No Complaining! I R leadur!!!

I honestly haven't posted much these days not only because of my current workload and RL responsibilities (sorry, I gotta graduate soon and I can't do that if I play WoW all day >.<), but also because....well, I don't have much to complain about. I rarely PuG these days mainly because I have a solid guild that always wants to run something, and I genuinely enjoy their company. I can't complain about raids because we have an incredibly solid group of people that mesh well socially. So there's really no room to bitch. One thing I will say though is that it is amazing what a guild can accomplish when the leadership isn't incompetent, petty, or insufferably childish. Which brings me to my topic for today: guild leadership, or more importantly, what constitutes good guild leadership?

When it comes to guild leadership, we can all pretty much agree on what makes a bad leader. For the sake of brevity, I'm going to skip all of that. What then separates a good leader from the rest--the average, the bad, and the just downright despotic? At minimum, a good leader will possess the following:

1. Confidence-- It is impossible to lead people if you do not believe in yourself. At the very least, a good leader is confident in their abilities: be it leading a raid, making decisions, or just handling the administrative minutiae that everyone hates. Getting groups to cooperate is a challenge in itself, and it is made even more difficult if the leader has difficulties in demonstrating their confidence--confidence in their abilities to lead, confidence in understanding an encounter, and confidence in their people to work together to accomplish a goal. Leadership requires belief in oneself as well as those who are following to believe in the leader as well. However, as confident as one may be, it is also of benefit to understand that everyone has limitations. In this case, having too much confidence (to where it becomes arrogance) can be just as detrimental as having no confidence at all.
   
2. Communication--Adequate communication is imperative for the success of any organization. Merely logging on and saying, "hi" isn't enough. Talk to your people. Actually ask how they are doing and take the time to listen to whatever they have to say even if it is horribly "boring" or mundane. It is important to establish that you want to communicate and that members can approach you for whatever reason. Make it a priority. If you cannot establish a rapport with your organization on some basic level, then you're likely going to cause future issues do to a lack of real/adequate communication.
   
3. Delegation--As mentioned under "Confidence", good leadership understands their limitations. The largest leadership obstacle in any organization is trying to run an organization by oneself. Tackle the tasks in which you are confident in your abilities and delegate other tasks to those who would thrive while performing those roles. Suck at raid leading? Give that task to someone who understands the encounters very well and is also a solid tactician. Suck at managing day-to-day things? Appoint an administrator. Also, keep in mind that it can be as detrimental to delegate all tasks to either one person or multiple people. As a leader, you also have to do something in regards to guild leadership and not merely serve as a figurehead. Ask yourself--at the end of the day, what have you honestly done for the guild today?
   
4. Patience--This one is a no-brainer. Leadership positions are really thankless jobs marred with stress and a lot of ingratitude. Regardless of the situation, keep your cool and keep your patience. Ultimately this goes back to effective communication and understanding limitations. Not everyone is on the same page, nor is everyone capable of effectively communicating what is going on. Having a bit more patience, as well as trying to understand the underlying issue can and will go a very long way.
   
5. Impartialness--Don't take sides. Plain and simple. There is nothing worse that can happen to any organization than having clear dividing social lines. These social fissues will cause more issues and will be the source of many problems, once again going back to a lack of effective communication. Even in situations where it is you vs. a member, don't even take your own side (as hard as it is). Really listen to what the other person has to say and try to reach a compromise. If one cannot be met, then try at the very least to reach a mutual understanding. It is ridiculous to assume that everyone will always get along, but you can ensure the brevity of your organization if you take the "I'm right because I'm the leader!!!!!" attitude. No one likes a pompous asshat, so don't be one. And finally, always be fair. Make decisions that are the most fair and that would benefit the most people.
   
6. Heart--In my own experience, the best leaders have always been the ones that genuinely care about their people and their organization. It is very difficult to like or even respect someone in a leadership position that doesn't fundamentally care about the people they are leading. Like I have said previously, leadership is a thankless job, and if you're in it for the glory or recognition, then this job clearly isn't for you.

Next time, what makes a bad leader (or how to slowly kill a guild).