THIS DOCUMENT IS UNDER REVIEW AS OF 110210

Credits

Written by:

• Commodore Taylorholic Durant
• Captain Zed Drebin

Reviewed and Amended by:

• Admiral Mike Calhoun
• Jadia Triellis

Last Revision Stardate: 110210

Intended Audience: UF Starfleet Commanding Officers
Reviewing Authority: UF Starfleet Command

Introduction

UF Starfleet came into existence due to the dream of a few individuals that wished to share their love of Star Trek with people who not only also loved Star Trek, but also wished to 'live' the idealized philosophy and sense of hope that Gene Roddenberry shared with the world on Stardate 660831. At first, UF Starfleet was a club, however members found that through Second Life they could meet and socialize without regard for geographical disparity.

As the group attracted more members the club started to grow in diversity and scope. UF Starfleet began to take a shape and form that transcended the framework of a club and became something much more. The shape of UF Starfleet today is much different than it was in its humble beginnings, but the spirit has never changed. Because of the growth of the group it has become necessary to expand the powers and responsibilities of the individual members of the group so that the whole can continue to grow.

As Officers and crew that wish to share in that power and responsibility, we must define and identify the way in which we will lead UF Starfleet into the future. This manual is an attempt to logically lay out how we can serve and support our members. It is a guideline that should never be confused with individuality, creativity, motivation, initiative, or a spirit of fun and good natured camaraderie.

The following text should be a living document that changes and grows with our group. It is our responsibility as leaders to keep the spirit of UF Starfleet alive and to boldly go where no fan has gone before!

Chain of Command

UF Starfleet Command is in a continual state of evolution and growth. As a paramilitary group, it is of great importance that we maintain and utilize a proper Chain of Command.

For the purposes of this manual, Chain of Command will be defined as "The line of responsibility and authority along which orders are passed." It is a structure and philosophy that governs how we interact as a group. It ensures that our superiors and people under our command are "in the loop" and have a mechanism to be part of the process and vision that brings us into the future.

The Chain of Command works both ways. It gives lower ranks a means to communicate to the top of the command structure, and it gives senior officers means to distribute orders and directives to the rest of the organization.

Within UF Starfleet there are three levels of Chain of Command. The top level is Fleet which is charges with setting the course for the group as a whole and consists of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the UFS Council of Admirals. Next is the Sector Level which breaks down all of the planet to help manage members and communications, each Sector has a Sector Commander that is elected by the Commanding Officers of the Sector. The next level is the Chapter Level where all the members reside and is headed by the Chapter Commanding Officer. The Chapter Commanding Officer should ALWAYS be a members first point of contact for questions or issues before taking it up the chain.

At the top of the Fleet Level is the Joint Chiefs of Staff which is listed as follows:

• Commander-in-Chief
• Commander UF Starfleet
• UF Starfleet Chief of Staff
• Chief of UF Starfleet Operations
• Chief of UF Starfleet Communications
• Commandant of the UFSMC
• SuperIntendant Of UF Starfleet Academy

To better illustrate the organizational structure of UFS, please observe the chart below :

Click for a better view of the UFS Organization Chart and its current Branches

It is the duty and responsibility of each UF Starfleet Leader to report to their respective commanding officer, being a Department Director, Division Head, Commanding Officer, or Branch Commander. Each Chapter Commanding Officer will then in turn report through a monthly MSR which will then be summarized for the Commander-in-Chief.

As leaders, it is our duty to ensure that each member under our command gets proper recognition for their service to UF Starfleet. This is accomplished through an understanding of the responsibilities and duties that are expected of a leader within the Chain of Command.

To be a Branch Commander, Division Head, Commanding Officer, or a Department Director, it is important to realize that you are making a commitment. As a leader within UFS your commitment goes beyond that of a casual casual fan who wants to socialize in the UF Starfleet SIM and enters the realm of responsibility and accountability.

That does not mean that you shouldn't socialize in the SIM. But it does mean that if you are not willing to give up your time to attend to the needs and questions of the people under your command then you should look to other positions within UF Starfleet.

