   
5. Approachability and Receptiveness to Individual Initiative
   I combine these two traits because they are essentially two sides of the same coin. Good leaders are approachable and eager to hear from those they lead. This means that they actually want to hear member’s ideas and encourage those they lead to think for themselves. Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is to simply listen and support the ideas of an active and ambitious member. Just because you are a leader doesn’t mean all the work is yours and yours alone. Everyone should contribute and some want to contribute more than average or have specific ideas they want to pursue. A good leader recognizes this and encourages it in his people. The people you lead shouldn’t have to wait for you to give them their directions and when they take initiative, support that, don’t discourage it. This also applies both ways. Don’t wait around for those above you to tell you what to do get started now and do something. Nothing says leadership like rising to an occasion to fill a gap without needing to be told to do so. Since this is a trait you want in yourself, encourage it when you see it in others.

Being a Leader

Now that we know what kind of traits a leader has, we can start looking at what a leader does. There are functions that just can’t be fulfilled by anyone but a leader. That’s why all over the world, whether in business, government, sports, or academics you find leadership positions. Leaders can be computer programmers or cooks and they all fulfill essentially the same functions. They motivate the people they lead, they promote activity in their group, they reward positive results and discipline negative behavior, and they support and enforce the chain of command they are a part of. Some leaders have additional functions, and some share these functions with other leaders, but all of them in some way are involved in these five functions.

1. Motivate
   Depending on who you ask, this is either the easiest or most difficult part of the job. Motivating the people you lead is an essential task for a leader. If you can’t get them motivated then they and you are not going to produce very many results. So, how do you motivate people? Well that’s a tricky question because people are not cardboard cutouts and they can change from day to day. There are a lot of things you can do to keep the motivation going though. What follows is some advice on how to do that.
   

   You need to appeal to people’s interests. If someone is interested in writing a story, then encourage them to do so. Sounds simple doesn’t it? It is. When you know your people, you know their interests and abilities. If something comes up that fits their skills and interests, then be sure to nudge them in that direction. People are most easily led to where they want to go anyway. Just step out front and show them how to get there, then stand back and offer whatever support you can while they do what they like. Here’s where the trick comes in. Even when people are doing something they like, it has to be meaningful or it loses its enjoyment and there is no sense of accomplishment. You can do a lot as a leader to keep activity meaningful, other than just pointing at an activity and smiling. Sure that gets someone going, but they need follow up. If just finding the activity for others was enough to be a leader, then a directory could lead people. As a leader you need to show a continued interest in what your people are doing. Even if you have no knowledge or skill in the activity, just listening and appreciating the time and effort that goes into it is usually enough.

   Also, make sure that you thank your people for doing the activity. What? Thank them for doing something they like? Something you found for them to do? Something you told them to do? Yes. It’s as simple as that. Hopefully, you actually do appreciate the fact that they did something positive for the group, which in turn reflects well on you. But if you need another reason to thank someone, then here you go: Whenever a member does something positive or competes in a contest, or just ‘hangs out,” they are building up the EH. There’s nothing difficult to understand about that. They’ve added something to the club we all love and even if it isn’t in your area it makes us all stronger as a group and more likely to succeed. That deserves thanks. You’d be surprised at how rarely people are thanked for their time and efforts. Even if those you lead do not win a contest they participate in, make sure they know that you appreciate the effort they put in. No one wins all the time and placing second or even last still deserves your thanks for the effort and time they put in for the group. Of course, you can encourage them to do better next time or emphasize more practice or training, but if they think you only care when they ‘win.’ You’ll not only lose a lot of motivation, you’ll lose a lot of their respect and probably their friendship.

   Another source of motivation is tradition. People like to feel like they are part of a larger group. They like to know that they’ve joined something greater than themselves. When you can add your mark to something that large it feels like a real accomplishment. You as a leader can help with this. Make sure the group you lead knows how big the Emperor’s Hammer is and what it has done in the past. The history of your group is also important. Members like to know that they are following in the footsteps of people that have gone on to great things. If a former member of your group is now part of Command Staff it’s a good idea to promote the fact. If there are custom levels or missions or even fiction featuring your group make sure to promote that too. This sense of history and tradition cannot be overvalued. In life outside the internet many institutions such as universities and corporations use it is an advertising and recruiting tool, because people want to be a part of a winning team. It also gives your members something to strive for. It makes them want to equal or surpass what has gone before and add their own ‘legend’ to the history of your group.

2. Promote Activity
   This is probably the thing that will get most of your attention during your tenure as a leader in the Emperor’s Hammer. The group you lead will want things to do and your superiors will expect that you create or promote activities for your members or for the unit. So how do you do that? Relax; this one is fairly simple if you have your group motivated. The first thing to do is get people active on your group’s platform. If you have a competition featuring that platform and have motivated members, you’ll have activity. Pilots will fly, troopers will shoot, governors will conquer, and Sith will duel. No problem right?
   

