Department Head Command Course

Symon Silvester

Revision History
Revision 5 12 July 2015

Exam revisions by Lindsay Bayes

Revision 4 5 May 2012

Remove course proctor name from exam body.

Revision 3 1 August 2009

Changed course proctor to Samuel Bibb

Revision 2 16 February 2009

Changed course proctor to Robin Bird

Revision 1 3 August 2006

Added to the Library


Table of Contents

Introduction
What is a Department Head (DH)?
What is a Department Head's job In Character and Out Of Character?
In Character
Out of Character
Giving orders
Delegation of Tasks
Keeping your JO's busy
Common filler tasks for each department
General Tasks
Medical/Counseling
Security
Science
Engineering
Swing positions
Admin
Conclusion
Exam
Section 1:
Section 2:

Introduction

Welcome to the Star-fleet Command Course for Department Heads. Whether as a prospective Department Head, a first time DH or even an experienced one looking to see if you know everything, this course should have something new for you.

This course aims to break down the basics and to provide you with the essential information that anyone needs to be both a successful DH and an asset to your ship and crew. All areas will be covered from in character work to out of character work.

What is a Department Head (DH)?

The role of a DH is the true backbone of any ship/base in STF. A Department Head is in charge of a particular section and any junior officers therein.

For example, the role of Chief Engineer places that person in charge of the ship/base's engineering department and, by default, gives them the responsibility for maintaining the working order of the ship.

A DH is a supervisor that organises their department most effectively and efficiently to do the job that is required daily, as well as interpreting any special requests or orders from the Commanding Officers.

Think of yourself as a bridge. At one end, you ensure that your junior officers have plenty of routine tasks to do to keep them busy in keeping with the normal routine of your department. At the other end, you are responsible for facilitating and implementing the orders of your superiors. They will tell you what they want done. It is your job to interpret that and to pass it onto your own staff.

What is a Department Head's job In Character and Out Of Character?

In STF we are here to role-play and we all role-play best when we have something to work with. This is both the basic requirement of having fun and to being a good Department Head.

Think of the best ships you have served on or the ships where you have the most fun. These will always be the ships where you have more to do, whether that is working with other role-players or dealing with tasks.

It is possible to break down the job of a good Department Head into two main areas, In Character (IC) work and Out of Character (OOC) work.

In Character

  • It is the job of a good Department Head to ensure that your department is run efficiently and your officers have plenty of work to do. You will be required to give your staff tasks. You should feel free to issue orders within the structure of your department and the main sim. For example, if you are the Chief Medical Officer, feel free to tell your staff to organize physical examinations.

  • Your job is to give professional advice and feedback to the XO and CO, when given the opportunity to do so. This does not mean speaking out of turn in front of other officers or behaving in an inappropriate manner. Feel free to request a word in private if the situation requires. Remember you must support the chain of command as it is the principle all military vessels operate upon.

  • Your job is to accept the orders from your superior officers (XO and CO) and to pass them onto your department for action. This may require holding a briefing or redeploying people from other tasks. Also don't forget the handy dandy multiple timeline facility. Keep your staff busy, just as you would if this was real life.

  • Set an example. You have to set an in character example for your staff and show them what is acceptable behaviour in your eyes. If you act in an unprofessional way then your junior officers may do the same things too. You are setting the discipline and tone for your department.

Out of Character

  • Just as in character it is your responsibility to set an example for your junior officers. So make them feel at home, send them a welcome email, get to know them and make sure they have plenty of work to do. Don't argue with people on the ship and always conduct discussions via email.

  • Support your command staff and always be positive and friendly.

  • On the best ships it is not only the GM that will provide work for people. The best DH's will also create side sims for members of their department who are not occupied. Take responsibility for creating work, but never let it take over the main sim. For example, as Chief of Security, you might well decide to run security alert drills to keep your teams occupied

Giving orders

Giving orders is always a tricky area. How do you give orders to a junior officer? What if they are someone who is actually higher in club rank than you are or has more experience as a role-player?