You will be required to address IMs, resolve disputes, make forum posts to keep your branch/division/department informed, update wiki pages, and answer questions that you may not even know the answer to yourself. You will also be required to be in relative constant contact with UFS Command.

It is important to be very clear on this. A huge amount of time and money has been invested in making it possible for all of us to actually be a part of Starfleet. In return it is necessary and required that a handful of members help with the responsibility of running the group.

Being a leader is completely up to you. If the level of responsibility does not appeal to you then no one will mind if you do not become a leader. People will however know very well, if you take the post and then do nothing with it.

Branch Commanders, Division Heads, Department Directors, and Starbase and Starships Commanding Officers are at the cornerstone of making UF Starfleet a reality. Remember when you joined UF Starfleet: You had questions. You wanted to make a start of living the dream. You wanted a fancy uniform. You wanted to attend the Academy. You wanted to gain rank.

In order for you to get all that stuff someone had to write the handbook. Someone had to create the uniforms. Someone had to create UF Starfleet Academy. Someone had to create a rank advancement policy. Someone had to track your progress and *someone* had to do a million other things.

As leaders it will be your responsibility to know current procedures inside and out and to improve upon the infrastructure that is currently in place and to create the infrastructure that will bring us into the future.

UF Starfleet is growing and will continue to grow. If we are smart about it, the growth will not hinder our members' ability to have a good time.

Leadership Eligibility

• • To Be ReWritten**

Leadership Responsibilities

Leaders should be always up to date with what is happening around them and with the group. You should read the forums and make posts at least daily. There is a lot of useful information there. You should also be very familiar with the Group Manuals as well as the SIM Rules.

Additionally you will be required to be a creative leader for your Branch/Division/Department/Chapter. Being a great builder or a skilled role player does not automatically make you a good choice to be Chief Engineer.

Regardless of your division discipline you must also be a "people person" and have the ability to interact socially with proficiency.

In order to decentralize responsibilities and power of decision, UFS is organized into the following model:

Fleet ==> Sector ==> Chapter ==> Membership

The leaders of each level of the above chain of command have certain responsibilities to be fulfilled in order to help with the growth and management of our group.

In this manual, we will be outlining the duties and responsibilities of:

• Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)
• Sector Commander (SC)
• Branch Commanders (BC)
• Division Head (DH)
• Department Head (DD)
• Chapter Commanding Officer (CO)

Joint Chiefs of Staff Responsibilities

• Commander in Chief
• Commander, UFS
• UF Starfleet Chief of Staff
• Chief of UF Starfleet Operations
• Chief of UF Starfleet Communications
• Commandant of the UF Starfleet Marine Corp
• Superintendent of UF Starfleet Academy

Branch Commander Responsibilities

• Maintain at least one introductory course from each division for the Academy
• Maintain Branch/Divisional SL Group by way of group invites and ejections.
• Maintain promotion records for your Vice, Division COs and Department COs
• Issue Promotions for Vice, Division COs and Department COs via MSR
• Participate in group functions, such as ceremonies
• Involve themselves in daily activities around the sim facilities (mingling, being available)
• Motivate staff under your command
• Make a Monthly Status Report (MSR) to UF Starfleet Chief of Staff (Or is it Kermie?)
• Serve as an example of a good Starfleet Officer

Division Head Responsibilities

• Help maintaining, along with Branch Commander, at least one introductory course from your division for the Academy
• Review periodically of Academy classes from your division, being offered by the Academy
• Create and delegate activities to departments under your command
• Motivate staff under your command
• Work closely with Department Directors in helping with ongoing activities and projects
• Participate in group functions, such as ceremonies
• Make a Monthly Status Report (MSR) to your Branch Commander
• Serve as an example of a good Starfleet Officer

Department Head Responsibilities

• Help maintaining, along with Division Head, any courses involving your department for the Academy
• Create and delegate activities to members under your command
• Motivate staff under your command
• Work directly with members in assigning and completing projects and activities
• Participate in group functions, such as ceremonies
• Make a Monthly Status Report (MSR) to your Division Head
• Serve as an example of a good Starfleet Officer

