As guild leader, a major part of my job is to set the right people in the right officer positions that ensure the things the guild needs to be doing are getting done so that we at least maintain the status quo in the community. Ideally we will always be improving our efficiency in achieving this while venturing the possibilities that we can expand where possible within our means at any given time.
Of course we can adjust any barriers which could prevent any expansion if we feel it would be of benefit to the community at large but I must always remain vigilant that we are at the very least maintaining current balance. This is so that our guild members can come to expect at least the same level of immersion in the game because of the experiences we all have from being a part of the guild and which would be vastly different if we were guildless or in another guild entirely.
The constant ebb and flow of our officers’ changing involvement around the guild, since it’s only a game after all, means that there are obviously times when multiple officers are online and times when there are no officers online. That might sound entirely normal and it is, but the fact that there may or may not be leadership present 24/7 is actually a delicate balancing act created and managed by myself and of which I am acutely aware. It’s something I’ve got to consider when I decide to ask a trusted Dambuster to step into an officer role because we do need top cover while being aware that even a core team of 20 officers would’nt necessarily give that coveted 24/7 leadership cover.
People have lives to live and other games they may be playing. People play WoW in so many different ways and can’t always schedule the same times to be online. Officers like all other players gain and lose motivation for the game on even a daily basis at times. Part of the consideration when someone is promoted to officer duty is their actual online time and obviously someone who can be online a lot has a distinct advantage to someone who can only spare short periods online. That is where the efficiency part comes in, if I was online 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, didn’t have to sleep or work or anything else then there would be no need for officers except to carry out jobs I want to delegate out. If only it was that simple..
What I must do, is cover as many bases as possible with like-minded, responsible and reliable guild members who I can trust to accept my leadership and get the job done with minimum fuss. It is difficult for me to expect the community to look to an officer as an example if they are never online, they don’t do the job it says they are doing on the ‘Officers’ page of the website, or even that they don’t appear to be displaying the attributes expected of their rank which are detailed on the ‘Rank System’ page.
It’s always a risk to pin my hopes and expectations on a new officer because invariably, at some point stuff will get in the way of their game time and subsequently their officer duties. A degree of consideration is given to this possibility when I decide who and when to promote. One definite fact and very difficult realisation has been that I have learned how easy it is to promote someone but how excruciatingly difficult it is to demote if it doesn’t work out.
Having someone so close to the guild and to myself who makes a change in the game that precipitates their drifting away is very difficult and frustrating but it’s something I must deal with as the GM. Only I can manage this aspect and although it’s tough, it’s a dirty job that I signed up for and am not about to complain about it. When an officer drifts away from the guild then there must come a point of discussion, communication to clarify why and what (if anything) can be done to remedy the situation. Failing that, then for the good of the guild, I must start to look at the steps I might need to put in place to safeguard the guild’s operations.
This is by far the most difficult part of guild leadership in my opinion, far more difficult than even finding a raid leader because when you find a raid leader, you usually know it. It usually hits you in the face when it becomes apparent that someone is a raid leader.
Managing ranks, the bank, team schedules all pale into insignificance when the moment lands upon you and you need to think about replacing an honourable friend who has done no wrong other than to simply lose interest in aspects of the game that would otherwise easily facilitate their officer job being done wonderfully. The easy bit is finding the next officer and offering the role along with the correct briefing of what is expected of them in their new position. The hard part for me will be the day I am forced to uphold the guild’s standards of leadership. You need a good degree of ruthlessness at times to just stick to the rules and policies you put in place.
Thankfully, most officers already know their day is done by the time I open up initial communication regarding any recent downturn in operations. The guys who cross this path are usually well aware that I have a job to do and are very respectful of my approach on these occasions.
These aspects of guild management are most probably completely new to most wow gamers and might be surprising. There’s nothing wrong with opening a few eyes and where I can impart some insight about the tenuous pact I have when I manage our officer team, hopefully some people will learn something they didn’t expect. Maybe one day you will be your own GM and this may help, I hope so 🙂
/Salute
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.