A few days ago Jason Lems emailed me with a great suggestion for a blog post.  He suggested that I ask all of the L4+ judges for a few sentences of advice for people thinking about going for L3.  The result is this post–useful stuff!

“If you’re gunning for Level 3, the first thing you have to do is make sure you’re on track to be a Rules and Policy expert.  Not only will judges and players alike be going to you for rules questions, but on the floor of a Grand Prix, a Level 3 Team Lead essentially acts as 6-8 floor judges.  Why is that?  Well, when L3s are approving back ups and game losses, you’ll be the judge signing off on these big decisions for the members of your team (and others).  For these, and other, reasons – it is absolutely imperative that Level 3 judges are rules and policy experts.”

–Jason Lemahieu, L5, USA

“As an L3 (candidate), you’ll need to think about your behaviour. Be calm and in control. Be firm yet friendly. Be forceful when needed, but don’t be aggressive. Act maturely. Consider others, do not just think about yourself. A true leader is someone people want to follow.  Think about the people you consider leaders and think: what in their behaviour makes them a leader?”

–Jurgen Baert, L4, Belgium

“Going for L3 is not a short road but it is one that will bring a lot of satisfaction and growth to you as a judge. My advice is rather general: don’t focus on filling your checklist as if it were a grocery store shopping list. That will only lead you up to a certain point in the process but probably not all the way. My recommendation for you all is to rather focus on the Qualities of Regional Judges and try your best to be from very good to excellent on each one of them. By working on that you’ll probably also advance in your checklist; not solely on the quantity aspect, but also on the quality side!”

–Damián Hiller, L4, Argentina

“Achieving L3 is not an end point.  The activities and requirements on the checklist are there to both demonstrate that you may have the qualities we are looking for in an L3 AND to get you ready for what we expect an L3 to do.  We have you test people for L1 because you will continue to do that and test candidates for L2.  You need to write a self review of yourself before testing, and we also want you to write an annual one once you reach L3.  You’ve been involved with work outside of events, this is something we expect to continue if not grow.  You may end up being asked to be in charge of a project.  Team leading on day two of a GP was just a start, because an L3 does it more often and on day one as well.  In other words, make sure you keep the bigger picture in mind about what you are working towards and the expectations once you get there.  Doing that may even help you get there.”

–Chris Richter, L4, USA

“A L3 is a leader, so you’ve got to understand what leadership is.  Here’s a tiny piece of advice: there are almost infinite ways of being a leader, and the one each person uses is the one that’s effective in their case.  You’ll learn a lot from what other leaders do, but in the end, you’ll have to find your own style, the one that suits your personality.  Don’t try to change your personality, that’s likely not going to work.  Instead, use your strengths, find those things that work out well with your personality.  And don’t forget, leadership is more than being assigned to a leadership role at a tournament.  You can show leadership as a floor judge as well, and quite importantly for a L3, you can show it outside of tournaments.  Take care of your community outside of events.  Even if you’re the kind of judge that enjoys logistics challenges and doesn’t like dealing with people a lot, you can do it, by motivating the right kind of judges in your community to take care of the social aspects of it, mentoring, etc.”

–Carlos Ho, L4, Panama (currently residing in Spain)

“Believe in yourself; when you do, you exhibit confidence, and confidence is a foundational trait of a leader.  Be honest with yourself; know your weaknesses and work on them; know your strengths, and exploit them.  But most of all, be honest with yourself – and others will see that, too.  Be prepared to work hard – it stands out, and is greatly appreciated.  Work on the right things, of course – but work hard.  Listen.  The best leaders hear what their people are saying, listen carefully, and act in consideration of what they’ve heard.  Finally – enjoy what you do.  If you don’t, maybe you should consider a different approach, or even a different endeavor.  But when you enjoy what you’re doing, so will those around you – and that’s priceless.”

–Scott Marshall, L5, USA

“As an L3 candidate and future L3, never forget to have the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. Be inspired by someone or something and be an example to follow.  A leader is seen as someone positive, cooperating, ready to change.  A person whose glass is always half full. Remember to build quality relationships based upon trust, respect, cooperation, and teamwork. No obstacles can prevent you from achieving your goal. Be aware that there are and will be challenges to be faced, to be overcome, and to be learned from. Always believe and teach to others that failures present the opportunity for self-improvement. Always remember that you are not alone, we all have a common goal and your promotion will be a success for all of us.”

