The Accidental Guild leader

I was browsing around www.theromwiki.com when I came across a link to this blog about leading a guild. So I read a bit of it, and mostly came to the conclusion that writer was mostly writing a guide about WoW guilds and how to run them effectively. And I thought to myself, "I like to write, I'm a guild leader, and I think I can contribute something to the discourse in a meaningful way."

So now you're reading my blog about being an accidental guild leader instead of one my insipid rants. Don't you feel lucky?

First up on my to do list: Background.

I wasn't always the GL of Theblacktower, the guild I run on the Runes of Magic Artemis server. I in fact joined it after a couple months of playing RoM sporadically. My first toon, a r/s named Dyoji, was actually a member of another guild that didn't talk or anything before joining up with TBT. Algren, my main character now, wasn't even conceived yet.

Anyhow, there I was in this great guild of people, making friends and generally just having a good time. My wife had finally joined up after I bugged her relentlessly, and we had each created new toons to play together with. After one particular run we were approached by the guild leader at the time, and he asked us to accept officer positions. We did, and I've tied my fate to the fate of the guild ever since.

It wasn't long after that that a dramatic turn of events resulted in my holding the title of "guild leader".

The Situation
So you've found yourself the leader of a guild, all the officers have left and you're stuck holding the bag. Well, all is not lost my friend. There is hope for your little band. But you have to ask yourself some questions first.
1) Do I really want to be the guild leader?
The answer to this question can only be supplied by you. Being the guild leader has it's share of perks, but it also has it's downsides.
The perks include:
* Your the Head Guy in Charge now. Your word is final and as absolute as you want it to be.
* There's now a whole guild that looks to you for answers, input, and leadership.
The Downsides include:
* Success or failure of the guild lays on your head now.

Other considerations for contemplating this question are:  Do you believe in the guild? Can you see the potential there for the guild to flourish and grow? How willing is the rest of the guild to follow your lead?

My answer: Yes. I felt a particularly strong attachment to the guild that I had joined, and a responsibility toward it since I was an officer there. I didn't want to let my guildmates down, so I accepted the offer of the former lead to take over leadership of the guild.

First things first: Establish your lead.
This isn't really all that hard, just organize the guild into a structure you're comfortable with. If that structure is already there you might just roll with that for awhile until the guild just naturally evolves into something else. In my case, other than my wife, all the other officers of the guild had left. They were all family of the GL and had left to form their own guild, and he decided to go with them. Family drama kicks the snot out of guild drama, believe me.
So what did I do? I searched around me for people that were loyal to the guild and whom I could trust to help me operate it. Who did I consult with? Who was showing real leadership within the guild? Those are the people I approached about being my officers. I made them officers, I gave them authority, and more importantly, I listened to them.

I can't stress that enough. Whatever your personal feelings for the guild you need to be able to adapt to the evolving needs of the guild. And without feedback from the guild you're never going to make it. My officers provided me with a range of viewpoints and experience, and I listened. The only time I shut down any of their ideas was when I felt it would be a detriment to the guild as a whole or went against the guild's theme and mentality.

So then I had myself as head, officers one tier below me that I trusted, and then the rest of the guild.

It was a good start.