[Bharat Nain]

This is one of my favorite topics because most people do not understand leadership and how it works. In context of FIRST, one of my favorite leaders is Vince Lombardi. He really exemplifies how to lead a team to victory over and over again.

So first question - Are leaders born? Of course. In the course of history, there has never been an unborn leader. So basically the good news is, leadership can be learned. In order to succeed, leadership must be exemplified. It is one of the pillars of success.

So let's start by definition success. You must identify what success on your team means. Does it mean simply getting through the year? Does it mean winning any awards? Does it mean building an amazing robot? You must decide this along with your team mates. Your team must be dedicated to the team's goals. One person alone cannot accomplish all the team goals.

Leadership must be earned. It must be earned. Anyone can be the boss, but if his peers don't respect him, he isn't much of a leader. They must trust you and believe in you enough to follow you. How? By displaying the right character, integrity and hard work. A leader is also a servant. He does most of the hard/grunt work(Not to be confused with stealing other peoples jobs). Once you have "proven" yourself, they WILL respect you enough to follow you. Proving yourself is a constant process all year-round. Of course, there will be those one or two who will never respect/follow/acknowledge you no matter what you do. You cannot worry about them. Move on. Once you have proven yourself to others, you have also proven yourself to you. This means you will KNOW what you are doing without a doubt. This will help you take accurate decisions and keep your stand in tough times. Of course, you will make your own share of mistakes. You will also have invested so much into the team, it will matter more to you than anyone else. You will find those who look at your dedication and passion and know that you are the right person to listen to and follow. This is what makes you a person of influence.

So let's put this in FIRST terms. You are the team leader. You may have been elected or assigned. You must prove yourself to the team. This means you must start working all areas of the team enough to know what they are doing. You must have a genuine interest in what they are doing and should know enough to correct them when needed. For example, the tools in the pit crew are out of place and you know it. You need to know where they go and if others don't put them in place, you do.

The R in FIRST stands for Recognition. You should always recognize team members who do the work. Do this without any bias. You must also be strong enough to encourage and direct others in the right direction. When the time comes to decide on a robot design, you must be able to come to a conclusion the team can agree on. It is then your job to make sure everyone else understands their jobs. Questions come your way since you are the leader.

Sacrifice and self-denial is also a part of being a leader. Let's say your team decides to win the website award. Your team spends a lot of time and energy developing it and it is absolutely fantastic. However, results are out and team 2333434324 wins. You have to be strong enough to let your guys know that they did a great job. There is no need to really put anyone else down or praise them up but your team should feel they are equally deserving of that award and maybe they needed to work a little harder. Mental toughness - nothing should shake your teams belief. There will be many times people will annoy the living dinosaur outta you but you will just have to breathe in and suck it up. Displaying anger(at least frequently) is also a major sign of insecurity. Don't let it get to you. People are people and therefore not at the same "wavelength" as you. Understand that and you will be fine.

You must also believe in your team. I know some of them don't seem capable of literally anything. You must still believe in them and encourage them. The reason is you cannot do everything on the team. You must give them the responsibility and make them feel that they can do it. You do this by making sure they know what they are doing - train them, test them, work it.

Always keep the confidence, excitement and fun level high on your team. This is usually not the case on many FIRST teams because FIRST is an organization based on Inspiration. People will continue to contribute to the team as long as they are having fun.

There are so many elements but those are a few. You instincts can usually tell you what to do and what is right and how.

Now on to organization - You have sub-team leaders. Learn to be good friends with them. If thats not possible, you should be able to communicate with them effectively. Let them take their decisions and run their groups but always think hard and throw out your suggestions. Sometimes it may be necessary for you to override their decisions. You will know when to do that when you are absolutely sure about something. Understand that sometimes the people doing the work cannot see the bigger vision except their immediate process.

Everyone on the team should not feel that you are better than them. You aren't. They must know that you just work harder, maybe are more passionate about it and more dedicated. You are into it enough that you know what to do with the whole team and they trust you.

Lastly, all of this cannot be done in one day. It takes time and therefore patience. I know this is a long post and there is a lot to understand but I hope it gave you a better understanding of your job on the team. The intensity of this of course depends on your team. Everything I have said, I have tried to do in my years on the team. I know we accomplished a lot and I am proud of it. I also learned a lot of this from many people including my parents, books and leaders such as Vince Lombardi and John Maxwell. I didn't make anything up.

Hope that helps,

-Bharat