On leading - The Goal

On leading - The Goal

	First and foremost, my experience with leading comes from my time in my XBL Clan, Epsilon Eridani. These are things I have learned about being at the forefront of a team and leading them towards an ultimate goal. The concepts are applicable to any leadership position. You have the same trials and tribulations awaiting you no matter what the context, the field, or the consequences thereof. The only differences between different leadership positions are the skills and concepts most relevant, the goal you are working towards, and the consequences of success and failure. Keep in mind that as I write this, I do have a tendency to digress and ramble. Hopefully, if I do so, I say some good stuff. Also, everything I write here is generally my opinion and not nesseccarily fact. So, let us begin.

	The most important aspect of a leader is his goal. Your vision is of utmost importance. Without it, what are you truly leading? Are you truly moving towards anything? You'll only be lost. As a leader, you will be managing and moving a team towards your goal. A healthy team will share your vision and you'll each forge your way towards it. As a leader, you must know exactly what you must do in order to acheive your ambitions. You must have a plan, or at least a general direction. Never let our team stall or get complacent. Always keep moving towards perfection. Always find what could be made better, more efficient, faster. Always improve and slowly modify. Perserverance is key.

	The ultimate goal must be clear cut. Once you find exactly what you want to move towards, you will find it is much easier to get your team to that point. The path ahead will manifest itself and you will find the journey presenting little difficulty. This is important because any difficulties that arise, could pose threats to your team. Problams cause friction. Friction slows your momentum and flow. That disruption causes morale to drop. Which feeds into more difficulties. As a leader, your sole purpose is to eliminate any friction that may disrupt your team. You must promote an environment where your team can build momentum and flow. Momentum is self explanitory. As your team starts to forge onward, they start start to cover more "ground" faster. They are less likely to stop. They "get on a roll". Flow is how easily things fall into place. A team with a good flow will see all the plans, all the actions just fall into place and thigns will just "happen". Good flow and momentum will produce high morale. Which in turn, feeds into a productive environment.

	In certain forms of leadership, such as the one I find myself in. You are contunuously leading. You are not given a goal to fulfill, more you must create your own goal. In teams like that, in order to keep your team productive you must never reach your current goal. While that sounds counter productive, it is not. As your team closes in on your goal, your goal needs to change and adapt. Your team must always have an idea of what is better. It must always work towards something. If your team were to reach its goal and not reevaluate in this manner, it will eventually dissolve.

	In effect, your goal is your guiding light. The stronger it is, the easier it is to follow. Your job as leader, is to make sure your team gets there.