VeWt's miniguide to Leadership for the socially inept

[Truism]

Leadership is far too big a topic to actually cover in a short guide. It takes most people years to learn the nuances of how to influence people's actions in desirable ways, but a few pointers in the right direction might help.

Leadership is basically about getting what you want done using other people. Different situations call for different styles of leadership; for example while it is sometimes acceptable to angrily call someone an idiot, or sarcastically ask them why they stuffed up, these times are going to be very rare when you lead a squad, diplomatic and measured language typically achieves far better outcomes. Effective squad leading without VOIP is impossible because you can't establish a proper relationship with your troops - text can be just as effective for communicating information (which is why you'll never see me kick someone from a squad for not having a mic), but doesn't allow you to use your charisma and force of personality to make others do what you need them to.

Leadership is not a popularity contest - you don't need anyone to like you as long as they do what you want, however the easiest way in an informal environment like PR to ellicit quick responses on the ground and have high degrees of discipline is to be well liked by the people you lead. There are people who don't respond well to this style of command, but in general they will follow the bulk of the squad anyway, and will just have to be given more specific orders to ensure they fit into your tactics properly. When you are well liked, people will be willing to make sacrifices, and do unreasonable things for you in ways that mimic loyalty specifically because they do feel some loyalty towards you because you're acting like their friend. (NB. for the socially inept: that's the easiest way to make friend in real life - act like you're already the person's friend, while some will hate it, most will go for it)

Secondly, remember common courtesies. You may officially be the leader of those 5 people, but it is just a video game, and presumably they are all adults. Gunnery Hartman antics don't go down well, and they don't work. Generally, overtly authoritarian leadership will make people dislike you, and make them harder to lead effectively. Say please, and say thank-you, not because you have to, but because you don't - you will still be giving commands, but you will also include traditional request bearers to make them more palatable. Military style leadership is completely unneeded in PR at the squad level, and in public play it's downright discourteous - PR is not a high stress environment where people can die, and have to be coerced to do dangerous and antisocial things, it is a hobby and a competetive game.

Thirdly, use specific phrasing to achieve desirable states of mind. For example, always use the inclusive "We are going..." or "Let's just see if we can't..." instead of the less inclusive "Squad, move forward..." or "Guys head into the vodnik...". Try to avoid chastising individual squad members, so instead of "LAT DUDE GET BACK OFF THE STREET CORNER AND INTO HARD COVER..." you could try "This area is dangerous, we should move to better cover..." of course everyone else is already in better cover, but he will conform or give an explanation for what he's doing. Always explain what you want to do as a mission, not as a possibility - "We're going to flank the firebase, kill some people and destroy it..." will always achieve better outcomes than "We're going to try and destroy the firebase over there, if we don't get contacted and killed first..." - this is because the PR battlefield normally rewards decisive movement right down to the soldier level - don't put doubts in their mind, and they'll make faster and better decisions. This section is by no means exhaustive - before you give a command think about the implications of what you're saying, and all the possible effects it could have on your soldiers, their state of mind, and their actions.

Fourthly, given that you're leading the squad, we're going to assume you have better than average tactical judgement and knowledge, including well above average knowledge of the geography of PR maps, and how they normally play out. In other words, your decisions should be substantially better than the decisions your soldiers would have made otherwise. Therefore, it is better for your tactical vision to be followed as exactly as possible, and so orders should be as precise as you can make them for the squad. "We're going to go to X..." will not lead to as desirable an outcome as "We're going to x, using as much cover from the fence as possible. When we move in the open, we'll use covering elements to make it safer. It's likely that we'll be contacted in the last 100 meters, and when that happens, we're not going to take unneccesary risks - we're going to pop smoke so we can move into the final area, pin anyone shooting at us, and engage them on our terms...." It is also to be assumed that because of your better tactical knowledge (both from the commander, and your own experience) - share it with your squad "The city is probably free from chinese forces at the moment, but they'll open a flank on the east pretty soon, and try and rush reinforcements over the bridge..." allows your squad to make much better tactical decisions than not knowing - on this topic, share ANY information about the battlefield you have, even if it doesn't relate to your immediate situation - knowing about foreign force dispersions will help squad members make better assessments of the squad's situation, what enemies might do next, and what forces might reinforce the enemy. Them knowing what you know will help them contribute a huge amount more to the squad's tactics and decision making than keeping them ignorant will. Your soldiers are not mushrooms - don't keep them in the dark and feed them shit.


***
At the end of the day, PR is not the real military, and different approaches should be taken than would be taken in a real battlefield. Play nice, and be nice to them. We all have **** days where we won't be nice, but it isn't effective. This trash I've seen on other forums that "being an ******* is the only way to keep pubs in line" couldn't be further from the truth. Being well liked, and courteous will lead to better outcomes on the battle every time. Being an ******* is a lazy man's way of leading.

Finally, this style of leadership encourages a much nicer community than harsh and authoritarian leadership does. And that's something we need to work on building, because that's the thing that realy sets this mod apart of Vanilla.

Have fun out there.

[Darkpowder]

a well thought out post there, nice work. A good reminder to every squad leader at times. And the good ones do it naturally.