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Three Must Have’s for Guild Longevity.
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By Black Label
July 2007
99% of all guilds will not survive by the 3 year mark. Most will not survive by the 6 months
mark. Why is it so hard to maintain a guild past 6 months? After numerous interviews with successful
guild leaders, there are three basic reasons why their guilds are successful
1) Officers
You need passionate and quality officers who have a desire to do something for the guild. Officers
who want to create events, improve the guild dynamics, and increase quality membership. Officers
who do not stand idle and just watch from afar or dictate. Officers who want to meet and befriend
each and every member. You want officers who offer constant feedback in the officer forum with
thoughts about every "bad apple", every recruit, events, pressing guild issues and related matters.
Without great officers, your guild will not last. Therefore, you need to be extremely selective who your
officers are. Remember to thank your officers and reward them on a job well done.
2) Quality Control
In order to run anything effective over long periods of time, quality control is needed. This is true for
all management aspect of business and organized groups. You need quality control because everything
is dynamic. Thing are always changing and improvements are always needed. When something doesn’t
work, it needs to be changed. Some useful management tips are
- Include a monthly or bi-monthly officer meeting to discuss the pressing issues. Discuss
methods of improvement.
- A Quarterly Officer evaluation among the leaders is also important because you need to maintain
qualified staff members before you can change the guild as a whole. Officers who are no longer
doing their job need to be demoted and replaced.
- Maintain quality if you remain objective. Recruits, members or officers who no longer abide to
the rules of your guild needs to be warned or changed.
- Maintain the vision. Your guild started out with a vision and got you this far. Don’t forget why
this started in the first place.
3) Consistency and Loyalty
With any successful guild, you need loyalty, dedication and consistency. This is hard to obtain.
However, with quality control and great officer, consistency will follow. Precedents that are made
from past examples need to be respected and remain consistent. Members hate it when guild rules
apply for one person but not another. Avoid favoritism. Remain objective. Reward your members. Be
passionate about your guild and its members. Treat your members like family. Lay out the ground rules
and be quick to enforce them but also be forgiving and understanding. Above all, be consistent. Then
membership, loyalty and dedication will follow.
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