A Guide for potential and current Guild Leaders

[Varria]

OK well i have been a guild leader in nearly every game i have ever played...at some point anyways, so i thought i would share the knowledge and wisdom i THINK i have accumulated over the years hehehe

1) It is MOST important that you lead by example. You can't just order people around and expect them to do what you say if you arent willing to do it yourself.

2) You can't please all the people all the time. Once you realize this, the better off you will be.

3) You must be the person who can answer all questions, and if you cant...you had better be able to get the answer. It is of MAJOR importance when you are a leader to be the one people know they can go to for answers.

4) DONT IGNORE THE NOOBS. Yes we know they can be very trying at times, but you must remember that this is the future of your guild. It is your job as guild leader to cultivate and help them hone their skills.

5) Provide fun, yet challenging things for your people to do as a group. The group that fights together, stays together.

6) Do not be a dictator! Everyone has opinions on things, and I found over the years it is best to listen to them. You might be suprised at some of the cool ideas people come up with. Make sure you thank everyone for their input and encourage them to bring even more to the table. People like to feel like they are a part of a team, and if you don't allow them their input, they will resent you.

7) A great Guild Leader is one who responsibly leads their people...one who displays honor, morality, courage and loyalty. A person whose people look up to them for guidance in all things...and a person who CARES.

8) Help people. Be a good samaritan....be the person who helps that noob at the Mos Eisley starport when no one else will! Not only do you get a good feeling inside, but you make friends this way, and earn people's respect.

9) DO NOT accept just anyone into your guild. BE PICKY! Make sure they want to join you, and are not just using you, like so many of these immature kids do these days. If you feel you have to, put an age limit on new members. This helps to weed out the "bad seeds". If you dont, your city will be full of dead accounts and wasted space.



Ok well thats all i can think of right now. Hope this helps some of yas out there Good Luck!
V

[StrikeS]

I would have to say that #2 #9 and #6 are the most important things to follow on that this. If you're going to follow anything on that guide make sure it's at *least* those.

This is a great guide and will help out anyone that's starting a Guild or needs to better themself as a leader. Thanks for the post!

[Lindorn]

1) It is MOST important that you lead by example. You can't just order people around and expect them to do what you say if you arent willing to do it yourself.

2) You can't please all the people all the time. Once you realize this, the better off you will be.

3) You must be the person who can answer all questions, and if you cant...you had better be able to get the answer. It is of MAJOR importance when you are a leader to be the one people know they can go to for answers.

I think you place too much emphasis on this. While I personally hold myself to this standard I never want to be the go-to guy. While I leave myself open always to any questions someone might have, I dont want to be pestered constantly with useless questions. FAQ's and information would be on the website and elsewhere, I dont need to sit around and answer bull**** questions all day. If Im doing my job I am too busy to do this.

4) DONT IGNORE THE NOOBS. Yes we know they can be very trying at times, but you must remember that this is the future of your guild. It is your job as guild leader to cultivate and help them hone their skills.

Remember, not all guilds allow noobs. There would be no noobs in my guild to begin with, and if there were the learning curve is steep. It is my firm belief that if I give someone the basic layout and idea of what they are supposed to be doing, it is then their responsibility to make whatever jump in skill is necessary to catch up with everyone else. Its harder work, but thats what I expect out of DC members. I have treated RL friends in Shadowbane who had never played a day exactly like this and they proved it works.

5) Provide fun, yet challenging things for your people to do as a group. The group that fights together, stays together.

Im a conservative in this department. Entertain yourself. It isnt my job to hold your hand and provide day activities for you and anyone else in the guild. I will always as guild leaderl; through political, economic, social, and military maneuvering have a plethora of fresh asses to kick on call at all times. Other than that Im going to tell you what the guild needs, and then its your responsibility to entertain yourself within those parameters. I provide a hardcore skill based "play to win" environment based on success building, and in return you figure out how to keep yourseld occupied. Too many guilds break their leader's backs by placing this responsibility on their shoulders. Its not your GL's damn responsibility to provide activities for you. If he/she is a good leader then they will have too many other things to do already, and YOU should be the one stepping up to start activities. Time to get out of diapers and move on to pullups, mmm 'k?

