The social group I am leading is classified in sociology textbooks as a “secondary social group” where it is impersonal, task focused and time limited. The branding of TSN Canada primarily serves as a instrument function rather than an expressive one. However, I've discovered a lot of artistic expression happens within the function and do not discourage it. I encourage goal or task oriented groups, rather than emotional ones. As of 2022, I plan to retire from leading the association of communities across Canada.
Through pragmatic, process driven discussions, I plan to set TSN Canada up as a reference group for other groups to either aspire or distance themselves to.
There is often a misunderstanding of leadership style. For one, most who look at the way content and structure is setup, will quickly and reasonably assume it is formal. There are often clearly outlined roles and responsibilities in areas that allows us to function, with a chain of command to follow. Some other secondary groups, like the army, have highly structured and clearly understood chains of command. At the surface, the Artemis groups that are operating under my direction and framework, appears to have an external facing structure of formality at first glance.
However, the internal operations is quite the opposite. With values such as inclusion, fun, being safe, sharing ideas and skills. Most projects and requirements proposal are considered optional to participate in, and nothing is ever mandatory.
The formality of the group is primarily used for role playing and implementation of large scale projects and endeavours. Each community operates with a set of democratic leaders, who encourage group participation in all decision making using a strategic plan to formalize and measure success annually. These community leaders work hard to build consensus before choosing a course of action and moving forward. This type of leader is particularly common, for example, in a club where the members vote on which activities or projects to pursue. These leaders can be well liked, but there is often a challenge that the work will proceed slowly since consensus building is time-consuming.
These community leaders operate as a collective in an association, which I've labelled as TSN Canada or the Canadian Fleet. Where new direction and policy approvals are motioned in, deliberated and voted on by each community leader. Each community votes during the high level fleet meetings.
In order for a new direction or policy to be approved, a two thirds majority vote is required by the Regional Commanders and Commanding Officers or their designate if one has been appointed. The Commander-in-Chief provides assent to the newly approved direction or policy, effectively enacting it on that date or the date that is specified in the policy.
All new ideas and discussion topics to be deliberated at a Fleet Command Meeting must be submitted by a Division Commanding Officer to the Regional Commander that their Division is assigned to.
All of this work and structure is to move each community towards sustainable operations. Sustainability is most often defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It has three main pillars: economic, environmental, and social. These three pillars are informally referred to as people, planet and profits.
Stakeholder management and outreach work is part of the social aspect of this group. There are efforts towards maintaining good standing relationships with other game groups within the community, in the scope of TSN Canada, the priority of sustainability remains within Canadian borders; but not limited under certain circumstances. The social aspect of sustainability is where the primary group type thrives, allowing members to speak and express themselves in all manners; that would be considered appropriate in good company.
The amount of waste the group produces is little. However, it is important to have a plan to carpool when traveling together to play in other communities, recycling and reusing electronic components. Reviewing the supply chain is an important part of understanding where the materials we are using to operate comes from. Fair trade, no child labour and safe work environments at the factories are important items to investigate and confirm.
The group needs to be profitable in order to move forward and continue engagement. That said, profit cannot trump the other two pillars. In fact, profit at any cost is not at all what the economic pillar is about. Activities that fit under the economic pillar include compliance, proper governance and risk management. Creating multiple streams of group income and abiding by taxation law is highly encouraged.
Only when these three areas of sustainability are balanced, corporate social responsibility can be observed to really bring the value to any community. Where as communities are well balanced enough to enact philanthropy, includes all forms of business giving. Corporate philanthropy embraces business’s voluntary or discretionary activities by their commanding and executive officers. Philanthropy or business giving may not be a responsibility in a literal sense, but it is normally expected by businesses today and is a part of the everyday expectations of the public. Certainly, the quantity and nature of these activities are voluntary or discretionary. We do this by giving either money, access to revenue generating events and even in person support at game sessions. The mechanism we use is a letter of intent to support, which is usually published before mid year if a group wishes to support.
Of course, the scenario I describe depends on how strongly everyone embraces sustainability, and whether it is a true change of direction or just lip service by Commanding Officers. We often refer to one type versus the other as Role Play (RP) or In Real Life (IRL), attempting to balance different components of what is RP and IRL can be confusing at times, however as I describe these functions; it can only serve to provide more clarity as we move forward. Only time will tell if the triple bottom line can be balanced by each community in the coming years.
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