Posted by Dave Eads in Question for the Candidates (All tickets)
Hi guys!
I know most of you Candidates on at least a “We’ve written together” level, and I believe you all to be good and fair folk. Thus, I wanted to throw out a hypothetical scenario and see if we can get into some the “stickier” situations that sometimes arise in the course of running a ship, or a fleet, or the club itself; and how you’d likely react to such situations.

Thanks for the excellent questions, Dave. Having been Vice President, I’m well aware that behind the scenes situations are a big part of what the executives need to deal with. It’s very important to have leaders who have good judgment, a point I’ve made already in one of our campaign headquarters posts.

Hypothetical Part A:
Johnny is CO of a ship. He dislikes his XO, Bob and decides to remove Bob from that position. Bob, doesn’t like this idea, of course, and complains to the Fcomm.

I’ve been in this kind of situation a couple times as a Fleet Commander. In my cases it didn’t get this far, but rather started with the CO expressing frustration about the XO. Once the CO’s claims were exaggerated and I pointed out to the CO that the XO had a right to appeal and the XO would be right to say the reasons for dismissal weren’t true. The other time the CO had complaints about how the XO was communicating, but the CO’s communication was lacking in the same regard. And the CO should have been more patient with an XO who was still learning the role. Also, in both of these cases I pointed out that the CO’s expectations of the XO weren’t clearly stated. Both times the CO backed down.

It’s always important to go to the relevant bylaw in these kinds of cases. A lot of thought and discussion went into all the club’s bylaws, and by and large the rules and structure in them give good guidance. Both parties should be worked with before it gets to this point ideally, but let’s say that didn’t work out. Deciding on the case revolves around one question: Was the removal necessary to preserve or restore the ability of the ship to function effectively? That is the one and only reason permitted by the bylaw for the CO to remove a player. Evidence should be gathered and both parties’ sides of the stories should be heard. The XO course has a great step by step outline for how to deal with a conflict when you need to be the one to sort it out ( https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/textbook/textbook-command-xo.html ) that I’d suggest checking out. That was written focusing on a different perspective, but the same principles apply to other conflict management. Also, it’s always good to ask for advise if you need it when dealing with a difficult situation. As an FComm I’d start with getting the AFComm’s advise if they weren’t an involved party.

Hypothetical Part B:
It comes to light that Johnny hasn’t been the best CO and Bob has been doing all the admin work on the ship. In fact, some of Bob’s counter-complaints are very legitimate.

Was the removal necessary to preserve or restore the ability of the ship to function effectively? That’s the question that needs to be answered. If the evidence points to the ship being better off with Bob than without Bob, then the appeal should be successful. Not a wonderful situation to have a command staff at odds like this, but that can’t be a reason to rule against the person who is in the right. Whether or not the CO should be removed is a separate question.

Please describe what the behind the scenes dialogue might look like from your position? Also, your reasoning behind whatever decision(s) you might make?
To your mind, what is the proper reason, and when is the proper time to remove a CO from command?

Thank you for your time.
-Dave

I would always start by looking at what the bylaw says. In this case, it tells us the Fleet Commander’s job is to ensure that the ships under their command are healthy and properly functioning roleplaying environments. If a CO isn’t fulfilling their responsibilities outlined in the bylaw and the ship is suffering as a result, that’s when you’d start to think about removing the CO from their position. It’s important to spell out expectations ahead of time so those under your command know what they should do. When someone doesn’t meet those expectations, you communicate with them about that professionally and remind them what the expectations are. Sometimes there might be some way for you to help them meet your expectations. After unsuccessfully attempting to improve the CO’s performance, it’d be necessary to go to the President to suggest removing them. In a rare case a serious terms of service violation may be cause to expedite this process, but usually the place to start is to work towards improvement.

Hopefully that answers your questions. If not, please let me know.

Adam
Adam W. / Thomas B.