Chapter Commanding Officer Responsibilities

• Help maintain, along with First Officer (XO), a current account of the vessel's roster
• Keep up-to-date record of available roster vacancies on you chapter’s Wiki page
• Make a Monthly Status Report (MSR) to UF Starfleet Chief of Staff
• Create and delegate duties (activities) to members under your command
• Motivate staff under your command
• Work directly with crew in assigning and completing duties (projects and activities
• Issue Promotions for members under your command via the MSR
• Participate in vessel and fleet-wide functions, such as ceremonies
• Serve as an example of a good Starfleet Officer

Time and Dedication to Your Duties

While we appreciate the fact that time devoted to this group is volunteered, UFS Command counts on you to do your part.

If you are unable to fulfill your duties in the way you committed to when you accepted your position, it is expected from you, the courtesy of stepping down and allow other members who are able to assist the group to take over your position and continue working.

It is also expected from you to be aware of the fact that being in a position of leadership will require a lot of dedication, please only accept such position if you are really able to perform and dedicate yourself as expected.

In the case of Chapter Commanding Officers, those who are offered such positions will need to agree that management paperwork is PART OF THEIR DUTY besides interacting with your subordinates on roleplaying level.

Processing Branch Transfers

Upon graduation from UF Starfleet Academy, newly-commissioned officers or enlisted members will be assigned a position aboard a starship, starbase or ground facility, according to the Branch chosen during UFS Academy attendance. (SL only)

Officers are assigned to ONE Branch at a time, however, interaction with other Branches for projects and activities is encouraged.

Assigning to Chapters

All Members have the choice of which chapter to serve on, or be assigned to headquarters.

It is important to review the definition of Headquarters or Fleet assignment as follows:

A member is considered to be assigned to Headquarters if they are not actively assigned to a Starship, Starbase or Facility.

In essence, Headquarters personnel are (but may vary):

• UFS Command Staff their staff
• Branch Commanders and their vices (and their yeomans/chiefs-of-staff)
• Division Heads and their vices (and their yeomans/chiefs-of-staff)
• Department Directors and their vices
• UFS Academy Staff

Senior positions on starships/starbases (Starship/Starbase Senior Staff) are internal choices made by the current commanding officer of said vessel/facility.

Time In Position and Position Requirements

Before approving a transfer, Branch Commanders must be aware that of Position Requirements.

Billet Requirements must also be verified before a transfer can be completed. It is the Branch Commanders' duty to verify the members records before approving the transfer to a new assignment.

It is important to remember that although there are requirements for the billets, reason should be applied to every case. There is nothing wrong in giving sometime for a member to complete few of the requirements left, already in the new position.

More detailed information can be found on the Billet Training section of the UFS Wiki.

Standardized Reporting

Due to the increasing membership growth to our group, reporting on SL has become more and more complicated.

The way information was presented up the chain-of-command became very confusing and not at all practical.

In order to better organize and expedite the flow of information, up and down the chain-of-command, UFS has implemented the use of GoogleDocs, by using spreadsheet models, which can be edited directly from the web using GoogleDocs.

Each level will be reporting to the immediate above level of the chain of command, as the example explains :

Monthly reports which will be shared with your immediate superior, containing the appropriate information that must be shared up the chain of command.

Branch MSRs reporting are ALWAYS referred to the previous month period (reports from the 1st to the 30th of June you will submit in July).

Captain's or Commander's Logs (MSRs) are updated on a daily basis and will refer to the current monthly with the log being closed at the end of each calendar month.

Headquarters: Reporting Deadlines

Department Directors will input their information on their Division's spreadsheets

Contact your Division Head in order to gain access to the spreadsheet where you will be reporting the activities of your department.

Department Directors reports are due and must be shared on GoogleDocs with their Division Head on the 1st day of every month.

Division Heads will input their information on their Branch's spreadsheets

Contact your Branch Commander in order to have access to the spreadsheet where you will be reporting the activities of your Division.

Division Heads reports are due and must be shared on GoogleDocs with their Branch Commanders on the 5th day of every month.

