How to lead a team

[GillSt.Bernards]

This year I am running the robotics team and I am only a sophomore at private school called Gill St. Bernards. This is only my second year on the team and the rest of the team is all freshmen. I have never been to a competition before. How do you lead a team when you are still not completly sure of what you are doing yourself?

[Alan Anderson]

How? Get help from someone who has the experience you lack. Do you have mentors who were part of the team last year?

You can also check out http://www.usfirst.org/whatsgoingon.aspx to find other teams in your area.

[RMS11]

I am in the exact situation as you at my school, although we do have some more experienced mentors that help. Just make sure that you always are open to other ideas, keep things simple, use CD as you can learn a lot here, and delicate jobs well so things are always moving. It is always ok to be wrong, and in many situations it is good to just try something rather than just wait, as long as the repercussions of messing up are not to great. Good Luck!

[Enigma's puzzle]

Try to keep everyone interested and try for a simpler design it will make it easier if attendance drops, or things go wrong. Read up on some of the programs and white papers that successful teams have made. Also respect everyone and their opinions , it will help people feel more included and generally happy.

[spc295]

that was me last year, and we did not fail that bad, well it was better then what i predicted would happen.

[Engineer]

Ask for help from experienced team. Read the mentors guide from FIRST. There is a lot of good information in there to help you lead a team.

I had the privilege to see General Colin Powell speak. What he said has really stuck with me. One of the things he said in short was, "When put in a position of leadership, Lead." Ask him how to do that and he'll say, "Do the right thing." Don't do what you think some one else wants you to do, "Do the right thing." This has helped me a lot in life.

[Brandon Holley]

First question is do you have any (more) experienced mentors?
-If so, look to them for guidance on a lot of competition related, and season related questions

What you need to do as a leader is to create excitement about your robot, about your team, about your competitions, about your outreach, about everything that has to do with FIRST.

A lot of good leaders, aren't necessarily the people who know the most about a subject (they may, but its certainly not a requirement to be a good leader). The good leaders are ones who can have a team rally around them, one who earns the respect of your teammates, and can think with a fairly straight head on their shoulders.

There are plenty of people on here who can answer technical questions, so you don't necessarily need to worry about being the one on the team who knows the most about everything. However, this doesn't mean you shouldn't look for information. Look at pictures from past events, match results, videos. Talk to the thousands of people out there who do this year after year, and try and find the quick hints at running a quick event.

You can do dozens of CD searches and find out what you should bring to event in terms of tools, spare parts, personnel, etc. The information is out there, as a leader you just need to figure out how to get it.


Like I said above, just make sure you can rally the troops, create excitement, and earn the respect of your teammates. Doing these things will make you a leader...to become a good one, you just need to make some well thought out decisions.

Hope it helps,
Brando

[EricH]

I'm going to take a while here, so bear with me.

I'm going to omit the mentor question for the time being; it's already been asked. I'll just let Alan's answer stand there.

Leading the team is a large responsibility, as you've found out. From the sound of it, you're the most experienced, so you got the job. I'm probably going to be in a similar situation next year myself, but I digress...

Phase 1: Look to the future. You won't be around forever, and so you need to train up future team leaders. Start now by looking at the first-year students. Are any of them taking initiative? How about asking those students to help you? By including them in the process of decision making, you help them learn what to do. I know in my Scout troop, we once had the senior patrol leader choose his assistant. After a while, we made a slight change to reflect real life: the SPL was the previous assistant SPL, and the assistants were elected. This allowed for training without the pressure. I would start choosing students to help you now, so that they can learn more by the end of the season.

Why was that the first part? Because the effects of that type of policy will be felt for years, and if it is done right, the team's knowledge will improve, and the leaders won't be in your situation.

Phase 2: Look to the past. What worked last year for the leaders? Can you adapt that? This can give you guidance for what to do in a given situation. Looking at the question of "What would X do here?" can really help you. (X is your preferred role model/mentor.)

Phase 3: Look to the present. Now, you are the leader. You aren't sure of yourself. Can you find an adviser or mentor? (Akash, don't answer that for him... I know what you'll say.) If not, you'll have to wing it. It's not terribly hard, but you have to think carefully.

It has been said that every person needs to choose two people carefully: One to mentor and one to be mentored by. Do this, and the team won't be in this type of situation later without working at it.