–Cristiana Dionisio, L4, Italy

“Always schedule a gathering with fellow judges for the night after your interview. If you pass, you get to celebrate. If you don’t, you get a good reminder of why you’re trying.”

–Toby Elliott, L5, USA

“Never forget you are a judge. There are many opportunities within the program on which you can spend a lot of time. There are many things you can do at events that are different from working the floor. All these things are very nice and great for learning many skills; however at the end of the day you always need to be ready to go on the floor and give it your best. That means your rules and policy knowledge should always be there, you should always be ready to take a judge call and of course you should always be pushing in chairs.  On your path to becoming a better judge you should excel at this and it should always be something you just do!”

–Gis Hoogendijk, Judge Emeritus, Netherlands

“Levelling up is not what makes you into an expert nor what entitles you to act as a leader.  It’s because you’ve become an expert and are acting as a leader that you’re entitled to level up.  When you level up, the level is the only thing that radically changes: It won’t make you a different person, you’ll still be the same person you were as a L2. If you believe you need to reach L3 to be able to act as such, you’re setting up hurdles on your own path.  Oh, and never instruct the judges you lead to do something you would have never done yourself in their place. You may have been in their positions in the past, why would you have them live the same situation you hated years before?”

–Kevin Desprez, L4, France

“Pass the Level 3 exam. There is nothing else in the process that is more under your control or that has more wide-reaching benefits as a judge than developing the rules and policy expertise that allows you to pass the Level 3 exam. Other parts of the process are designed to evaluate a wide range of criteria, many of which require complex life skills often developed away from events, but the exam is on specific material that is concretely defined. Know the rules. Know the policy. Pass the exam.”

–Jared Sylva, L4, USA

“You will understand that you are on the path to Level 3 when…

• you find yourself rereading the Comprehensive Rules and IPG because you care about maintaining your own high standard,
• you are making L2s before you are capable of testing them,
• you answer ‘why we do’ and not ‘what we do’,
• you have as much presence in your community outside a tournament as you do when judging in one,
• you find yourself involved with L1s from anywhere in your Region,
• you feel the desire to write a review simply because you feel a judge is deserving it, not because it is a required task,
• you treat organizers and players as your partners and teammates,
• you anticipate problems instead of reacting to them.”

–Andy Heckt, Judge Manager, USA

“The next level requires quite a bit of work to get there, and quite a bit of work to stay there. Make sure you understand why you want to walk that road. It will only be sustainably rewarding if your motivation is primarily internally driven, e.g. that you want to be there to serve your community. If the motivation is primarily externally driven, e.g. because you think you deserve or need the recognition, then the price to pay can turn out to be too high and the reward too little.”

–Jaap Brouwer, Judge Emeritus, Netherlands

“My primary advice to prospective L3s is to change your field of vision.  It’s time to move your primary focus from inward to outward.  Up until now, you’ve been concentrating on developing a skill set while helping some other folks along the way.  Now it’s time to flip that around and concentrate on helping your community develop those same skills while maintaining your own personal progress.”

–Sheldon Menery, Judge Emeritus, USA

“If as an L2 you find yourself limited in what you want to achieve, become and experience as a judge, you will find that the road to L3 and being L3 will show you all you are looking for. As an L3 you can dive into an specific area of judging, whether that’s translations, rules & policy, being a mentor or just judging events.  At L3 you are the one changing and shaping the program. At the cost of merely your time, you will get a challenge and the resources to complete it.”

–Frank Wareman, L4, Netherlands

“The path to perfection never ends; in every situation, we have to give the best of us, and in every situation we have to find a way to improve.  To improve the practical result of our actions, to improve the perception that other people have of what we do, to improve the impact we have on the others… there are many ways to measure the quality of what we do.  There will always be something to learn, somebody to learn from, something to learn from anybody, be it a hard skill or a soft skill, be it a technical procedure or a different opinion; we have to keep our mind open.  We have to be proud of what we are doing, we have to make the others proud of what we are doing, we have to give our heart to our passion, we have to look forward to realizing our dreams, we have to work hard to make them come true… and they will come true.”

–Riccardo Tessitori, L5, Italy

Thanks guys!

My own advice?  Go for it.  Over the course of your road to L3, you will learn a lot about yourself and your place in the program.  If you are willing to put in the work to improve yourself, you can get there.  So go for it.  You’ll be doing a big favor to the judge program and an even bigger one to yourself.

–Jeff Morrow, L4, USA