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What makes an effective city/council leader?
Theophilus
Member Posts: 784 ✭✭✭✭
I don't want another discussion about how to make Stavenn better... we've had plenty of those and I think we know what to do (at least for now).
For those of you who have led an org, or know what it takes to lead an org, what makes for an effective leader? Although each org has its fair share of differences, there are qualities every leader should have IG and IRL regardless of his or her method of RP.
(Ring): Lartus says, "I heard Theophilus once threw a grenade and killed ten people."
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."
(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."
(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
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‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."
(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
Many hats remains my major bit of advice. Some people will want a conqueror to lead them, and you're a decent enough combatant, so leverage that. Others are going to need someone to give them things to do in order to continue logging in. Those individuals are going to be insanely difficult to please unless you're Ultrix, who excels at throwing birthday parties and mandatory patty cake circles. Try and motivate them with the goal of 'we need Stavenn to not suck, and you have to do your part'. Pay close attention to new people, try and sell them on a specific culture you're trying to build in Stavenn. Approach other org leaders OOC (at their discretion) and see if they're interested in any kind of small scale RP that might generate mutually beneficial results.
‘Every sword’s a weight to carry. Men don’t see that when they pick ’em up. But they get heavier with time.”
Have a vision and see the steps necessary to create it (or have people who can do that for you) and the ability to break up projects into tasks that can be delegated. And then delegate.
Be able and willing to reach out to people you don't usually talk to and get input from a range of sources and take critique without being a baby about it.
Don't be afraid of breaking things to fix them, but also not immediately decide to break everything without first sorting out what's working and what isn't.
I am in serious disagreement with the idea that the leadership of Stavenn back in the bad ol' days was good. Being scary and commanding martial respect was only good for attracting PKers, but it stifled a lot of other stuff. The -best- leaders of Stavenn walked in both worlds, commanding respect on the battlefield but also supporting the culture of the city.
Poke people directly. If you just generally ask for things, or suggest ideas, expect to get a LOT of crickets. Go find people. Talk to them one on one, drag them specifically into tasks (pick tasks well suited to the people you are tossing them at). Praise heavily when people are awesome and do stuff. Find out -why- people aren't doing stuff (again, by going to them directly).
If you find someone who does things well and often, keep them happy, for they are a rare and glorious commodity.
EDIT - Give people a chance. Even people you personally dislike. Even people with a stupid history. I'm not always the best at this, but the better I get at it, the better results I end up with are. A LOT of people who have been around for ages here started as stupid teenagers and are now adults. They may have settled. Also, it's a game. We should start with the idea that people are around to have fun and should be leading with that foremost in mind. If someone acts up, respond to that, not to your expectation of what they MIGHT do.
If you ask some people, I was the best person ever at that job, if you ask others, I was a 'ragey nerd'. I'd say a solid 70%+ of the things I've been accused of, I never had anything to do with.
I quoted Ahkan's post because out of all the random stuff ITT this is the only thing that has any ring of truth to it. Imperian in a very light roleplaying atmosphere with a very heavy community focus, and that's the way this super niche market/playerbase really wants it at the end of the day, as evidenced by this is how the game has been encouraged to progress for a long time.
My problem was that I was a meanie poo poo head on RT when people would do laughably stupid things, like cleave teammates or spam dsl into rebounding. You know, the same things you guys joke about, I just didn't kiss boo boos away, because I'm not super attached to the clique, and because most of the people that log in regularly have absolutely no ability to handle criticism, even polite, and mine was rarely that.
Wanna be an effective leader? @Theophilus, you will have people who will revere your character's imprint on history, and people who will disparage it. Don't let that matter, don't spend your time in game worrying 100% about administrative duties. At the end of the day, you will have people like Yaribelle and Mena who get forgotten and shat on, despite the work they did that was pretty much entirely positive. Then you have people like me, where one tragic (and hilarious) mistell means all of a given fictional woodland people will hate you for literally years in character and out. Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things and remember it's a game, you'll walk away from the experience with a good feeling.
