Micro Management

Something that is often mentioned around workers of real life businesses is micro-management. It’s something the ‘front-line’ or ‘shop floor’ employees will level against the middle management of proceedings around the business and it’s likely that the middle management will also accuse the big boss of also.

As I am aware of such management style and have reason to believe that it can have a detrimental effect on production at floor level, it’s something I try to ensure I steer clear of in the running of our guild.

Stuff like discussing certain real time situations should only be done by a GM on an advisory basis where the ‘officer’ (in the case of a guild) is in discussion with GM about what to do before acting, or where GM feels it necessary to bring attention to a possibly overlooked viewpoint on an advisory basis to assist the officer in their decision making development.

Development here is key because ideally a GM will want a self sustaining officer team upon which GM can rely. If the GM is constantly contradicting his officers in front of others, ‘bad-mouthing’ the decisions they have been making etc. while displaying the notion that GM could do it better then it’s a recipe for disaster.

There’s nothing worse as a supervisor than to be undermined in front of the lads by your immediate boss. That there, is micro-managing at its worst, where the manager and not the supervisor (officers in our case) orchestrated all the decisions and leaves out any opportunity for the officer to make decisions for him/herself based on his/her experience as the way to move forward.

It is far more beneficial for a GM to lead the way of management by setting examples, being available to offer advice when needed and being able to spot a situation which could be near to going wrong and offering some choice opinion on a way to ensure it reverts back to the right path.

The moment the GM gets too deep into the intricate affairs of each officer’s routine tasks is the time to start worrying. If you know a GM who takes over control of the raid team and starts dishing out commands for the way the team should approach a fight is the time when the raid leader should be very concerned about why they are even in the position in the first place.

The way I work, I will happily stick my oar in from time to time but the truth is, I want my officers to stand up and be counted when the situation needs it. One example could be that during a raid night, something has gone wrong or someone has said or done something that a raid leader disagrees with, the raid leader then has a choice to make….
Get angry and start roasting people alive?
Go all silent and provide no top cover for a potentially failing team that badly needs the leaders’ influence and single-minded direction?
Talk through what the trouble is and come to a realisation that the team have to progress or a poor atmosphere can be made worse.

It’s all well and good to have a GM who wants to have good lines of communication while at least expressing the notion that micro-managing is unproductive, but all this is about to be put into practice as we head into the holiday period when I will be afk and relying heavily on the officers to manage the guild without me.

I will be expecting my 3 Warrant Officers to be perfectly attuned to the operations of the guild and making some key decisions without me breathing down their necks for the next few weeks. If ever there was a time to prove credentials as a possible future guild leader then that time is now. There will be no Bigticket so Spyrot, Wenya and Debbs have to communicate and orchestrate much of the guild’s affairs and I have no doubt that things will be just fine in my temporary absence.

I will be in contact via email, whatsapp and the website and I will surely log in from time to time so I’m in no way gone, just kinda afk for the next 3 weeks. I’m actually really interested to see how the Warrant Officers get on during this period and whether they relish or dislike it. It’s all about taking responsibility and I have no doubt our full officer team and others yet to be in officer ranks too have the desire and ability to watch out for their wonderful guild while the ginger bearded hunter steps out for a bit.

/Salute