The answer is simple don't think of it as an out of character action instead place yourself in the mind of your character. They have earned the right to be in charge and be in that position. That experience gives you the right to be confident and to know your orders will be obeyed.

Think of the following Four C's

Concise

don't gibber or be confusing. Say what you need to say.

Confident

it is a military environment so it is fair to act as if your orders should be obeyed.

Calm

don't scream at another person's character unless it is actually required. It can be counterproductive

Clear

be clear as to what your orders are and what the task is you're delegating.

Finally, be respectful and polite. Try not to scream and rant in character unless it is required character development.

Delegation of Tasks

In STF delegation of tasks is essential to be a great DH. You have to be able to pass tasks onto your department to keep your officers busy. Your job is to make sure they have something to do as their jobs!

How do you delegate?

If you have orders from your CO or XO, a job to do in the sim or you are creating work for your staff, always break the job down into tasks. Assign one person to each task. If possible assign people to work together in teams to promote in character interaction.

Once you have your task in mind, assign it to the appropriate person. Be mindful of leaving someone who is inexperienced as a role-player without any support. Try to assign them in a team with a more experienced role-player to interact with. Always try to help players improve and settle, where appropriate. In the same way try to find out what their characters specialties are. It may be that one of your junior officers happens to be an expert in just that task, so find out more about their in character backgrounds. For example if one of your junior officers is a communications specialist and the task is about the communications systems then assign them! You can always assign someone to work with them too.

Delegating a task to a junior officer is down to giving the person the right orders.

Keeping your JO's busy

There is a common misconception that the responsibility for providing something for everyone one to do is down to the GM alone. This is incorrect. The responsibility is also down to those in the chain of command. With the position there is also additional responsibility to those below you.

It will be down to the Captain and Xo to notice your department has little to do and try to find a task to pass down to you. Failing that, it is your responsibility to create something to keep your junior officers occupied.

In simple terms it is rare that a main sim will involve the whole crew at any one time. A sim could last four months, so there will be periods of time where people are not occupied. A good Department Head will excel by finding sim related tasks for their department to become involved in, or to create a side sim for involvement.

Look for tasks in your orders that you can issue to your junior officers. Invent a training task or issue general house keeping issues. There is always the ever popular individual chat to a junior officer in your office, or holding a team briefing.

There are lots of different options available. Keep your JO's busy! Don't assume someone else will!!!

Common filler tasks for each department

This section is there to help you find a task as a Department Head of a particular department. There are department specific tasks as well as general tasks that any department can undertake. Below are some basic tasks.

General Tasks

  • Team Briefings - get your department together for a chat

  • Individual assessment - talk to your JO's on a one to one basis

Medical/Counseling

  • Get your JO's to perform crew physical/mental exams

  • Assign medical/counseling research projects

  • Side sim some form of interesting medical emergency or medical condition

Security

  • Run security alert drills

  • Run hologram simulation drills

  • Perform ship weapon systems tests

Science

  • Perform sensor scans

  • Assign scientific research projects

  • Side sim some data that needs to be analyzed

Engineering

  • Assign repair duties.

  • Side sim an engineering problem that needs a solution

  • Perform ship systems tests

Swing positions

Some positions are not the standard ship DH positions. Some are outside the normal roster, such as Chief of Operations, or Chief Tactical Officer.

Often in these positions there are no rostered player character junior officers for the Department Head to manage, but this is not to say your duty to the ship is over. You still should keep yourself busy and help out in the sim where required. For example, you can create Nameless Ensign Junior Officers to give tasks to IC. Remember to support your command staff and prove that you can perform in the position. Be an asset to the ship and the crew.

Admin

Welcome to the admin side of the position. As with any promotion or higher rank there is always an increase in your own responsibility. As you move higher up the chain of command so the responsibilities increase too.

Some CO's may delegate additional responsibilities to you, but they will make these aware to you when you are taking on the position. These may be ship specific so it is best to discuss these with the CO.

However, as a DH on any ship you should be taking responsibility to welcome and greet your new junior officers. These may have been appointed to the ship by the CO, they might be recent academy graduates, or just an experienced role-player looking for some fun. Whatever the case always send them an email welcoming them to the ship and saying who you are.

