Change is hard. Cabal management is hard. Life is hard. It is KNOWN, Khaleesi.
So, it's a new year, let's try taking some small steps together.
My challenge to you is this. In the course of managing your cabal this week, say as many of these six things as you can:
As a cabal manager*, you have to keep people motivated, recruit new people, oversee cabal events, referee as needed, help maintain cabal culture, and provide a goal for the group to work towards. It's easy to get overwhelmed.
Relax.
You're doing this for fun, remember?
Here is a relatively easy way to take some small steps towards being a better leader.
Thank you, you did a great job, and I appreciate it.
First and foremost, give credit where credit is due. This was the first thing I wrote about last November (link) and it remains the first thing a cabal leader should do. The most important thing you can do as a leader is to empower your people to do for themselves. Set them up to succeed, and then thank them and congratulate them when they do succeed.
Often, it's just the nature of the beast that happy people say nothing, and angry people complain. How many people ask to see the manager just to tell her that they had a great server tonight? Very few. So it's up to you to set the example of providing positive feedback. The rest of your cabal members may never think to thank the guy who ran the event or organized the PvP, so it depends on YOU to start making it part of your cabal culture to recognize and thank people.
Also? Your people are doing this for fun - and for recognition. That's one way you 'pay' your officers and volunteers, is by giving them public recognition. So be generous.
I trust your judgement. You go ahead and make that decision.
As a cabal leader, the best thing you can do is train and empower your people to do things for themselves. (Yes, I just said that. It's worth saying twice.) Sometimes, that's leading a raid, or running a plotline, or recruiting new cabal members. Regardless, train them how to do it, and then let them go do their thing on their own without your direct oversight. Let them know you trust them and then SHOW them you trust them by not interfering when they do it. Yeah, they might not succeed every time, but they have to start somewhere.
The natural tendency is for your people to ask you questions about or permission for most things. Don't allow people to become dependent on you. It's better for people to feel confident making their own decisions. To quote the original article, "if you always have the final say in everything, you prevent [your team] from growing."
This also means they'll start doing stuff without asking you. That should make you celebrate! It's scary to let go and not micromanage, BUT if you do, it's good for you, and will help you avoid burnout.
I don't know the answer. What's the best way to find out?
By volunteering to manage, or help manage, a cabal there seems to be this romantic idea that you might have all the answers. This attitude is setting your people up to fail, and setting you up for burnout. When someone asks you a question, turn it around and put the onus back on your cabal mate to find out the answer. This achieves three things 1) you don't have to spend time finding it out and 2) your cabal mate is now somewhat of an expert on it and can inform you and the rest of the cabal and 3) it now becomes 'okay' not to know the answer.
I mean, sheesh, if it's okay for the Cabal Leader not to know everything, then it's okay for EVERYONE to be human, right?
Win. Win. Win.
That didn't work. What can we do differently next time?
Not everything works. Go ahead. Say it out loud.
Sometimes things get screwed up.
Maybe you just can't clear the raid today. Maybe someone broke a master planner just by being momentarily dumb and switching builds on the last boss. Maybe you recruited the wrong person and they're a disaster. Maybe the plot line just doesn't make sense anymore.
It's. Okay.
Prepare for things not to go well sometimes. In fact, here's a novel thought, "it is your job to make sure your team is taking full advantage of its failures."
Take full advantage of your failures. Now there's a novel concept. This involves two concepts. First, acknowledge that it didn't work. It's so much easier to just kinda ignore things. Who wants to admit to failure, right? No one wants to have 'that' conversation. Don't fall into that trap! Acknowledge that 'it didn't work', whatever it was, but don't leave it there. The critical step is 'what can WE do differently next time?' You need to reassure people that you have their back AND that you're not angry, then you need to get them pointed towards problem solving. Don't let them sit around and play the blame-game, get 'em focused on problem solving and moving forward. The goal here is to troubleshoot the current difficulty AND to keep your people open to the possibility of taking risks in the future.
Don't worry about it - I got this one.
Again, let me reiterate, MMO guilds in general, and TSW cabal in specific are like perfect testbeds for Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong, does go wrong, often at the worst time. I won't even start giving examples because there are too many. Sometimes, stuff just goes sideways and as the cabal manager, you are everyone's back-up. Or, if there is some dirty nasty task that's the MMO equivalent of plunging a stuck toilet, that's all you too.
We're all in this together.
Do you honestly think when something goes wrong, that it's all your fault?
Hopefully not.
And, conversely, do you honestly think when something goes right, it's all your work?
Also, hopefully not.
Don't allow people to pin all the accomplishments on you as the cabal manager. You need to point out, every single time, that it's not you, it's because there are great people working in your cabal. A cabal is a team. You win together and you lose together.
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| We're all in this together. (From Funcom's Media Library) |
* 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.
