Roundtable ~ Chamber of Guilds: Forums / General Guild Management / New Raid Management

Roundtable ~ Chamber of Guilds :: Forums :: General Guild Management

New Raid Management

Anilyn

Thu Oct 29 2009, 10:59AM

Anilyn
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 02:59PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #384

So, as I mentioned in the chatbox yesterday, our raid leader for our guild (and GM) has retired from raiding. He is not passing the GM title over, but he is passing his raid responsibilities down.

This change is going to take some getting used to on all fronts, new raid leaders, the officers and our current raid members.

Our past raids and our guild has always been run more like a dictatorship so to say - the GM had sole control over the decisions, but he did actively take advice from the officers. He lead extremely effective raids, his decisions and occassional rants were all calculated. At times he came across abrasive, but no one ever challenged his authority and we as a guild progressed and had fun doing it.

So now, I am one to step into the raid leadig position, and take on more responsibilities. I have been slowly doing this over the last couple of months as his presence has been less and less. But, I definitely do not lead raids like he does, and I can't seem to elicit the same response out of the raiders. I am not fully sure what all the issues are...can take stabs at some of them....I am basicially looking for pointers and tips and what not.

Here are some issues and thoughts I have on it:
-My lack of confidence and experience
-The fact that I am a female in generally an all male guild (I don't want to come off like a bitch (sorry about the language), and I don't want to come off like I am someone's nagging wife)
-Getting the raid's respect without yelling, berating, going against who I am as a person
-Being more of a Type A leader

Any help would be welcomed, I'll post more later, when I'm not running around for work
-

Anilyn
Healing Officer
Heroes of the Command - (A)
Dalaran - US

Riprap

Thu Oct 29 2009, 12:41PM

Posts: 1034
Joined: Wed May 23 2007, 10:11AM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #19

Do you *want* to be the raid leader? Actually, the question is more do you *not* want to be the raid leader, because there's certainly room between "I'd rather the other guy be the raid leader" and "I'll try my best at it, and think I could do a good job."

Something that you should realize is that you don't have to lead like he did. You should lead the way you feel you're most effective. Just because he was a dictator doesn't mean that would work best with you having the little crown symbol. They obviously think you're a good person for the job or they wouldn't have asked you to do it. So work on being you, but in a leadership position.

"Rawr!" means "I Love You!" in dinosaur!

Itanya_Blade

Thu Oct 29 2009, 12:46PM

Posts: 123
Joined: Thu Apr 17 2008, 04:31PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #269

The first thing to remember, is that you are not your guild leader and you should not try to be. Find your own leadership style and enjoy it.

As for confidence... Well you can sound confident without being confident.

Corrin

Thu Oct 29 2009, 12:51PM

Posts: 70
Joined: Thu Nov 01 2007, 01:35PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #156

Raid leading is certainly something you have to find your own voice on. But I am happy to share my style and see what works for you. Alternatively, I can share how Gert led raids.

For me, I was a little like your former RL, in that I ran the raid myself. I would take input as I needed it (but not as others wanted to give it). I rarely yelled but I did make it plain that this is what I want to have happen. Assignments were like an emergency. I told specific individuals what I wanted them to do. I did on occasion call people out but it was not in a mean or harsh way. And I generally liked to chatter. So I would talk, a lot. If things were going well, I joked. If things needed direction, I gave direction.

I pulled fast. People don't want to stand around and they don't want to be in the dark.

Now Gert delegated everything. She was in charge and everyone knew it. But she would say, "Tank X, please make the targets and decide who is tanking what. Healer y, do the healing assignments, good raider z, review the strategy. CC'er alpha, decide who is cc'ing what. etc"

Both styles worked well for our guild.

Dandash

Thu Oct 29 2009, 01:12PM

Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 29 2007, 03:03PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #57

I'm going to second the things Riprap said.

What works for one person often will not work for the next, not just because you aren't the same person, but because the raid doesn't see you the same as well. And you can be equally effective for the same group of people by having an entirely different leadership style than what was effective before.

I'm female as well, and I am the wife of one of the original raid leaders of my previous guild. I also sound....young. I've had more than one question come up about my knowledge of the game and being able to lead since I sound like I should have a 8 o'clock bed time.

The things that worked for me, that may or may not work for you, were:

1. Project Confidence - I went into raids with a plan, and strategies. I also wasn't afraid to delegate those raid items I wasn't comfortable about. People often could work out those things when I would specify tasks for them to work out "Rogues - work out an interrupt order," "Tanks - work out who is tanking and who is OTing." My strategies didn't always work, and I sometimes changed them, but I stood behind them and I projected the vision that the strategy would work.