Branch Commanders will input their information on the main UFS Branch Monthly MSRs spreadsheet

Contact the UFS Chief of Staff in order to have access to the spreadsheet where you will be reporting the activities of your branch.

Branch Commanders reports are due and must be shared on GoogleDocs on the 1st day of every month.

Because of the similarities of the layout of the reports, information can be shared easily by copying and pasting the information from your report to the next report up the chain-of-command. It is important to note that for the information to be pasted properly that before pasting, the same range of cells on the destination spreadsheet is selected mirroring the cells containing the data to be copied from the source spreadsheet.

In summary:

1. Department Directors input information about their departments on their Division's spreadsheet.
2. Division Heads will copy and paste (or input manually) pertinent information about their Division (provided by Department Directors) on Branch's spreadsheet.
3. Branch Commanders will then input information on main UFS Branch MSR spreadsheet along with other Branches. Information is then shared at this level with UFS Command.
4. By the deadline of 1st of each month, UF Starfleet Chief of Staff will remove access from Branch Commanders and prepare summary of monthly activities to UFS Command.

Fleet: Real-Time Reporting

Chapter Commanders will input information directly into an open file which will be worked through the current month

Chapter Commanders will be inputting 'real-time' information in log-fashion about the events happening to their vessel of responsibility.

It is the duty and part of the job of being a CO to make sure that your logs reflect the true and actual activities of your vessel since UFS Command.

Every CO will have access to the working file of their vessel which will contain different spreadsheets for every month of the year.

Contact the UF Starfleet Chief of Staff if access to your vessel's spreadsheet is needed.

Accessing And Inputting Data On Your Report

1. Log on GoogleDocs - if you are not registered yet, please do so on the same page
2. Click on the spreadsheet which has been shared with you by your immediate superior commanding officer
3. Input accurate and truthful information
4. If you have access to the spreadsheet of another department that it is not yours, you can look but DO NOT edit that spreadsheet, be courteous
5. Make sure to follow the spreadsheet's formatting pattern; if you do not know how to edit, please visit GoogleDocs Spreadsheet Help Page for very useful information or contact your commanding officer.

How To Fill Out Your Report

HEADER

Every report will have the same "header", no matter what level of the chain-of-command is reporting. Subtle differences will apply accordingly with the different levels of command reporting.

Below you can see an excerpt of the MSR for Department Level-HQ :

Make sure that your Branch/Division/Department/Chapter header information is complete and accurate.

CURRENT ROSTER

Present in all the reports, this section is of HIGH importance and will help you and the upper levels of the chain-of-command to keep track of the membership base and their activities.

Below you can see an excerpt of the Roster Section of one MSR:

The information provided in this section is very important to be accurate and true to the facts :

• Name of the Member
• Rank ( Officer or Enlisted Rank )
• Status ( ACT for Active, LOA for Leave of Absence or INACT for Inactive members )
• Position, Department and Division information, wherever applicable
• Promotion Recommendation
• Inactive Roster assignment to Civilian/Retired position

STATUS REPORTING

The STATUS reporting is the one of the most important parts of your report. Especially when it comes to Headquarters reporting, the numbers Branch Commanders report on their MSRs will affect the report to UFS Command directly and automatically, so making a mistake in your number reporting means that UFS Operations will have a mistake on the report to UFS Command.

Please be attentive in entering data correctly and accurately.

Enter the number 1, on the column which reflects the status of the officer you are reporting, meaning that every line will have only 1 column marked as either ACT, LOA or INACT.

Branch Commanders must verify monthly that all divisional staff is also part of the UFS main group.

It it also IMPERATIVE that every member of your department/division/branch must have a title/position/station within the group.

PROMORECS

If the member being reported is indeed due and deserving of a Promotion Recommendation, this column must be marked with current rank date.

It is important to remember that Time In Grade is the MINIMUM requirement for a promotion.

IN ADDITION TO the indication of recommendation on this spreadsheet, A PROMOTION RECOMMENDATION REQUEST MUST ALSO BE FILED.

