Guide – How to be a better leader for your community

Leadership is the one word you should be concerned with when trying to get something to work. The leader dictates direction, focus and the ethos of the team. Without someone with social and moral qualities, your team will fall apart like a badly manufactured shoe; it will start off strong, but then very quickly condescend into chaos and fall apart. When heading a new start-up, or managing an already existing community, you HAVE to be a good leader. Without being a good leader, your project will lead to disorganization, which will ultimately jeopardize your whole operation. On top of this, you will lack respect from your co-workers, which will make them more unproductive and less motivated. These factors are what lead to 90% of community closures and drama.

Below, I will go over the basics of leadership, and what most people think the ideal leader should be.

I hypothesize two types of leader:

Inclusive

The inclusive leader is one of great charisma and charm. They do not rule by fear, but by establishing themselves as a well-liked individual who gets along with all the members of their team. This way, the members are more motivated and feel like they are operating in a more stress-free and communal environment. This means they are more likely to produce higher quality and more creative work, with the trade-off of a late hand in.

Exclusive

The exclusive leader still has charisma, but is more brutal in their approach. Even though still being fair, they rule with an iron fist and are not afraid to make enemies if it is for the benefit of the project. People respect them and they show respect back, but if someone disrespects them there will be no hesitation of removal. It will feel more like a business environment, which means the employees will work at a tighter schedule, with the potential compromise of quality and creativity.

A team with maximum efficiency will have a leader with a mix of these two extremes, or two leaders each sporting a different leadership style.

I asked eight people what they believed qualities of a great leader are:

‘Well, If you’re talking a Democratic leader, You would listen to everyone’s views before have a vote/plebiscite to decide something within the clan’
‘A good leader is a humble leader, he should display an inspiring image to those he commands and he should lift everyones confidence and treat everyone equal.’
‘A good leader should have a good character in general, so they should be able to adapt to certain situations. They should also be able to relate to the people they are leading. I believe they also need to be strong, and have the ability to move on or continue.’
‘Strong and decisive, with a good balance of an iron fist and forgiveness. They must also make a strong friendly bond with their agents, but not become too close so that their work is hindered.’
‘In my opinion, a good leader consists of: Knowing what your doing, A person that can take pressure, A smart mind, Confidence.’
‘A good leader consists of, great knowledge of his goals, good teamwork, knowing how to share responsibility in a way that not one person is left out or ignored, and equality; not just for his workers, but for everyone.’
‘A leader who get involved in his employees discussions and tries to listen to what they have to say. If a suggestion comes up they take it into consideration even if they don’t like it. A leader who fights for his business and tries to provide the best experience for his employees. A leader who does the job and does not hand over the dirty work to his employees instead he takes it into his hands and leads the business in the right direction.
‘A good leader should not make all his decisions on his own. A leader should take the time to listen to his employees and take a minute to hear them out. Sometimes another input can be useful.’

In these responses, there seem to be multiple reoccurring themes…

Listen to Everyone’s Views

This is self-explanatory. If you do not listen, you come across as a dictator, and people will start to become unhappy. If this behavior continues, a mutiny against your authority may rise; you believe it won’t happen, but it more than often does if the whole team is not happy. On top of this, people will like you more as you seem engaged.

Right, it’s 2018 and apparently every article has to be either a top ‘something’ list or a clickbait titled piece of text. So within the context of being a super hip/edgy Angry Mob, here are 10 tips on how to expand/grow your server and/or community! Note that these tips aren’t in any orders because labeling tips with ranking numbers is just stupid in my eyes. 1. Recruit qualified staff members Having qualified staff members within your server/community gives both benefits to you and your players. Because of the skill/experience of your staff members you can take a step back from player management and focus on different tasks (networking for instance). As a player, nothing is more annoying than an inexperienced or an admin who acts based on assumptions. Good staff keeps players playing on your server. 2. Make good use of your forums I can’t stress enough how important a forum board is for your community (smaller communities can use Discord if that’s preferred). Be sure to have your boards well arranged and properly named. Your forums function as the brain of your community, it is the place that should give you all the impulses (suggestions and discussion) on which you will act on. The best thing about having a forum is that you are able to interact with the community outside of the game. 3. Host special events To keeps things fresh you should host (special) events now and then. These events can take place both in and outside of the game. A few suggestions for events: organise a (small) tournament, host a different gamemode/game, collaborate with another community or host a yearly E3 livestream event where you and your members watch the E3 conferences on your voice server. If you are a role play community, have random events now and then to spice things up (be creative) 4. Be thoughtful with your donation program Don’t provide your donors with P2W rewards since this breaks the economy and scares people away, provide clarity into where the money goes to after they have donated and most of all be thankful. For more information about how to handle donations check out this guide. 5. Host giveaways Giveaways are a great way of attracting new members and giving your community a little reward. You can also specialise the requirements to participate in the giveaway. This way you can promote certain channels (for instance social media). Depending on your revenue coming from donations you might have to invest your own money. 6. Branch out on social media Having a social media presence is a good way of pushing out announcements and creating new contacts. Besides that it is another way of attracting new players. When it comes to which platform you should invest (time) in is depending on your community. Personally we only have a twitter page which is more than sufficient (for now atleast). 7. Provide more content for your community Besides having a game server,voice server and forums what else can you do to entertain your community? Try something new, why not have some sort of (development)blog? I know the idea sounds weird “who the hell would read my blogs?” but trust me some people will. The best way in my opinion is making videos. This provides entertainment for your members and more exposure (Youtube). For a player it’s always fun when you see yourself in a video 🙂 8. Encourage the use of your voice server One of the first things I do after I launched my PC is join the teamspeak and see who’s online. This is the same for a lot of (staff)members, as it should be. Not only will they be using this when playing on your server but also to: socialize, play other games, contacting staff and inviting their friends over to join. For more information on the use of voice servers check out this article. 9. Take a step back once in awhile Right of the bat, this does not mean “abandon” you community once in awhile! Taking short breaks is important to keep your motivation up and gives you time to evaluate. Be sure to have your staff members pick up certain task in your absence and that they can always contact you. As a owner it is hard to let go of certain tasks but doing everything by yourself takes a big toll on your energy and motivation. 10. Listen to your players Your players basically decide what happens to your server/community direct and indirectly so listen well to them. Threat them with respect, but do not treat them as special snowflakes. Without the players your server will not succeed. Be sure to always have a channel op for suggestions and act on them.

Be Humble

Don’t be cocky. Respect your place and acknowledge many people may not be as skilled or knowledgeable as you.

Be Inspiring

Be upbeat. If you are moody and constantly upset, this will sublimate into your team. The best way to lift the spirit of a situation that is going wrong is to act like it isn’t; it is hard, but it is a quality the best leaders possess, which is what makes their teams so effective.

Do not be Clingy

Don’t ponder on your mistakes. Learn from them and continue on.

Be Decisive

Sometimes a democratic approach can complete a whole new problem of its own. If there is a split vote, make a call; you can’t be blamed for wanting to speed up the process of getting something done.

Knowledge

A good leader has to know what they’re doing. Do not lead something you have no idea about, as you will hold those below you back.

Role Delegation

A leader should not do all of the work, that is why they have a team. By the same token, a leader should not do no work; they have to help and contribute to the team effort. This is the biggest mistake I see leaders commit. Make sure this is not you.

Be Truthful

This is one I’ve been the receiver of. If you say you’re going to do something, DO IT; stick to your word. Don’t go and get a job at McDonalds and leave your team in the dust.

So now you are one step closer to becoming a better leader. Incorporate these steps into your operations and your team productivity and efficiency will sky rocket!