Beginners Guide: Leading the Team Pt.3
In Leading the Team Pt. 1 and Pt.2, we discussed the two sides of leadership in a Megagame. In this final installment of Leading the Team, we’ll take a look at how new leaders can help make their team more effective during a game.
Trusting Your Team
Whether you’ve known your teammates for years or you just met them, one of the best things a Team Leader can do is trust their team will do their best to accomplish the team’s goals. Of course, this can be complicated by games with traitor mechanics but your baseline must be trust.
Traitor mechanics not withstanding, your team will be your closest allies during a Megagame. You’re all working towards the same goal. As Team Lead, you can’t shoulder all of the responsibility in a Megagame. There are simply too many spinning plates for one person. To be successful, you have to spread responsibility around.
Delegating Responsibilities
In many cooperative board games, there are players who accidentally (usually) play quaterback and take over everything at the table. It’s close to impossible for any one player to do everything in a Megagame. As the Team Lead, you have to delegate responsibilities to your teammates.
Are you working on a research task with an allied nation? Have your researcher spearhead the conversation. Need a situation resolved at the map? Have your military person do the legwork.
If you trust that your teammates are all working towards the same goal, you’ll know that they will fight hard to make your team’s voice heard and to accomplish the team’s goals. As team lead, you’re there to support and provide more input if they need it but you’ll have other responsibilities to attend to. While the team looks to you for direction and guidance, lean on your team to help move the group forward and pave the path to victory together.
Empowering Your Team
Once you and the team agree on a goal or even just a simple plan, Team Leads need to empower their team to accomplish their part of the plan in a way that feels right. If someone has a new and crazy idea that works towards the team’s goal (or just one that sounds fun), encourage them to act on that idea! Help them find a path to success.
Especially in a group of new players, it can be easy for the Team Lead to be a bottleneck for the team. Team members can flock to you with questions; ‘Is this ok?’ ‘What do you think about this?’
Rather, give them the autonomy to act and then report. Use Team Time as a debrief and get the terms and conditions of any deals that have been brokered. In my guide ‘Your First Megagame Turn’, one of the sections deals with taking Notes. As Team Lead, encourage your teammates to take notes and openly share them with the group. With everything going on, everyone needs to have a record of what they’ve promised and what was promised to them. If you don’t, something will slip through the cracks. Additionally, these personal records will help when the inevitable happens and someone double crosses you.
Go forth and forge a path to victory, Team Leaders! There’s a lot for leaders to manage in Megagames but, hopefully, you’re now equipped with three articles worth of tools and advice to make your next tour as Team Lead a successful one.
