The Art Of Clan Leading - Chapter 1 (True Leadership)
Welcome to the first part of my article regarding the "Art of Clan Leading", before you read the article in depth you should first understand
this concept: a good leader is the initial foundation of every successful clan, and not everyone is suited for such a position; leadership takes training and experience to build over time, no successful leader started out that way. In reinforcement of this statement, I will tell you, I ALWAYS experienced setbacks. There was never a time I did not meet a new problem or make a new (sometimes repeated) mistake. This represents a key factor that plays into building a successful clan that will be able to overcome obstacles, and grow as well. If you are taking your being a leader seriously, you must first realize that with authority, comes RESPONSIBILITY, and ACCOUNTABILITY.
YOU represent your clan.
YOUR motives must also be your clan's motives.
YOUR words must also be those of your clan.
And most of all, YOUR actions, represent those of your clan.
You see, being a clan leader requires sacrifice. In order to create a successful clan, you will have to put in hard work building maps, designing training, organizing your government and military structure. After all the initial work, you will also have to recruit on your own most likely at first, AND provide training/activities for those recruited. This means you will have to pull most of the workload unless you already have co-leaders and officers to assist you. There are many types of clans that have been run over the years, each varying in discipline, skill, morals, and goals. You will find that many clans believe you don't need a "strict/disciplined" environment to have fun (which is the goal of most existing clans as this IS a video game), and this may hold true, however I have found there is much more personal merit for all clan members generally in the fabled "Militarized" clan. If you wish to adopt the militarized clan style and lead successfully, you will need to understand things from the average recruit's viewpoint. Questions and preferences found quite commonly in recruits go along as follows:
-What is the name of the clan? (Name should be generally appealing as well as easy to use)
-How many members does the clan have? (Most prefer larger environments, If at start, be sure that they know the clan is new)
-What do I need to do to join? (This is up to you. Harder training=more quality + less members/Easier training=more members + less quality)
-What are the uniform requirements, if any? (Again, pros and cons here. Stricter uniform=less members/Less strict uniform=more members)
-How active is the clan? (If your clan is barely active, your members who play often will quit)
-What do you guys do? (If your clan spends all time training, people will get bored. There must be incentive activities like fun games, events, etc...)
These are only a few examples of the many questions you will receive, as the leader you should be prepared to answer ALL OF THEM. Moving on to how your behavior directly effects those in your clan, and the clans around you. A leader should lead by example,s so the appearance and behavior of the leader should set the bar for discipline and commitment. For example, if the clan leader screws around all the time, why should the average member behave professionally? They shouldn't. The leader sets the bar. If you want a disciplined clan you must behave in a disciplined manner. If you want a clan of tea-bagging hooligans then tea-bag and behave like a hooligan. Get the point? Good, so allow me to present the DOs and DO NOTs for clan leading in an organized chart below:
this concept: a good leader is the initial foundation of every successful clan, and not everyone is suited for such a position; leadership takes training and experience to build over time, no successful leader started out that way. In reinforcement of this statement, I will tell you, I ALWAYS experienced setbacks. There was never a time I did not meet a new problem or make a new (sometimes repeated) mistake. This represents a key factor that plays into building a successful clan that will be able to overcome obstacles, and grow as well. If you are taking your being a leader seriously, you must first realize that with authority, comes RESPONSIBILITY, and ACCOUNTABILITY.
YOU represent your clan.
YOUR motives must also be your clan's motives.
YOUR words must also be those of your clan.
And most of all, YOUR actions, represent those of your clan.
You see, being a clan leader requires sacrifice. In order to create a successful clan, you will have to put in hard work building maps, designing training, organizing your government and military structure. After all the initial work, you will also have to recruit on your own most likely at first, AND provide training/activities for those recruited. This means you will have to pull most of the workload unless you already have co-leaders and officers to assist you. There are many types of clans that have been run over the years, each varying in discipline, skill, morals, and goals. You will find that many clans believe you don't need a "strict/disciplined" environment to have fun (which is the goal of most existing clans as this IS a video game), and this may hold true, however I have found there is much more personal merit for all clan members generally in the fabled "Militarized" clan. If you wish to adopt the militarized clan style and lead successfully, you will need to understand things from the average recruit's viewpoint. Questions and preferences found quite commonly in recruits go along as follows:
-What is the name of the clan? (Name should be generally appealing as well as easy to use)
-How many members does the clan have? (Most prefer larger environments, If at start, be sure that they know the clan is new)
-What do I need to do to join? (This is up to you. Harder training=more quality + less members/Easier training=more members + less quality)
-What are the uniform requirements, if any? (Again, pros and cons here. Stricter uniform=less members/Less strict uniform=more members)
-How active is the clan? (If your clan is barely active, your members who play often will quit)
-What do you guys do? (If your clan spends all time training, people will get bored. There must be incentive activities like fun games, events, etc...)
These are only a few examples of the many questions you will receive, as the leader you should be prepared to answer ALL OF THEM. Moving on to how your behavior directly effects those in your clan, and the clans around you. A leader should lead by example,s so the appearance and behavior of the leader should set the bar for discipline and commitment. For example, if the clan leader screws around all the time, why should the average member behave professionally? They shouldn't. The leader sets the bar. If you want a disciplined clan you must behave in a disciplined manner. If you want a clan of tea-bagging hooligans then tea-bag and behave like a hooligan. Get the point? Good, so allow me to present the DOs and DO NOTs for clan leading in an organized chart below:
DO's
-DO lead by example, you never know who may be watching
-DO play often so you can manage the everyday activities of your clan -DO pick the most mature and responsible of members who have earned the right to become officers -ALWAYS be as fair as possible -ALLOW for praise of members in public often -DO choose your words carefully when referring to other clans -ALWAYS be an expert of your own clan, know your system -ALLOW for group decision making, nobody likes a dictator -ALWAYS be a guide and a counselor for your members -ALLOW for loyalty to form, be a figure people should follow -BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE, inspiring others through charisma and holding true to your values can be contagious, elevating moral -LAY DOWN THE LAW, do not let your members feel like they cannot be punished or ordered, but be careful with this one... -DO stay honest to others and yourself! This can go a long way -RESPECT your members, your allies, and your enemies |
DO NOTs
-DO NOT behave foolishly
-DO NOT become inactive without proper person in command/proper notification of members -DO NOT pick favorites, that would be poor leadership on your part -DO NOT be biased or unfair -DO NOT publicly punish members, if you want to keep them -DO NOT speak your own opinion on clan-to-clan activities unless that is also the opinion of your clan, you do not want to cause an unnecessary conflict. -DO NOT make ALL of your clans decisions by yourself -DO NOT become "buddies" with your members... that will cause undesired favoritism and other negatives -DO NOT neglect to follow your own rules, no one should be "above the law" in a clan -DO NOT LIE TO OTHERS unless the situation is regarding the overall security of your clan, lies may come back to haunt you -DO NOT abuse the power to punish, always keep fair witnesses and be sure to consult others before enacting any severe punishments |
As you can see, there are many ways to make mistakes while being "in charge", and anyone who expects to be a well-to-do leader should be made aware of these specific DOs/DO NOTS. A leader holds many responsibilities and must hold true to their statements, keep members informed and run clan activities. This sense of responsibility should be present in every clan leader, as they represent a body of other players who knowingly volunteer their time and efforts to the success of the clan. No one member is "unimportant", every member is important in the sense that without the average member, leaders would have nothing to lead-and the clan would not exist...
This concludes chapter one of "The Art of Clan Leading", article written by Shadowsniper172
This concludes chapter one of "The Art of Clan Leading", article written by Shadowsniper172