In this article the role of in-game leader is explained, commonly referred to as IGL. An excellent IGL leads the team to greatness and cannot be missed in any decent competitive team.
First things first – the basics
Important to start off with is knowing how the in-game leader fits into the bigger picture as a whole. If you want to know how to become a great IGL, you need to know exactly what is expected of you and how you can be a piece of the big puzzle that makes your team.
Your role is to lead. The clue is really in the name. You get all the responsibility on your shoulders of guiding your team over and across various obstacles. You need to be ready and waiting to support your team in any way possible, and know exactly what is making or breaking it. Your job is to see things in the grander scale, the kind of matters a regular player will gloss over. An IGL is the watchful and helpful eye over every player their shoulder.
Establish yourself
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At all costs, make sure your team listens to you. You do not have to rule the TeamSpeak or Discord server with an iron fist, but when things get heated or situations get tense, your team has to be one hundred percent convinced and ready to listen to you. It is worthwhile to also figure out beforehand what the goal is; a team that just wants to play some matchmaking with slightly more structure needs a totally different approach versus a team that wants to progress to an actual tournament league and get out there.
You have to hold your position with the utmost confidence, and carry your words with the same energy. This in turn leads to your players not second-guessing you, and trusting you when it is needed the most. Do not however forget that sometimes players can have valid input, it just needs its time and place.
The skills, natural and learnt
Being a leader, in-game or elsewhere takes a particular type of person. You have to fit in the shoes of a leader and know how to deal with your players in all sorts of situations and moods. The people skills part of leading is not something you can really force and rather something that comes naturally. It is a certain type of charisma and connection you can build up with somebody to quickly read them and grasp the character you are dealing with. An additional part of this is also being good with your words; be concise with your explanations and avoid long-windedness.
People skills are just one part of the equation though. You also need a rock-solid game knowledge. It is vital for both credibility and being able to see mistakes, find patterns, and build tactics. Remember the difference between actually playing like a pro and having varied and wide spanning knowledge. You can leave the insane shots and extreme plays to your teammates, although you should not be dead weight to the team either. Your strength should lie in getting fast reads on your enemies, on what is happening and how to respond to enemy tactics.
Avoid negativity
Positive reinforcement works a million times better than any sort of negative approach. This does not mean you have to be blind to the mistakes of your players, but be tactful and commend their good actions, whilst working to fix the bad. Constantly hammering things your players do wrong will put them in a terrible mood and only cause them to perform worse. A player that feels good also tends to play better, whereas fixing morale is an incredibly daunting and difficult task.
Learn from others
There are so many resources out there nowadays, just like this article itself. CS:GO pros at the highest like steel (even disregarding the controversy) have made entire series on how to be a good IGL. Even putting the pros aside, simply talk to your fellow players that you know take on the same leading role. They can share certain ways they approach things and offer fresh new insights into problems you might be running into. A different perspective can be all you need to clear something up and figure out a new way to tackle a problem.
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