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| QUOTE (Tnuac) |
| Well I had plans for writing this a long time ago, as one of the last things I do before I leave. Becomming council is a huge step. It has no training either - although the vast majority of what you do as a council member includes your own discression, all of us have our weaknesses, and a mistake made at the top end can echo heavily throughout the clan. There has never been a perfect council member, but I will attempt to write out any advice I can think of for those who want to learn something. Bias Now, this is a common problem of many leaders. It is easy to let bias affect you, and when it does, it is often a spiral downards. By giving one person the benefit of the doubt and shunning another, the one you shunned will start showing negative feeling to you and you will be inclined to move more towards the other person. It is your responsibility to free yourself from the situation and contemplate the situation in great detail, accounting for every factor. If you feel you've met a balance and someone still complains, you should do your upmost to tell them in a calm way that nothing else can be done. You should never listen to other members when making a decision; it comes from you and you alone. Solving Disputes Now this is one of the biggest issues council have to deal with. Sometimes when two people begin to fight, its extremely hard to sort it out. In most cases, a serious fight will involve someone leading. Usualy it isn't just 1 person's fault, but a clash of opinions. It is important that you deal with each person in a fair way. Never jump the gun when you hear one side of the story. I'm not a bias person at all but I've often made assumptions before talking to the other person. Your number 1 priority is NOT to smack them and say 'stop fighting, grow up'. This will just infuriate them. They don't want you to act like a parent, they want themselves to be heard. I've often found that the best tactic is to take them both into a private room where you can get each side of the story and gather whatever evidence you can (with smaller fights about trivial things, you can just intervene and ask them to stop fighting). Try your best to get them to understand each others viewpoint. A common cause of arguments is misscommunication, where each person stubbornly does not accept the other side of the story. It takes sacrifice from both sides to make a argument settle, and its your job to get them to make that sacrifice. Suggestions (customer satisfaction) Suggestions and feedback are a very useful tool in leaderhsip. It gives others a chance to let you know what they don't like, giving you a different perspective on things. Try your best to take every suggestion into account. If you have reason to deny it, politely explain the reasons and dismiss the issue. If one topic evokes discussion, take it up in level 4 and discuss it with council mates. Don't be afraid to ask for opinions from other members either. When you compare the workload of members and council, members have far less to deal with. Giving them oppertunity to get involved and feel valuable helps both you and them. Never forget the importance of the lower person's opinion. Level 4 I cannot stress the importance of using the level 4 forum. It relieves a lot of stress and confusion when you write things out clearly and get other council members to help you out. Don't forget to keep level 4 organised either. It can easily fall into misuse while unresolved topics get lost in a sea of other matters. Deal with each topic individually and close it when the desired action has been undertaken. Listing these topics and explaining what needs doing is an effective way of pooling together all the current issues and dealing with them as a team/ Intracouncil support Seems obvious but it can often go amiss. As council you are all a team. In the face of public you should always support a fellow council member, even if you disagree. If a council member is being blaimed, give potential reasons in his/her defence, then you can discuss anything further with them privately. Supporting members in a complaint can just fuel the riot further, and lead to a deterioration in teamwork. Joining the crowd As a council member it is easy to place yourself in your own group and be an elitist. However, a major required quality of council members is to interact with the members and be there for support. You should do whatever possible to attend events and be on the IRC. Its easy to say you have 'more important things to do', but you have to balance this with the basic tasks of getting to know the people in the clan. Decisiveness This is mostly aimed towards the head of wilderness, where decisions must be made quick on the field. However, there are situations when decisions must be made by any council member. Decision making is an important factor, as dithering only wastes time. Sometimes you just have to go with a decision. You can't please everyone - but if you make no decisions at all, both potential 'sides' will see you as incompetant. This is a skill you pick up with practice, but is a very valuable one to learn whatever you do in life. Stay calm And finally, the more discrete one. Keep your cool. Stress is a guaranteed quality of being a leader (if you haven't experienced it, you're not solving enough issues). If stress builds up, it can lead to many bad things. Not only does it make your decision making in clan issues worse, it can eat away at your life outside of the clan, and that is something that should not happen. Do whatever you can to keep things manageable. If you're at your limit, take a break and think things over. ~~~ I was planning on writing quite a bit more but time has got the better of me. If you put effort into being a council member, and can be a great learning experience. It has certainly taught me a lot, from all the disputes I've had to solve, arguments I've had to put forward, and decisions I've had to made. You're not getting paid for this so its vital that you get the best out of it that you deserve You are in a position that less than 20 have achieved in a total member pool of at least 400. I have only given general guidelines - its up to you to implement your discression and make an impact. If anyone feels they have anything to add to these guidelines, feel free to post. |
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