More information about Promotion Recommendations is available throughout this manual.

INACTIVE ROSTER

If a member under your supervision has not reported for roll call for 30 days, you should attempt to contact them, as a courtesy, to check on their status and if any assistance with their duties is required.

A new attempt should be made on when the member fails to report to 2 consecutive roll calls, reminding the member that it is important that they report to their department/division/branch/starship/starbase every 30 days via UFS forums even though they may not be able to perform their duties.

Reporting in is the MINIMUM requirement to remain on active duty status.

Members who have been inactive (or have not been online for more than 90 days MUST be reported on the appropriate column and removed from SL UFS Branch group. UFS Personnel will be attempting one last time to contact the member before assigning them to civilian status.

Retirement request must be dealt by the member's direct commanding officer who should be contacting UFS Personnel staff, who will be performing with the appropriate procedures in order to keep the UFS Personnel database complete and accurate.

CURRENT PROJECTS/CURRENT MISSIONS

This section will contain your Department/Division/Branch projects. Fleet-wise, this will contain the Captain's log for each mission or pertinent information to be reported up the chain of command. Please fill it out as accurately as possible.

For Branch Commanders, make sure that information is concise and that the status of your project is indeed the true one.

You MUST follow up on previous months projects and make decisions about them (abandoning, deeming as stalled, etc).

You can easily copy and paste the information from your unit's MSR on to the report on the next level of the chain-of-command since the spreadsheet fields are the same. Please make sure that you select the same cells you have copied from on the first spreadsheet on the target spreadsheet for uniform pasting, saving precious time.

Below are the excerpts from both HQ and Fleet reports :

Add as many details as possible about projects in this section, using the space provided in the end of the report if needed.

Starships Captains will be entering the logs of their missions on the space provided. Logs must follow the spreadsheet formatting already existent but as the model below shows, you are able to write your report in speech style in just 1 spreadsheet cell which will be automatically formatted as you type.

REPORTING STYLE

Starship Captains and Starbase Commander's logs MUST be written in Starfleet already established-model of recording. An example follows below:

-- computer, start recording --

Commander's log, stardate 090323.543

Ibudan has been turned over to the Bajoran authorities just hours after his clone gained consciousness and began a new life. The perpetrators of the mob violence have retreated into their own business. To my knowledge, Odo has recieved no apologies. Meanwhile, life on the station has begun to return to normal.

-- computer, end recording --

EVERY MISSION, their preparation as well as the briefing and debriefing MUST BE LOGGED. UFS Command and Operations are watching the logs live and will require your active participation.

It is important that you make sure that writing logs, even if brief ones, are part of your routine. You can post them, at your discretion and not a necessity, on the UFS Forums accordingly, on your ship's board.

For more information on your duty as a Starbase Commander or a Starship Captain, please visit the UFS Operations Manual. (item under review)

Inventory Organization

One of the challenges of organizing information in SL is inventory management. You will find that it will make your life simpler if you maintain a folder structure that organizes the information so that it will be easy to retrieve in the future.

To organize your files create a folder called .UFS (The leading period will cause the folder to float to the top of your inventory. Inside the .UFS folder create sub-folders appropriate to your division. For Example:

.UFS
  Uniforms
  Science
    Meetings
    Projects
    Reports
      070501 - May Promotion Recommendations
      070502 - Project Meeting
    Etc

If, for example you are the Branch Commander for Science you would create a folder called .UFS and inside it create a folder called Science. Inside that, you can have other folders called Meetings, Projects, etc. In each of these folders you can then keep your report folders. Since the report folder names all start with thestardate, they will automatically be sorted chronologically inside the parent folder.

To see if a particular officer had attended a meeting you can now simply type the officer’s name into the search bar of your inventory and every instance of her name will instantly be listed.

The reason we create the notecards in the format that we do, is because the name-stardate format makes it easy to copy and paste names to a new report card to make a list or summary report. Simply highlight the notecard name and hit "F2" then you can copy the name and hit "CTRL-C" to copy and "ESC" to leave the file name unchanged. Now you can paste the name into a new notecard or a spreadsheet for sorting to make a list of the individual names in your folder.