   Alright then let’s talk about levels of activity. You as the leader of the group will usually be looking to keep everyone as active as possible and that’s your job. So how do you do that without burning everyone out? Well there are a few ways to go about it. One strategy is to run your small comps and rely on your superiors to add things. Don’t do this. While you should always be aware of what activities are available outside of your command and promote them, never rely on your superiors or worse nag them for activities. Those sorts of activity are supplements to your ‘normal’ activity and coincidentally are usually a chance for you to be more active. Instead broaden what your group does. Mix in some non platform activities and don’t be afraid to run them concurrently. Having a choice of what they can officially participate in makes most people happy. Another thing to keep in mind is to “stagger” the activities. Have competitions that start and end several days apart instead of starting and ending everything at the same time. When you do this you always have at least one competition ’active.’ It also lets really active members always have something to do by spacing out their activities for them. As a final bonus, staggering competitions keeps you from being flooded with judging duties all at once. When you have them come in every few days it gives you time to compare results, log the activity of your members for a report and release the results before starting on your next task.

   Now that takes care of activity right? Wrong. You’re a leader and want to make sure you offer the best possible choice of activities to those you lead right? Right. So how do we as leaders do that? Well, we gang up. Seriously. Go find another leader and do an inter group competition. If you share the same platform it is easy and you get some rivalry added in to lure members. Plus since you’ve already got a full schedule running all those competitions you can share the duties on inter group competitions with another leader. This sort of activity reaps added benefits too. It gets members from both groups socializing and working with each other. You get to make friends with another leader and the Emperor’s Hammer gets stronger. It's all good stuff. Now, if you don’t share a platform with a group you are interested in doing a competition with, there are alternatives. Try something like a run-on, or a trivia contest. There is also the option of simply competing for activity. Which group can complete the most missions or assignments on their platform in a certain amount of time? Then there is the idea of a cooperative activity rather than a competition. Weave a plotline around both groups that allows each to use their platform of choice. As an example, a group of pilots might fly a set of missions that focuses on retaking a system and then a group of Troopers or Jedi might have some dueling matches or fiction based around occupying the planets in that system. If you choose to do this it’s absolutely necessary to make sure that the results of the activities are communicated to each participating group and that they see how each has affected the other, otherwise this is just another small comp with a pretty packaging.

   So now we’re done right? Nope. Don’t forget that we are a club. We do this because we have common interests and are looking for others with the same interests to interact with. So in addition to the competitions you run you are also the social director of your group. It’s your job to lead in that area as well. The good news is you have a lot of options at your disposal. You can use message boards, Google groups, IRC, instant messengers, chat rooms, emails, etc. Whatever is most comfortable and accessible for the group you lead. It shouldn’t be too difficult finding things to talk about either. We’re all Star Wars fans of one sort or another. The movies are always a good place to start, then there are the books, the comics, the cartoons, and of course, the games. Keep things light here and make it fun. This should be one of your more enjoyable and easy ‘duties.” A word of advice: Review the Articles of War. As a leader it’s your responsibility to keep things not only fun, but also family friendly. Always remember the people you lead could be thirteen years old and from vastly different cultures so when in doubt be as ‘vanilla’ as you think necessary.

3. Rewards and Discipline
   Now we get to the most rewarding and the most trying part of being a leader. As a leader it will be in your hands to reward members for doing well and discipline members for breaking the rules. Now your hands can wear the ‘Iron Gloves of Authority’ or the ‘Silk Gloves of Persuasion,’ and some people see that as the choices they have and nothing else. Leadership relies on moderating between those extremes. No one rushes to line up to join a dictatorship, regardless of our club’s fictional premise. Then again most people want direction and guidance rather than sheer anarchy. A large portion of your command style will arise from where you put yourself on that spectrum.
   

   Now rewarding people for their activity may seem like a great time and an easy thing to do, but scratch the surface and it becomes much more complex. As a leader you hand out rewards and by doing so you decide what activities and behaviors are encouraged most in your group. You can talk all you want about teamwork, but if you hand out far more awards for individual achievement than you do for group accomplishments then the message is clear: “This leader wants us to achieve as individuals.” Always be aware of what message you are sending with your actions regarding awards and promotions. You can confuse your group and undermine their efforts if you say one thing then reward based on something else.