Also - this man speaks the truth. If you do your job right, you will have people who hero worship you and people who despise you. Don't worry about all that, just do what you need to do and keep in mind that it's a game.
I wasn't really focusing on any one person. You can look at any org and point out the 'ok' leader who was 'great' because their predecessor and replacement were crappy. People also have ooc meltdowns and torpedo their own rule.
The mechanical part of leading, someone else can teach you (Sup, Aleutia/Kanthari). For the most part, cities run themselves. You just have to poke and prod occasionally to make sure someone didn't break something. This is where choosing your ministers is important. It's also sort of a no brainer. Ahkan is not an ambassador of your nation, but he's pretty good at security.
There are plenty of examples of people in this game who might have made good leaders but for the fact that any hint of drama turns them into raving lunatics.
None of what I said was anecdotal. It's practical advice, most of which is equally well applied to real life leadership.
The RP of the Imperator is distinct from the skills/practices of a good leader.
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."
(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."
Your main point was again kinda mine too, anecdotal evidence means less than nothing because YMMV and most certainly will.
@Selthis had two amazing points too, and his last one I learned first hand. If I recall we actually talked about the subject of getting burnt out while I was busy with angsty commiseration over my chosen plight. Delegation is the best when done properly because you are obviously reducing your own workload but more importantly you are utilizing all the members of your team. Finding who best fits where (and subsequently this means helping them people figure out what they're good at) was honestly the most fun part for me.
Do not be afraid to tell people no.
Do not overcomplicate the process - it is a game, not an office job. You don't need to spend your life online, whatever else anybody tells you. You don't need to spend every moment leading. You don't need to put in 'countless hours every week' like some others have said here and in other threads. When you feel your work has been done, do not put more time in simply because others would complain if you do not - when the job is done, it is done, do not waste time on it anymore.
Be prepared for detractors who have no good reason to detract. People love being contrary.
Don't be afraid to get rid of people. It is not the end of the world. There is another org that supports their classes and guilds. You are not beholden to every citizen. Weed out the shitty ones.
No it isn't, because the RP of the Imperator plays directly into how good at the job they are.
The leader's job isn't the paperwork and administration details or winning events or advancing the city's agenda or anything like that. The leader's job is really just to be an inspirational figurehead that gets people doing things.
Juganothion and Trez and the like managed this with Stavenn by being Saturday morning cartoon villains and leading Stavenn from fight to fight on a wave of bloodlust and antagonism. If a minion talked back, they'd get rage-curbstomped and Stavenn would look on in approval, because that's the kind of thing they expected from their warleader.
Ultrix does it by being a 'tiger momguildmaster' that nobody wants to disappoint by getting an A instead of an A+. When she announces that the guild is going to form a team for the Aetherian Soccer League everybody in the guild learns to play soccer, because telling Ultrix no is scary and it makes you feel bad, even if she's not going to curbstomp you in a blind rage.
Both of these strategies work because an effective leader is a just a leader that people will follow. If they're willing to follow you and having fun doing it, it honestly doesn't matter what you're doing. Guild events and caravans and shardfall rewards? Awesome. Blood for the blood god and mindless antagonism? Awesome. Ritual RP? Awesome. Well, not for me, I hate that crap, but if your organization loves it then go for it.
If you want to be an effective leader, go somewhere fun so that people will want to follow. It's really not that complicated.
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
And now for some more practical advice.
Sarrius' last stint as Shah, on the other hand, was spent kicking out anybody who contested him or Lalitana or who was thinking about contesting them purely as a way to keep the position, down to the point where he kicked out Toma and then lied about doing it when a bug made the outcast not appear in the logs. This kind of stuff is not obviously not acceptable.
"On the battlefield I am a god. I love war. The steel, the smell, the corpses. I wish there were more. On the first day I drove the Northmen back alone at the ford. Alone! On the second I carried the bridge! Me! Yesterday I climbed the Heroes! I love war! I… I wish it wasn’t over."
(Ring): Lartus says, "Then it exploded."
(Ring): Zsetsu says, "Everyone's playing checkers, but Theophilus is playing chess."