6) Do not be a dictator! Everyone has opinions on things, and I found over the years it is best to listen to them. You might be suprised at some of the cool ideas people come up with. Make sure you thank everyone for their input and encourage them to bring even more to the table. People like to feel like they are a part of a team, and if you don't allow them their input, they will resent you.

Not being a dictator and listening to people arent bound together in any way shape or form. Im all about listening to people, but Im also a dictator. My IC are comprised of a group of people who I feel have the experience and know-how that I do, therefore they have a hand in the decision making process. However, Im GL for a reason. That doesnt mean I have the liberty to make decisions without consent, but I believe part of being a good guild leader is being able to identify the optimal course of action no matter where it comes from. So you should be able to take suggestions, make last minute changes, or adapt as necessary to a valid concern that is voiced. But as far as "not being a dictator", I disagree. Your word is final. However you have to make damn well sure your word is gold. If it isnt then obviously the whole system collapses. People need to take what you say seriously and know that if they dont obey there will be harsh repercussions, otherwise theyll never stay organized. If they dont stay organized theyll never realize the harmony that true organization brings to a group.


7) A great Guild Leader is one who responsibly leads their people...one who displays honor, morality, courage and loyalty. A person whose people look up to them for guidance in all things...and a person who CARES.

8) Help people. Be a good samaritan....be the person who helps that noob at the Mos Eisley starport when no one else will! Not only do you get a good feeling inside, but you make friends this way, and earn people's respect.

Ok you had me lightly bound in point 7 but you lost me in point 8. Being a good samaritan is in no way necessary in being a guild leader. You dont earn peoples respect by going around and acting like a carebear. You gain peoples respect by standing by your convictions, and DOING THE RIGHT THING. Not doing your thing, not doing your guilds thing, but doing the right thing. That means being a person of your word always, staying the course, and being open about your opinions and policies publicly. Obviously being a nice person is a plus. There is never a need to show people disrespect ever. I personally socially treat everyone with the utmost respect (unless they prove they dont deserve it). But that doesnt mean I make it a point to go on philanthropic tirades where I hand out items to noobs or give advice in a local city. That isnt my job, nor do I need to do that to garner people respect. Im here for my guild, not for John Doe the noobie.

9) DO NOT accept just anyone into your guild. BE PICKY! Make sure they want to join you, and are not just using you, like so many of these immature kids do these days. If you feel you have to, put an age limit on new members. This helps to weed out the "bad seeds". If you dont, your city will be full of dead accounts and wasted space.

[Roxianna]

As a guild leader, I don't help people, I don't let n00bs in the guild, I only care if you are a pleasant person who can enhance the guild's reputation as polite but ruthless professional killers, I don't order anyone to do anything, but I am a total dictator on policy and a control freak. I have as much tact as a cornered badger, yet some how I have had the honor of leading Section One since 2002.

People say I make things happen and get stuff done (see my page) Nobody said I was a nice person. Different strokes for different folks.

[Lindorn]

See I can tell I like your style already Roxi. Thats what it takes to run a tight ship in a PvP guild. Results results results. Thats what its about. If you want to act like a winner you dont need to worry about these things. But if you actually want to BE a winner, then this is where it counts. The one thing I disagree on is the lack of tact. It doesnt matter how good you are, eventually you are going to need someone elses help. Whether it be information, or anything else. The one thing that all guild leaders should be is tactful. If you have no tact you are going to end up in a ditch face down at some point because of all the bridges you burned. You may deny it up one side and down the other but it is only a matter of time as history has proven. I like what you said about polite yet professional killers. That is the way to play these games.

But networking and maintaining friendly ties even with your enemies will only help you in the long run. Eventually you will need to draw on that information base or have your "back scratched" or you will never make it as a successful entity. Because regardless of how you "roll" one day your enemies may just end up being your friends. And it would be a crying shame if you treated them with such arrogance and elitism that you arent even on speaking terms.