   Another thing to keep in mind is fairness and impartiality toward members. No leader wants to be known as someone who plays favorites. Chances are that if you get that reputation, then you’ll only have your ‘favorites’ around. This is where you keeping records of all activities and awards given is very important. Those records are not just for reports and are extremely valuable tools. Set yourself a manageable timeframe and review what you’ve awarded and disciplined people for. I recommend a month as this is long enough for patterns to emerge and short enough to correct any problems before they get out of hand. Look for patterns in what sort of activity has earned the most awards and what the least. The same goes for discipline. If you notice that you have a tendency to discipline often and for a certain repeated behavior then you need to ask yourself why these patterns are there.

   In the case of awards it may be that you are pushing a certain aspect of the club and your awards reflect that. This may even be intentional on your part and if so, then good job. In the case of discipline you need to be seriously worried about any sort of repeated pattern. If there is a repeated pattern in disciplinary measures taken then it indicates one of two things: Either your discipline is not correcting a problem in your membership, or you are being harsh and unfair in your discipline.

   There are other concerns in rewarding and disciplining members as well. Sometimes members do things, good or bad, that doesn’t quite merit ‘official’ action. Does this mean we ignore those actions as a leader? No, it means that we respond in an ‘unofficial’ manner. If the action was a good one, then make sure you note the activity in your records and then make a point of thanking or encouraging the member for what they did. A simple ‘Atta boy!’ goes a long way and lets the member know that you noticed what they did. If the action was a negative one also make note of it in your records then make a point of contacting the member and discussing it with them. Make sure you understand what I just said. Discuss it with them. Do not yell, berate, nag, etc. If the action was small enough to not merit official notice then keep it that way. Minor misbehaviors can often be traced to confusion on rules or an isolated incident that came from a bad day or personality conflict. If you can resolve minor infractions at this level then do so. If you are upset enough to yell or berate a member then either you have lost your impartiality or it does indeed merit an ‘official’ action and you are trying the wrong solution to the problem. Never be the leader that yells at his membership. If you are angry, take some time to calm down and review the problem. If you are still angry then consider official actions or be honest and admit you’ve lost your impartiality and ask your leader for help on this issue. Chances are they will not be as involved in the problem and be able to give you good advice as to what to do.

4. Chain of Command
   Always respect the Chain of Command. When you are a leader you are part of an established CoC. You must abide by it and respect it. If you ignore the CoC, then those you lead will as well. Now it may often be quicker and easier at times to go “straight to the source” and approach a high ranking club member on irc, but it’s improper, rude, and frankly will make you few friends. Consider how you would feel if the people you lead bypassed you to get answers and help, and how that would make you look.
   

   When you bypass the CoC you are sending a message that you either have no confidence in your immediate superiors or that you don’t care about the CoC itself. This is not a good message to be sending as it does neither you nor your superiors any favors. Because the person you do ask will make note of the event and wonder why they are wasting their time doing someone else’s job.

   Another thing to keep in mind as a leader is that the CoC flows both ways. If you have another leader under your command and one of his members approaches you, politely refer the member back to their immediate superior whenever possible.

   The exception to this is if a serious problem has developed between someone and their immediate superior. When this happens, it’s appropriate to take the issue to the next highest person in the CoC. Make sure that the problem is a serious one though, this is not something to be done lightly as it disrupts the duties and activities of everyone involved and no one will thank you for doing that on something trivial. When in doubt, consult the Articles of War and/or your specific Group’s manual for details on the CoC and conflict resolution.

Recruiting and Welcoming New Members

This is another of those essential tasks that often gets overlooked or treated as unimportant. New members are the lifeblood of any online club. They come in and add their talents and energies to our and make us better and stronger as a group. On a practical side they also replace members we lose through natural attrition like retirement and extended leaves of absence.

No matter what you are doing, you should have the thought of attracting new members in the back of your mind. Even if your unit is full of extremely active and productive members, you need to think of recruiting more. Now this may sound counter intuitive, but it’s true. Eventually you’ll have open spots to fill and no leader wants to have to search for someone to fill them. If you’ve been keeping up on your recruiting there should be enough people in the club as a whole that the spot doesn’t stay empty for long. Keep in mind the rules and regulations regarding recruiting in the EH but outside of that do whatever you think might help. Try to attract members by targeting places where people of similar interest hang out online. Look at Message Boards, Fan Fiction Sites, Modding Communities, Game Servers, etc. All are opportunities to grow the club as a whole and your unit in particular. Encourage your members to talk up the EH when they get the opportunity and to proudly display their membership in the EH when elsewhere. A simple EH in your handle at a message board or on a server often gets enough interest that people will ask about it and give you the opportunity to do some recruiting. Having said that, do not Spam. It’s rude, disruptive and gives everyone in the EH a bad reputation to live down with an entire online community. Don’t push. No pressure ‘sales’ when recruiting. Get people interested and answer their questions and then back off and offer to help if they are interested. Pressuring potential recruits more often drives them away than gets them to join. Maybe even have an ‘open’ gaming night where you can invite potential recruits to join in an EH game of Jedi Knight, or Empire at War, or X-Wing Alliance. Let them get a ‘taste’ of the club and see what we are all about and what we have to offer.

