Dealing with immediate problems - pause with poise

Another cabal management tip from the Harvard Business Review: LINK to original article here.

As MMO players (and roleplayers) we communicate a lot by text.  And sometimes, that can lead to arguing, or just disagreeing, by text which can get complex, politically sensitive, or even unnerving. There's also a culture of immediacy to the event - "I know you're on line!" or "I know you're in game!"- that urges us to respond to all of these emails sooner rather than later. In fact, people (particularly people who have a problem they are bringing to you in your capacity as a cabal manager*) may get upset if you don't reply to them near-instantly.

Most of us are smart enough to pause for a moment, but often we don't take the time to fully theorycraft the best response, or to get advice before responding.

Sometimes you need to look for a middle ground between "immediate reply" and "well thought out answer."

Here are some ways to give yourself a little time to pause with poise.

Sometimes, you don't have the luxury of time to think!
(From Funcom's media library)

Suboptimal: "I got your message" or "okay". Hey, at least the person knows they're not being ignored.

Better: "I got your message, and I'm swamped today.  Let's talk tomorrow, okay?" They may demand to talk now, but you should stick to your guns and schedule a time to talk once you've done your thinking.

Now that you've got some time, what are you going to do with it?  The Harvard Business Review calls these the Four Cs of Effective Communication: context, content, contact, and channel.

Context – Consider who else is involved and what they want and need from the reply.

Content – Particularly since most of these communications are by text, make sure that your response is mindfully deliberate.  Run it by a neutral party to make sure you're being clear.

Contact – Think it through, and confirm that you're the right person to respond. Maybe you need to pass the question off to a different officer or cabal leader, or perhaps to someone else with expertise.

Channel – Just because someone catches you in game, or via IM, or by email, that doesn't mean you have to respond that way.  Sometimes it's better to set up a "real time" conversation in game or via IMs rather than respond by email - or vice versa.

Take your time and get it right - and remember to take the option to pause with poise before hitting that send button.



* Cabal manager is an inclusive term that indicates a cabal leader, a cabal officer, or a cabal veteran that is widely looked up to even without a formal leadership title.