TotW: Group Management, How cool is your group? ..Part 2
Da Leader is embarrased! ^^
Welcome back to Topic of the Week. Last time we covered some of the basics of group management. Let’s move on to the gorey details!
There are many different styles of leadership. By example, an appointed representative in a democratic community, a tyrant, a king, a peacekeeper, ETC. All styles are good in their own way. And bad as well.
A leader that guides by example usually is very fair, always set the example by being on time, passing loot to less geared people to balance groups, or even accepting mistakes to avoid any drama. Usually all is well until someone defies this type of leader. For in his struggle to keep a group together a defiance will be hard to squelch. A “righteous” leader will find it hard to remove the one who defies, or take hard actions against him since all this time he has been trying to keep a group together, not build it apart. Remember these are but tendencies and not always true.
Unfortunately it’s very common that these sort of leaders get burned out, and need a break every so often. Most of the responsibility falls upon them, and it tends to tire such leaders quickly. When a group is formed and a leader is chosen amogst them, these characteristics apply to them as well.
sir, yes sir!
A tyrant is another example of a leader. Usually easy to identify. It’s the guy that says things are done his way because he says so. Some of the time they are fair and usually make the hard choices very quickly. And take them into action as well. However they are very biased. It’s not uncommon to see his friends and him very geared very quickly, bypassing others. Or usually they have a clique. They do stuff on their own (clique) without inviting or offering an opportunity to the rest of the group. Any defiance is swiftly removed from the group, as well as any drama queen or disagreeing person. The only rule is that they tyrant rules. He chooses what is right or wrong and may change on a whim.
A king (or queen) is not to be confused with a tyrant. It is also a person who started the group and has defined the rules. Has no trouble removing a person if said person isn’t benefitting the overall of the group. Is definitely more fair than a tyrant. May also have a clique, usually made up of group’s officers. The diference is the rules. This person makes, and modifies them as needed. And sticks to them. a King is a peacekeeper, is just, and works to take a group to a certain point. Who makes up that group may or may not be as important to others.
What, then, are the diferences between them?
How the group was formed.
If there is a group of friends, and a person is elected he or she has a responsibility to the group. (elected, righteous) This person can be removed as leader, or changed. (in theory at least)
If a person wants to achieve something and he/she recruits people for that, the people have a responsibility to the leader. (tyrant, king) The only unchanging thing here is the leader, people can be removed/changed often and constantly.
In the end its a struggle for power. Who has the power? the group? the leader? Who makes the choices? Is the leader just a peacekeeper? or is he the one that makes the calls on everything?
All in all I hope you end up with a very good leader.
All leader should be like this! autobots... Roll out!
and not a:
Dad?
General Tips for Group Management:
- Define, define, define. Rules, goals, who has the power (group or leader). This will directly influence in how the people act. No definition gives too much freedom to people and they will end up doing whatever they want and eventually messing things up for the group.
- When a person is messing up, don’t yell at them in front of the group, send them a whisper or address the issue at a later time. It will be less demoralizing. (specially if in a raid)
- When a person is causing discomfort to a group, remove them from the group. Do offer them a chance to come back, but stop the tantrum before it gets really bad.
- Sometimes people just need to vent out for a bit. After they calm down you can talk to them again.
- Mute in Ventrilo does wonders. Globally Mute (if you’re admin) is WAY better.
- Having admin access to vent can help stop annoying trespassers. You can kick/mute/ban them.
- Try and include the group in important decisions. The more people agree to something the more they will be attached to it and help enforce it.
- Create your group’s Loot rules. No matter what system you choose, there will always be someone unhappy with it.
- Cliques will always exist. Don’t fight em, try and work em out. If you can get the people from the advanced clique help the new guys out, teach em some tips, both groups will become stronger.
- Make sure you enforce rules as equally as possible. Favoritism is a human trait. Everything we do has an emotional weight. Leaders are human. Do not expect to avoid this. On the contrary embrace it and still try and be as fair as possible.
Los Rudos started because a friend who played wow, felt he wanted a group he could trust. He created los rudos, for his RL friends to help em level up and do raids with. We ended up recruiting RL friends (about 14 or 15) into WoW. In Los Rudos, the group has the power, so we do something that has worked for us so far. Leader rotation. At first it was the group creator that leaded the group. Then we chose a replacement. This second leader (ME!) defined structure, loot system (it has been changed), first group goals, and some other technical details (site, vent). The third leader was chosen in a vote, also gave a chance to the second one to rest out his burn out. Third leader redid loot system (it was a vote, everyone had a say in it) defined new goals (new content came out) and worked on maintaining the peace (gkicked a player even tho he was rl friend of the entire group, just to cool him off, then brought him back when he was calm). Defined the “honorary” positions for those people we don’t know IRL. Our current leader, the fourth one, one was appointed by the last in a hasty decision. It has been respected by everyone and he has worked to clean up some of our system’s flaws. He addresses issues concerning how we rank and grow as a group.
In the end, the group will show/ask what they need. It is up to the leader to define how those issues are addressed. Don’t be afraid to ask for support. Do not be afraid to remove someone. Congratulate and rejoice whenever someone accomplishes something good. Support the group, but don’t do everything for them. Rules can be rules, or general guidelines, just make sure people know they exist.