A lot of "hardcore" PvP guild leaders will look at my words and laugh them off saying. "We dont need our cities loll!!!1". You may be the most "l33t" PvPers on the planet. But any guild that claims they are going to run around without a city and "grief" people until they "quit the game" are simply deluded. When DC turns on the grief it is nothing less than brutality, yet we prefer to play with the big boys instead of running around naked because there isnt a bridge we havent burned in our dealings. How much better to forge your empire and have your enemies living under your boot because there isnt a path they can take against you that leaves them anything else but hopelessly defeated? These are the benefits of being a multi-faceted guild leader.

Very good post though.

[Aeos]

Yeah... What Lindorn said...

But seriously, tact is very important. I've (tried) to lead a couple of guilds and clans, and mostly driven them into the groud. Why? Because I was a real arrogant bastard to them, and they wanted none of it. I now realise, if you're gonna kick someone out of the guild, hold the door for them.

[Keolah]

I like being a dictator. I just prefer to be a benevolent dictator. I once tried that democracy thing with a family on Imperial Conflict some years back... We spent like 3 months attempting to decide on a name, to which I finally just said "screw this" and dubbed us "The Indecisive".

The main problem I've noticed tends to arise between a very annoying dichotomy between the fact that when you say you welcome input, they expect you to follow whatever they suggest, and if you don't say that, even if you don't say something like "I won't listen to your stupid ideas" or something rude like that, they for some reason get annoyed then end up leaving for some trivial thing they never even bothered to bring to your attention and then you ask them why they left and they say "Oh, I was annoyed about this, this, and this" and you say "So why didn't you just say something?" and they hem-haw around and can't really give an answer because even they aren't sure.

[Gimille]

I agree with most of what you had to say Varria. Good post =)
Leadership style does vary much but most mature leaders are compassionate and understanding. Being a dictator imo does not work .. who likes to be ordered around?? Nobody likes a bully! A solid guild will have strong leadership within it's ranks. Chain of command. Communication with everyone is most important. In a very large guild this can be tough.

Noobs or veterens ??? Well we all were noobs once =) but I do understand that yes if you do not have to hold someone's hand can be good. But there is nothing wrong with say having a rank/skill group of guilds that a noob can grow with to advance up to a strong fighting guild. Gives em something to strive to reach.

[Grarghsies]

I don't believe there is a one size fits all guide to leadership beyond the basics.

Some people know how to lead, and you'll notice they get promoted in every game and guild they play in.

PvP games need tight rules, recruitment and leadership with totally insane leaders. /wave Ghraz Blagtoof.
PvE guilds need dedicated members with very little time constraint but they NEED numbers, so a different style of leader is need with a hell of a load of time.

Don't forget guilds are also different in how much the members can play timewise, they don't want to be nagged at to do something that's not fun if they can only play an <1 hour a day.

Poor leaders are leaders who can't make everyday decisions without consulting their officers, or ones who can't make tough decisions because they want to please everybody, you just can't teach instinctive leadership.

What I'm trying to say before I waffle off more is that leadership is on a guild to guild basis, and only skilled leaders will be able to notice the small differences in their memberships from guild to guild.

Play with a friend you know in RL, if he always seems to get officership and leadership, ask him why, hell, you might learn something

[Midnitelouie]

I would have to add that I also think this dictates very heavily into what game/scenario/situation that you're involved in as well...

I run two linkshells on Fenrir. One is a more placid, calm, "social" LS. We still get stuff done, and usually come out ahead of the game whenever we enter a situation... In that one, I'm much more open and willing to listen to other viewpoints and scenarios that might evolve with the membership.

Then there's the Dynamis Linkshell that I lead. In that one? Forget about straying from the tried and true methods. The way is the only way, and if you're not assisting? You're detracting.

(I've had people actually send me private tells asking where this whole Jeckyl and Hyde complex could come from, and I just let them know that there's a difference in "management style" depending on what's actually occuring in the game.)