Now, once you get recruiting going, the next step is welcoming new members and making sure they feel comfortable in your unit and have access to everything they need. I recommend a Welcome Letter. Make sure it includes any information a recruit might need and makes them truly feel 'welcome.'

Regardless of whether you use a Welcome Letter, there are some things you, as a leader, need to make sure every new member knows. The first is that they are, well, welcome. If you aren’t happy to see a new face in your unit and one that’s eager to participate then I think you’ve missed the entire point of this course. Make sure the new member knows that they are welcome and a valued part of the group. Don’t underestimate the effect this has. It can really motivate someone to get active right away when they get a warm reception and personal attention.

You also need to get the new member up to speed on current events within your unit and the EH as a whole. Let them know what the Eh has to offer from new courses in the academies to custom battles and patches, to ongoing competitions and make sure they know where to go to get the information on their own if they want to. Membership doesn’t do them any good if they have no idea what is available and how to get access to it.

Lastly make sure the new member is up to date on communication within the unit and the EH. They may need irc explained to them and some help getting it set up. As a leader it’s your job to help them. They’ll need to know we have message boards available and that many of us use Instant Messengers outside of irc and where to find contact information for everyone. If you use a Google group then make sure they are added to the mailing list and let them know about it. If you have a unit website then they need that address as well as your Subgroup’s main address and the main EH address too. Don’t assume they will figure things out on their own. We often take things like this for granted because we have been using them so long. To someone new, this is a lot of information to absorb, and can often be intimidating and overwhelming. Help them along as they explore what’s available and make sure to introduce them to others in the club so they have people to talk with and ask for help other than you. You can’t be available 24/7 no matter how good a leader you are and you want to make sure they always have someone to go to for help and people to socialize with.

Mentoring

The last thing I’d like to talk about is mentoring. What this comes down to is that you will eventually move up or move on from your leadership position. What happens then? Well, ideally you will have noticed leadership potential in at least one person during your tenure as a leader and will have developed it. That way someone will be ready to assume the leadership role when you aren’t there. Yes, as a leader, you have to look ahead to the time when you won’t be leading anymore and do your best to make sure your unit continues to succeed. Some leaders don’t worry about this or say it’s the next leader’s responsibility. This is both irresponsible and short sighted. After all, your accomplishments and work as a leader will be for nothing if the unit falls apart after you are gone.

Sometimes the group you lead will have leadership positions beneath you and these spots can be excellent training areas for people to get ready for the next level of leadership. Put people there that have an interest in or talent for leadership to get them some experience. Once they get comfortable start teaching them parts of your job and how you go about doing it.

If you don’t have junior officers in your group then it is perfectly acceptable to have an ‘unofficial ‘ second in command that you take under your wing and teach your job. After all everyone eventually will have to take a leave of absence for a few days or a week and there needs to be someone to fill your spot when you do.

Regardless of those circumstances, it falls to you to teach people that are interested in what you do and how you do it as a leader. I’m sure someone has taught you aspects of leadership in your life and this is a way of ‘paying it forward.’ Not only will it insure the future of your unit, it will also reap direct benefits to you now as you’ll have backup. If you need help with a comp then go to your leaders in training. Need to take a week off for exams or vacation? It can be stress free if you have someone you trust, that you trained to fill in. In addition, the junior leaders can also be of help to you when things get hectic. If they seem interested, have them help in basic duties occasionally, like writing a weekly report. Do not abuse this, these things are still your job, but if you have an opportunity to give a leader in training hands on experience, do so. All the courses and training in the world cannot replace experience. Also, make sure that when you give them a project where they help you that you are available for questions and support. This is a learning experience, not free slave labor for you as the leader. Also, be sure to thank them when they are done for their help and make sure you praise them for what they did well and instruct them on what could have been done better.

If you do these things you will leave behind a legacy even greater than your personal achievements while leading. You’ll leave behind a new generation of leaders and be able to enjoy what you move on to even more.

Conclusion

I know that this is an extremely long course and a lot to take in at one time but all of this information is important to a well rounded successful leader. Try to incorporate as much as you can in your command style and when that begins feeling comfortable add more. Even when you have tried every idea in this course, there will be more to learn, because leadership is a never ending learning experience and can be as different as every person you lead. The good news is that leading is one of the most rewarding experiences this club and life in general has to offer. Make no mistake, leadership is hard work and can be filled with frustrations and setbacks, but all of that just seems to make the successes that much more satisfying. Good luck on your career as a leader. If you follow these core principles you will be successful and someone the EH can be proud of

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