I'm Team Captain!

[DrewMatic]

Thanks guys for all of your help! I appreciate it

[evanperryg]

1) Always remember, you're a student among students. You're both a leader and a peer, and there is nothing that will help you gain more respect among your teammates than working alongside them.
2) Share your special skills. Anything you do that sets you apart form your peers is something that could set your team apart from other teams, so apply it.
3) Anything you're not good at, invest yourself in learning it and encourage those who are good at it to share it with other students. The more advanced skills your teammates have access to, the more successful your team will be, regardless of whether it's robot-related, community-related or communication-related skills.
4) Make friends on local teams. You'd be surprised how much every team differs in their thought process and priorities. Learn from local teams who you can visit, it can help you gain a broader perspective on what makes a team successful.

[BenGuy]

Best Advice I can give from experience is to help out the new guys with the learning curve. We can all agree that FIRST has a HUGE learning curve and there are many people that have to be helped along with getting into it or else your team won't grow. Also, when people aren't doing anything, either get them doing something or have them sit over the shoulder of someone who is doing something that they don't yet know how to do so that they can watch / ask questions, and as a result, learn how to do it so that the next time they are asked, they can do that job. Keep everyone interested and getting better above all else.

And congratulations on the position!

[Trevor1523]

I would definitely try and be someone your team's members could talk to. Our leader this year definitely was a very positive influence on me, as well as the rest of my team. Also, don't take everything seriously, laugh a little (or a lot) and definitely embrace your mistakes and errors.

Another thing you should try to do is involve new members. When I joined my team back in 2014 I had no idea what I had gotten my self into. All these people shouting for zipties and ducktape?! Whenever I wasn't doing anything they involved me. I did that with the freshies this year too. At kickoff they were clueless about what FIRST even was, and now one is a human player and the other is one of the higher mechanical people!

Do these two things, and you'll do just fine, I am sure

[IronicDeadBird]

Please learn your leadership style. People listen to leaders more then they listen to people pretending to be leaders (not saying you are pretending) so don't let the title compromise your personality.
For example when tested on what kind of leadership style I have (if I can find the link I will bring it up) I got passive introverted leadership. That is to say while someone already posted the picture of the difference between a boss and a leader my natural state when leading isn't holding your hand or bringing you to a destination. I prefer to setup all the information and let someone piece together the lesson. It is less work for me.
That isn't to say this leadership style suits you on 1339 when I was a sophmore there was this certified can of awesome by the name of Tophurious Rex. He ran things classic point man up front leading the charge he took control of situations and he got results.
Both methods work just fine but my method wouldn't work for him and his method didn't work for me. Just figure you out.

[Celia]

Be the leader you would want to follow.

Take care of the team, Drew. I know you're good for the job.

[Caleb McCune]

Don't forget confidence, without confidence you will get no where.

[AngusFailed]

Look up to other Leaders. Everyone has had to follow someone before, and we liked certain things they did, but hated other actions. Remember you can draw inspiration from those experiences as well.

Unpopular decisions suck, but have to be made.

Don't be afraid to admit you are wrong, or that you don't know. I respect people that do that more, then those that don't.

In the end make sure you are having fun.

Good luck, you'll do fine

[DrewMatic]

Wow! Angus being nice. Thanks guys for your help!

[Som.Rocks]

So, a couple of things...

I am a newly introduced co-captain; however, this previous year I led the build team and picked up a couple of ideas that may be of some assistance.

1) Be extremely organized. Though this has been stated, it cannot be emphasized enough. When you know what you are doing, the job for the rest of the team becomes just that much easier.

2) Inform the team of everything. At 4607, we have weekly LGMs, Large Group Meetings, where the team gathers throughout the year on Wednesdays. This greatly improves the communication on the team (I will touch on communication in a minute) and makes everyone accountable for knowing important information about the team. These meetings are usually a half-hour long with a short presentation highlighting the important information for the team to know.

3) Though communication has already been talked about, it cannot be over-stated. One important thing to note is that it is better to over communicate than to under communicate. In other words, even if you think you may have told someone about an upcoming event or reminded them of a deadline, it doesn't hurt to bring it up again to ensure understanding. A great way to communicate is through Group text messages or mass e-mails.

4) Along with the LGMs, a weekly leader meeting is also very helpful. We usually hold these meetings a day before the LGMs, so all of the leaders of their respective squadrons (build, marketing, Public Relations, programming, etc.) can bring up any changes that they need and the captain, or co-captains, can bring them up at the LGMs or individually. This, again, increases responsibility for team members to stay updated on their squadrons.

5) Finally, (I'm almost done...) have the squad leaders take notes throughout the season and have them submit them when something significant happens within the squad. This helps to keep track of the progress of the team and is definitely a very helpful reference for the following year.

Good luck on the following year! I hope this information is helpful and make sure to enjoy being the captain, it's a great accomplishment!

[Jeffy]

Here is a nice excerpt from the Dwight D Einsenhower WikiQuotes.

"Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity. When you delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your responsibility, and he must understand this. You as a leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does. I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well."

Good luck! Very good of you to get an early start.

[GeeTwo]

Every team dynamic is different, and some teams change style from year to year. The big thing to remember is that you've moved along the continuum of being a team member who builds a robot to a leader who builds the team. Have a good talk with your head coach/lead mentor about expectations - how much effort should you be putting into leadership vs mentoring vs robot building. Review the captains of your previous year(s) - what did they do right? What did they do wrong?

And always learn from your mistakes, or better yet, from the good examples and mistakes of others.

[Derek Rouse]

Not a Captain, but there are a few things I've picked up...

• 1.) You have to have constant and fluid communication between you and your leadership counterparts. If you don't have people at your side filling other specific roles, like safety and outreach, get that going. Having a group of people cooperate in team administration and management is key.
• 2.) Being a team captain is a VERY large time commitment. If you're not going to be able to dedicate a rather large portion of your time and life to the team, there'll be a problem. On the other hand if you're always readily available and committed, you're golden.
• 3.) Being a very powerful and inspirational public speaker and having a charismatic charm about you will help loads when giving speeches to your fellow members and getting them hyped up and inspired during events and build season.
• 4.) Make sure everyone has a role, or if people aren't sure what they want to do, guide them in the right direction. You're more than a captain, you're a leader and someone the other people look up to.

Glad everyone is helping you out, if you heed this advice you'll do great.
Good luck and congratulations on the position!

[zcoops97]

Make sure people respect you enough and you are capable of telling someone they need to be better or are slacking. The biggest fault you can commit is not practicing continuous improvement. Even if a team member is performing well, you must be able to tell them to become better. I was president of my team this past year and I was lucky enough to be in a class of seniors that all had that drive to be better and we performed well because of it. Nobody needed to tell us to continuously improve. My biggest piece of advice is to help other students find ways to be better at what they do. Dont be afraid to question or call out upperclassmen or other students and always be thinking of ways to improve efficiency and performance.

[HolyDollar]

The best advice I can give to you is to keep in contact with your team (communication is key), and try not to be too passive or aggressive (or even Passive-Aggressive for that matter).

Good luck leading your team! I'm sure you'll do great!