UF Starfleet Promotion Guidelines

Ranks and promotions in UF Starfleet are imaginary and are meant to be used as signs of recognition of participation and services rendered. A rank does not give any member any rights beyond that.

Cadets

• Shall follow the UF Starfleet Academy Curriculum Guidelines

Enlisted Personnel:

• Shall follow the UF Starfleet Academy Curriculum Guidelines up until Academy training completed, then will follow the guidelines below.

Time in Grade is the most basic factor in promotion. Alone, it does NOT guarantee that an officer is to be promoted. Each officer will be also be evaluated on the following factors:

• Contribution to the group
• Group Activity Attendance
• Adding a voice to your branch/division and the group
• Being helpful and offering leadership to subordinates
• Cheerfully accepting tasks
• Setting a good example in your actions and appearance

Although promotion guidelines are used in most cases, the Commander-in-Chief is free to hand out promotions as needed, and can bypass these guidelines if he/she feels special treatment is warranted.

Promotion Submission How-To

All Promotions are submitted via the MSR

Flag Promotions

All Promotions from Captain / Colonel to Admiral / General are done via the UFS Promotions Board and submitted via the following link: **LINK**

Fleet Roll Call

Roll Call is a critical component of the administration of UF Starfleet. Roll Call serves the following purposes:

• Provides Operations and Command with an accurate listing of UFS Branches
• Provides Operations and Command with a current roster of UFS personnel
• Provides a guideline with which to assign members from our group to inactive or civilian status
• Eliminates the problematic and inaccurate practice of using Instant Messages and Notecards for Roll Call

Instructions

Each member of UF Starfleet is required to make Roll Call at least once per standard month using the following guidelines.

• Each Branch Head will create a new roll call thread using their assigned forum on the Roll Call Board each month.
  Example: March 2008 Medical Roll Call.
• Each member is required to make a post on the appropriate thread.
• The BC will note anyone that has NOT reported in a given month. (Posting after the end of the month does not count.)
• The BC will report all members who did not report for three consecutive months to Operations by the 5th day of each month using the Roll Call Report Forum.
• The BC will remove all members from their divisional groups that have not reported for three consecutive months.
• Operations will assign the member to Civilian status within the main UFS group or if the member has resigned, Personnel will be using the performing the Termination Procedures.

Transfers

For those that wish to change chapters or have moved locations and are joining a new chapter the Chapter Commanding Officer submits the PCS orders via Personnel stating the change

Second Life Transfers

In Second Life the process of changing chapters is the same as a Real Life Chapter, the Commanding Officer submits the PCS orders. The second level is that of changing branches, since Metaverses use Avatars and such a group invite is needed to gain access to the uniforms and gear. Simply Contact the Branch Commander and inform them you have transferred to their branch and need an invite.

Vice Leadership

Each Branch Commander/Division Head/Department Director/Starbase or Starship CO is required to choose an assistant or Vice.

Because the role of those leaders is so important, it is necessary to have a backup to step in when you are not available to fulfill your duties.

Your choice of Vice Branch Commander or Vice Division Head should not be a popularity contest. Your assistant should be someone that you trust to act in your name and make decisions that you will support and enforce. You should maintain an open dialog with your assistant and they should understand that when you delegate a task, that you need to rely on them to get the job done in a timely and accurate manner. If you can, try to pick an assistant from a different time zone from yourself so that you might provide better coverage.

Once you have chosen an assistant it is important to actually delegate tasks to them. Create a list of duties and share in the work. Part of the point of an assistant is to take some of the work off of your plate so that you have time to have some fun yourself.

Duties (Activities)

It is the responsibility of the Division Head and their assistants and Department Directors and also Starship and Starbase Commanders to assign duties (create activities) for the officers under their command. Obviously these duties should be within the theme and scope of your division/department/starship/starbase.

Examples of duties would be for instance: Security conducts drills, Medical conducts personnel health check-ups, Science does fun away missions with the Magellan program...