It helps to create a good atmosphere and gives that person a link to the ship and the crew. This is especially important if the person is new or just starting out. Remember, we were all there once!!!

What is a welcome email? Simple, it is an email that you send welcoming someone in your department to the ship. Be friendly, give them some details, and maybe even provide a sim update or a potential starting pointer. Help the person out.

On many ships the CO and XO send out their own welcome emails, but there is no excuse for you not to add your own personal touch. Remember, people like to deal with people and we are all here to have fun!

Conclusion

With Thanks to:- Jen "Sloth" Herr, Sarah "Kat" Hemenway, Jack "Dippy" Dipper, Brian "Bear" Olinski.

Exam

Submission Instructions

  1. Write out your answers to the questions below.

  2. E-mail them to the course proctor

  3. Be sure to include your full name at the top of the e-mail!

  4. Send the original question followed by your answers.

  5. Do not send your answers as an attachment.

  6. All answers must be original. Do not simply copy and paste from the lessons.

Section 1:

Write an example of a welcoming email to a new arrival in your department. (5 points)

Section 2:

Select TWO questions to answer. If the exam is not passed the first time, the other three may be used as a re-write. Questions should be in full sentences and paragraphs as needed, with proper spelling and grammar.

Scenario 1

The crew is sitting in a department head briefing with the CO and XO about the upcoming mission. Everyone is given clear tasks. After the meeting, people go about their duties and in the course of yours you find out one of the other DHs is giving JOs from your department orders without consulting you first.

  1. How would you deal with this? Should you say something OOC? Are there scenarios that are better to deal with IC only? (2 points)

  2. Write an IC post (dialogue, actions etc) about your character discussing the matter with the other DH. Then tell me OOC why you chose to handle it that way. (3 points)

Scenario 2

You have a JO who is pretty experienced and knows how to get involved but they don't really seem to be participating much. They are still posting as required but there doesn't seem to be much engagement with their shipmates.

Scenario 3

You have a JO who is newer to the club and shows great potential to be a DH. What are three things you could do to help them develop their leadership skills? Who else should be involved in this process and why? (5 points)

Scenario 4

Things are going a bit slow on your ship, and posting has dropped. Assuming you have junior officers on the roster, what can you do to keep your team posting? (pick a department and give specific examples) (2 points)

Explain how the Command team, department heads and GM should work together to keep the crew as a whole busy. (3 points)

Scenario 5

Imagine you are a department head. Choose your own department from the main four, Science, Security, Engineering and Medical.

You have three Junior officers under you. Ensign Alpha is a very experienced role-player who was on the ship before you took over. Ensign Bravo is a role-player with excellent writing ability but little experience. Ensign Charlie is a new arrival with no experience at all and is struggling to fit in.

Your Captain has given the following briefing at meeting of all the department heads.

"There is a prison break on the penal colony we are in orbit around. The inmates have fought the guards and there have been reported casualties. Reports are sketchy, the comms system has been disrupted. The Prison has a shield around it to prevent beam outs. It can only be taken down from the Prison control room, but we can't make contact.

Engineering, I need you to work with the transporters. I need a way past the shield to beam people down to help. Bring that shield down. I also need comms back.

Medical. As I said we have reports of casualties. Early reports suggested at least three guards had been hurt seriously and we have had reports of a fire before the comms failed. I need you prepared to deal with the emergencies, in case the prison sickbay can't cope.

Security. Get your men together equip them for emergency rescue. I want teams ready for rapid deployment, but I also need you to work out an action plan for the rescue. I don't want more casualties, so all weapons are to be set to stun.

Science. I need the layouts of the prison. You'll have to dig the files out. Additionally, we have no sensor readings at all. We have to know where the inmates are and the trouble spots to deploy security correctly.

That's all, everyone dismissed and get your people working on it."

With that briefing in mind, pick a department and write an In Character post as DH to your team of three ensigns explaining the situation and assigning the tasks to them. (2 points)

At the end of your post, please provide an explanation as to why you selected what person for what task and, if you assigned anyone to work together, why you did so. (3 points)