Need some FC advice.

[Ranzan]

Sorry for the long post in advance.

I just inherited a free company and its just me. It has a medium house and all but I don't know if I should stay solo or actually try to recruit and build. I really not a leadership person (I am knowledgeable) so I really have no idea how to organize things. So I'm asking for opinions, advice and wisdom from these forums for this strange situation.

Thanx

[Daragust]

I guess it really depends on what you mean by "I'm not a leadership person". The first time I ended up leading a group it was thrust upon me and I really wasn't sure what I was doing. The things I learned over time have lead me to be a leader even though at the time I didn't really see myself as one. The first thing to realize is Leading is not the same thing as Organizing. Organizing is about the details, leading is about setting a direction. Your job, more than anything else, is to determine the direction you want a group to take. Is your FC a family/friend type atmosphere where anyone is welcome? Is it a progress oriented group looking to complete certain content? Is it a place for people new to the game to come and learn from your experience? All of these are valid goals, and others exist, but it will be on you, and those you deem fit to make sure that they are kept to.

Another important thing for a leader to do is to put members in positions that suit their skills. Generally this means having officers that are strong in specific areas. As an example, in my guild I handle the social and membership work. I have another person who's job it is to schedule raids and events. I have yet another who's job is to manage guild resources and see that they are properly distributed to those who need them. None of these jobs are more important than others but by sharing the work load and playing to each person's strengths I can assure that the FC has the best leader for the job in each area.

The last thing to consider if you continue with your guild is how you want to handle recruitment. Some of this plays back to what you envision your guild doing. Some guild choose to walk through areas and spam in shouts looking for members. Others will use the forums to win over people looking. Still others choose to do their recruiting in person, either by inviting those they find to be a good match in instances or by helping out new players and getting to know them. Each of these methods have their positives and negatives. Always think about the number of people you are aiming to have. A family type guild can become a burden if you swell to so many members that people can't get to know one another. Raiding type guilds can become unwieldy if you don't have the numbers to do content or you have too many people without enough raid groups.

Leading can be both difficult and rewarding. I have had both some of my best and worst moments as the person in charge. I highly recommend giving it a shot. Even if you don't ever succeed you will learn a lot about yourself in the process and will gain some skills that are surprisingly useful for the real world

Best of Luck

[Ranzan]

@Daragust

Thank you for your advice on the matter and it was very insightful especially the leadership part. So after that the first thing is to figure out a direction to head towards.

[Daragust]

Definitely the place to start. Once you've decided on a direction, try to build something similar to a mission statement. It doesn't have to be a public thing, but if you can state your guild's purpose in a single sentence it means you've got a clear idea of what you want.