League of Legends is very much a team-oriented game. You cannot expect to work as a singular player and be able to win. When operating as an in-game leader, there are a few tips I can give to new shot-callers.
1. Be a Leader, not a Boss.
Work with your teammates, not for them. Effective shot-callers are able to take a group of five individuals and turn them into a single, working unit. To do this, you must be a leader, not a boss. A boss is someone that gives orders, but being an effective leader requires you to make decisions that your team can agree with, without question. The ability to have four other people operating beside you, not underneath you, will make you a more effective leader and shot-caller.
2. Avoid becoming mentally frazzled.
Set an example for your team. Even when playing from behind, when someone is mentally frazzled, you can't let yourself be. If the in-game leader is not in the correct mental state, then the rest of the team is following poor calls and decisions. When the rest of the team notices you frazzled, they can become equally frazzled. This brings the entire team down a slippery slope they don't need to be going down.
3. Make clear decisions.
If everyone is following you without question, your team play will eventually improve. When your team is able to follow your calls without question, the flow of the game will improve. When game-pace is important, your skill to make clear decisions becomes increasingly more important. Even if the decision turns out to be a poor one, making a clear and decisive call will always be the better option.
4. Keep your focus on the macro.
Macro decisions will win you the game every time. If one of one of your players is falling behind individually, it is important to keep everyone focused on the game at large. Everyone has the capacity to play smarter. When your team plays smarter than the enemy team, the individual mistakes begin to matter less and less.
5. Don’t talk about mistakes until post game review.
No one needs to be reminded that they made a mistake. Keep your team focused on the game, and review mistakes after you finish playing. The team's focus must be on the game at hand, not what happened in the past. Bringing up poor decisions while playing distracts the team from looking ahead at how to win.
6. Avoid sticking with strategies that aren’t working.
Knowing that your team has the ability to try multiple strategies keeps you ahead of the enemy team. If you keep calling for your team to do the same thing over and over, when it hasn't worked before, it will never end up working. Adaptation to what is happening will keep your team ahead, and therefore more able to win the game.