Do your best to be creative and enlist the creativity of the officers under your command. You are not required to "think up every duty." That is what good leadership is about; seeing and using the potential available in the people under your command.

Every unit should have periodic meetings to discuss their duties and activities.

Morale

Morale is an often overlooked point. Our goal in UF Starfleet is to have fun by immersing ourselves in the Star Trek universe. As a leader, part of the "job" is to help the people under your command have fun.

By providing a creative environment within your Branch/Division/Department/Starbase/Starship via well-thought duties, we help our officers have fun.

By taking part in activities with your officers and listening to what they have to say, you will sometimes find someone that is not having fun. Do your best to understand the problem and either find a way to effect a change for the better or ask other leaders or Command to help find a solution. Even if you feel like someone is being a "whiner", do not dismiss their concerns. Listen, do your best to help, and if all else fails simply be attentive to the officer. Sometimes people merely need a friend to have fun.

Leadership by Example

It may seem obvious that as leaders we must set an example for our subordinates, but what is not obvious is how we can set the best example.

Leadership by example starts with small things such as always wearing a proper and squared away uniform and always conducting oneself in a manner befitting an UF Starfleet officer.

It means being on time for meetings and being attentive and courteous.

It means listening first, considering next and acting last.

It means criticizing in private and praising in public.

It means being willing to do any job you would delegate to your crew and providing mentorship to your people so that they will be properly trained to succeed in their assignments.

It means delegating authority to your assistant leader and backing up that authority by supporting their decisions.

It means being above reproach and using compassion in your judgment and it means being objective in your role.

You will find that if you properly lead by example, members of your crew will confide in you. They will be excited to help you lead the group and will come to you when they are unsure of their judgment with regard to their personal journey within the group. When this begins to happen, if you listen carefully and are supportive you will find that your officers will be fiercely loyal and productive.

Leadership has much to do with understanding and supporting ones followers but more importantly it is the conduit through which your people learn to become leaders in their own right. Give them a star to steer their ship by.

Organization and Orderliness

In order to be an effective commander it is very important to be organized. Each leader should use whatever means that he is comfortable with to keep track of information about his Branch/Division/Department/Starship/Starbase. UF Starfleet provides several tools to aid in this endeavour. You may make use of the forums, UFS Wiki, web site pages, SL devices, spreadsheets, etc.

Keep a To Do list. Remember to follow-up on all issues until they are properly resolved before you cross them off the list. Setting your IMs to go to email when you are off-line is a great means to keep track of issues you must attend to. The more organized you are the easier it will be to keep your division information up to date.

Dispute Resolution

In a group this large and diverse there are bound to be misunderstandings, disputes and drama. The most important thing you can do during a dispute is not contribute to the problem.

Be impartial. Do NOT take sides. Consider BOTH (all) sides of the issue BEFORE you make a judgment of your own. This is much easier said than done.

Remember that each person has a right to have fun. In most cases simply listening to all sides of the issue and showing that you have understanding and empathy for everyone involved will work wonders. Agreeing to disagree is sometimes a good solution. Speak to each person in private and try to boil down the issues by removing personal bias and drama.

Maintain a sense of humour where appropriate and do what you can to make each person involved feel like something is being done (by actually being helpful). If, and ONLY if, you can not come to some resolution AND the issue is disrupting your command or your people's fun, you may escalate the issue to Command. Do not send your people to Command. Write a SHORT report explaining what has happened and what you have done but follow the chain-of-command AT ALL TIMES, unless told otherwise.

Send a copy to the Inspector General. Be sure to follow-up. Do not wash your hands of the issue until it is resolved in a way that will remove discontent from your Branch.

Conclusion

At the heart of UF Starfleet is our shared vision of a future with hope and continued personal growth. People join UF Starfleet because they wish to live that vision and socialize with like minded people.

We all bring our own unique perspective, hopes and goals. It is us, the leaders of UF Starfleet, the ones able to add our own uniqueness to the great universe diversity.

It is a great responsibility to be in command but it can be hugely rewarding. Being a leader is not for everyone, but for those of us that choose to command, the work itself will be the reward.