Officer Traits
There are many guides and articles out there on how to successfully run a WoW guild or how to be a good guild leader, most of them oriented towards what is good for the guild and how to keep the guildies happy.
But what about you? What is good for the actual person(s) running the guild? What kind of traits do you need to have in order to survive the ordeal of running a guild?
Because running a guild is an ordeal, make no mistake about that. It is time-consuming, most often thank-less and sometimes you wonder why you even bother. And of course sometimes it is a source of fun and pride and joy and happiness, which is why you keep doing it.
So, from my own limited experience of being an officer in two different casual guilds, I have accumulated some wisdom that I want to share with any prospective guild leaders out there.
Apart from the usual management and people skills you will need a generous helping of some more defensive traits as well, like
Thick Hide
No matter how friendly the guildies are in general, you will on occasion get attacked by people who think you are doing things the wrong way, or doing the wrong things, with a chip on their shoulder or who think that you just generally suck.
They may be right or they may be wrong but rest assured they are nasty and viscious. They are not trying to help you solve something, they are just out for the kill and for boosting their own egos by blaming their own failures and shortcomings and mistakes on someone else.
These people will try to belittle you and to make you feel bad, and they will inevitably attack you as a person and not as an officer or representative for the guild leadership.
You will need a rather thick hide to be able to see it for what it is and not take it personal.
Infinite patience
When something happens, the shit hits the fan and people start screaming at each other, you will need to keep cool and calm and not get dragged into the fighting yourself.
It is difficult to not go into defensive mode or to start pointing out what people did wrong while glossing over your own actions, but you will have to stay away from that. If necessary, if it is something that involves the entire guild or is very visible to everyone, you can state a small summary of what has happened, making sure to keep everything matter-of-fact and to keep all value-laden or emotional words out.
And then sleep on it. A couple of days or a week. Very few important things need to be decided on the spot so do not, I repeat do not, make any hasty decisions while you are still upset, do not make any public posts or quit as an officer or quit the guild in a rage over something. This will only add to the drama and make the mending of fences much more difficult.
Give it a few days to calm down, and most likely you will see things differently when you are cool and collected. Everything does not need to be fixed right now, many things will fix themselves with time.
And when guildies whisper you about it, or whisper you about anything, complaining or arguing, be polite and patient but answer neutrally, do not let yourself get drawn into polarised explaining and defending.
Remember, patience is a virtue, not only when it comes to having patience with others but also when it comes to being patient with yourself.
Selective Memory
It is all too easy to let the bad parts take over and dominate your impression of the guild leading. After all, the bad parts are the ones most infected and associated with strong emotions and hurt and even tears.
The thrill and joy of downing a boss for the first time can easily be overshadowed by having to resolve an argument over the loot distribution following it.
The satisfaction of slotting the raid groups in a good and fair way can easily be forgotten when someone whines about being benched.
The praise and cheers from your guildies about you and your guild leading can all too easily dwindle to nothing when some malcontent calls you names.
You need to have a very selective memory to not let the good and fun parts drown in the bad small-mindedness, because if that happens you will burn out real fast.
These three traits are necessary if you want to be able to run a guild and stay sane in the process.
I am not sure I have them all. Or, more truthful, I am not sure I have enough of them all.
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Might I add ability to give and receive constructive feedback? It’s related to the thick hide but it’s more than that.Many times guild officers get into the rut named “we’ve always done it this way” and it runs into the wall of “the new player who has seen whatever it is done more happily/efficiently/successfully some other way before.” By no means is it expected that said officer implements every idea they receive, but being able to thoughtfully listen without jumping into defensive mode is key to good guildie communications and relationships.
Agree, the ability to actually listen is vital for a good leader!
This post was not so much about leader traits though as about what abilities you need as a person to not be totally exhausted and demoralised when the not-so-nice clientel of your guildies start hacking away at you :-)