2. Inexperience - I don't know many people who led their first raids with a mountain of experience under them. Even with me, I'd attended raids through Vanilla and half of BC and wound up having to lead by the raid leader having to work late and having no other option, but I hadn't led a raid before. Follow the examples of leaders you've liked, and lead the raid by your own examples. I ran my raids the way I'd want my raid leader to treat me...and I've learned a LOT along the way that I couldn't have necessarily gleaned from a blog or website. You can be inexperienced and still lead well, so long as you recognize what you need to have on hand to lead the raid well. If that makes sense.

3. Being a female - I've never been the only female in an all male guild, so my experiences are of course different. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy and call something out to progress....that doesn't necessarily mean being bitchy, or yelling, or being mean about things, but sometimes you're going to point out some things that some people will probably take the wrong way, or get hurt about.

Which ties to
4. Getting the raid's respect without being someone you aren't. I don't think I've ever yelled at a raid. I've expressed disappointment with our performance. I've been snarky, but I've also been funny and goofy. The raids I have led and lead would not respond to me the same way if I led the way my husband led raids. Yes, I've had to deal with people not taking me as seriously as they take him, but I tried to identify those areas where people wanted to "lead over me" and attempted to see what caused those things to happen. For me, those times seemed to be when I faltered on a strat, when I used a strat that wasn't one someone else had read on XYZ site, or when I couldn't identify what caused XYZ wipe or problem.

By identifying those areas, I was able to plan better. If I used a strat that wasn't as popular, I mentioned where I got my strat and how I knew it wasn't Tankspot's strat, or blah blah's strat, but I thought it would work better for our raid comp and level. Rather than after a wipe go "Well, don't know what happened there, but we need to do it better this time," I'd ask things like "X - why'd you die?" "Tanks - what happened there?" "Healers - we had a lot of deaths, where can we help you out?" That helped me learn how to identify trouble spots better, and also allowed the people who wanted to "help me lead" help me find the problem areas better.

Hammerstone

Fri Oct 30 2009, 10:55AM

Posts: 372
Joined: Mon Jun 04 2007, 01:02PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #63

My only advice to add to what others have already written is to shift your focus. Right now you seem to looking at the things you feel you can't do well. Start looking at the things you do well and develop your leadership style around your strengths and not your weaknesses. Work on all the good things that you know you can bring to the table and find a way to bring those to the fore front of the raid.

I would love to see you make a list of your strengths the same way you made a list of your weaknesses above. If you did that, we could help you with ideas on how to highlight those.

The raid will follow you as long as two things are in place.

1) The support of the retiring GM who is stepping down.
2) They see you bring value to the guild.

If you believe you have number one, focus on two.

Itanya_Blade

Fri Oct 30 2009, 11:05AM

Posts: 123
Joined: Thu Apr 17 2008, 04:31PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #269

That's a good idea, Hammer.

Our raid is much more communal in its style of leadership. While I am considered in charge and I tend to be the public face of the raid. All the other officers fill in where is needed.

For the most part we don't assign much in the way of rolls. We do have one of the officers that handles healers, and because of stupid shit, like the stuff in the chatbox, one of them handles tanks.

Part of the reason we have no raid tonight is because I refuse to lead a raid alone.

Anilyn

Sun Nov 01 2009, 04:03PM

Anilyn
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 02:59PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #384

Thanks for all the help right now. Our first raid was a bit rough. I think most of our guild is so sick of going to Ulduar that they feel they don't have to play as well there.

We're suppose to raid tonight, but our roster is pretty thin.

I will definitely keep all your tips in mind, and we'll get you some more information and such.

Anilyn
Healing Officer
Heroes of the Command - (A)
Dalaran - US

Yeshe

Tue Nov 03 2009, 03:02PM

Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 29 2007, 11:07AM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #54

Chiming in late, but I've been there too. I'd echo what the others have said with an extra item:

It really helps to have a vision. Your vision in your style. Once you have a vision or an idea or even a wish, then it becomes the rallying point when things get squirrelly (and they always do). For example, I want my raid to strike a balance between success and fun. When we miss the mark and fail, then I look to see how much fun was there or not. Almost always, fun and laughter had taken a back seat to pressure and we weren't able to lighten up, relax and succeed.

Good luck!

Emissary, Sleeper Cartel
Perenolde Server

Anilyn

Wed Nov 04 2009, 07:20PM

Anilyn
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Aug 25 2009, 02:59PM
{LOCATION} Registered Member #384

So our Sunday raid was a lot better, more laid back.

And tonight we've got a good start....got beasts done on heroic 25man....now working on Jaraxxus....live update

Anilyn
Healing Officer
Heroes of the Command - (A)
Dalaran - US