Also, we on CD are here to help you. Don't be afraid to ask.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by EricH

Phase 3: Look to the present. Now, you are the leader. You aren't sure of yourself. Can you find an adviser or mentor? (Akash, don't answer that for him... I know what you'll say.) If not, you'll have to wing it. It's not terribly hard, but you have to think carefully.

Haha, should I take that as a compliment or something?

Amanda, have you approached your main mentor about this tension you have? I talked to Dr. V for a bit last time we met and she has been a part of at least 3 other FRC teams in the past. Talk to her about what you are nervous about and I'm sure that she can assist you in leading the way.

Don't think that you have the entire weight of the team on your shoulders, that's what your mentors and peers are there for.

[GillSt.Bernards]

Thanks for the advice. I will give you some more information about our team. We have five students all freshmen. Last year was our rookie year there were 2 people who really built the robot my friend Brendan and I. I asked him for help and he is refusing to help at all. Last year it was chaos and this year it is like chaos too.

Our faculty advisors our sort of on the disorganized side putting everything on me.

Our engineering mentors, one was on the winning somerville team and the other one is an enviornmental engineer who's brother was on the team. Thank you so much for the advice and good luck for the season

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Haha, should I take that as a compliment or something?

You're already helping how many teams?

So you do have mentors on the engineering side. However: I would get at least one more. In this case, a systems engineer or industrial engineer, or someone with that type of training, to help bring order out of the chaos and teach you to do the same.

You also have a faculty member, who is asking you to take a lot of the load. Ouch... (I've been there, done that, and it wasn't too fun doing it.)

The best you can do is do the best you can, and hope you don't make a huge mistake.

[Shelbo]

ok...wow...i agree with most of what has been said so far. Now i'm gonna put in my 2 cents...

I think that something that has not been mentioned yet that should be is confidence. Have confidence in your ability to do this. (because you can)Have confidence in your team to help you learn. (because they will)
AND
Not everything has to be perfect and no one can tell you EXACTLY how to be the perfect leader. Finding out what works for your team as a whole, and leading them in that fashion will do wonders...best of luck...

[Cooley744]

I was sort of in that posistion last year along w/ two other sophomores. We did pretty well. It is best to act like you know what your doing (have confidence) but be able to admit when you are lacking knowledge or when you make a mistake. Learn from your mentors and consider this year as a "test round". Don't get discouraged. If you have any questions about leading a team, feel free to private message me!

[JesseK]

Heh. I'm a electronics guy who was the build lead last year and is the build lead this year. The team always pushes for a strategy that is way more complicated than it has to be, but I have been able to manage nonetheless. How do I do it?

I never forget that I have to push myself no matter what, that FIRST is about more than just the students. If there is something that must be learned, I will learn it (like CAD). If there are industry standards to be met when interfacing with people who work with us, I will meet them (such as CAD drawings). Leaders need big shoulders to carry the weight when it's needed. When no one knows what to do on a subject, I try to come up with a first pass at it. I know that everyone will sit and pick it apart and say 'X should be Y', yet the reality is none of them were willing to put up a draft to start prototyping with. Then I, the other build mentor, and our best mechanical students prototype and finalize the design. Literally, we never fail for lack of effort on the team so long as each team member tries.

During the season, I just take it a day at a time (with some planning ahead of course). My biggest tip: know your teammate's interests, and play to their interests and strengths rather than your own. Yea, that's right...your ideas may be ignored for a while, but the best ideas usually pull through anyways. That's the only way we've kept our head above water these last 2 years.

If you really feel strongly about something and need to inspire them to view a design (concept, idea, or otherwise) your way, a picture or video is the best piece of incontrovertible evidence that you can present to them. The next best thing is math that proves your point and is explainable but looks like it goes over their heads (haha, usually they look at the answer once and are speechless)...though a good engineer won't trust your math until they've done it themselves.

Good luck this season. Prove your mentors wrong (but in a tactful way)...the reality is they will respect you twice as much when you do.

[Molten]

How to lead a team? WITH AN IRON FIST!

Just kidding, seriously though:

Unwavering confidence.

If you have reason for confidence, you should be confident. If you have no reason for confidence and are a leader, you should show confidence. If you come acrossed as knowing what you are doing, they will follow you and the team will be effective. If you seem uncertain, they won't follow and you will get no where. So in the end, whether you feel confident or not, you are better off looking confident. Good luck with everything.