Hanging up leader boots/succession plans/who do you trust

[FrenziedEye]

I (probably) don’t intend to be a leader forever.

It takes up a lot of real world time. I do enjoy the fellowship of our alliance and it can be very rewarding at times but the daily ‘leadership grind’ makes it a bit tiring. The in-game grind is already tiring as it is.

I would be interested to hear from anyone here who has passed the leadership mantle to someone else.

What were the circumstances?

Have you ever made an arrangement where you would be demoted to a regular member/elder for a few months, and if circumstances changed, you’d take back the reins?

Have you been involved in a situation where you were NOT given back the reins?

Would you trust someone else, eg one of your co-leaders, with the reins?

Would it ever be appropriate to entrust it to someone else other than a co-leader eg a complete random? (If I felt like being chaotic and causing a bit of mischief… )

A lot of these questions are common sense and a case by case type of thing but I’m interested to hear personal experiences.

Cheers. Not looking to do it immediately but it is on the cards.

[FrenziedEye]

( I can see everyone typing away! Great! Exciting)

[Guvnor]

Hi!

First off, you’re right in that being a leader does sometimes wear you out making the game become more of a job than a game.

I personally was (hopefully/maybe still will be…?) the Leader of We Are Groot Vol. 2. I took my boots off temporarily so I could go on a bit of a holiday… visit some friends, make some new ones etc…

I took over the leadership role in similar situation from the previous leader who had a bunch of RL stuff going on and couldn’t focus on the game as much.

The leadership transfer was pretty smooth. I basically discussed it all with my Co-Leaders to work out:
a) who wanted to be the new leader and
b) who was going to be best suited to it.

Being part of a Family of Alliances, there was another factor to consider which was what the Overall Family Leadership thought & advocated for.

My advice:

• Communicate!! talk to your coleaders, make sure that the members aren’t caught unawares etc… give people the information & chat to them about it.
• Trust. Usually, find someone who you trust… someone who you’ve been playing with for a while who has ties to the alliance if you leave… You don’t really want to hand it over to a stranger nor someone who is just going to dump it and follow you.
• FUN! ultimately it’s a game… you have to do what keeps the game fun for you… If that means that you need a break from being a leader, everyone will understand.

You’re not alone in this journey, you have coleaders who will go with ya & of course all the forum people who’ve probably been thru the same thing before

[princess1]

I experienced leader burn out and I don’t wish it on anybody! I never wanted to be leader - I don’t like being the one with the title of responsibility, and I’m much better as an “assistant to a good boss”. The leader position was taken over by me when our first leader stepped down and no one else was willing to do it. I lasted nine months until the stress of trying to please so many players while also trying to be fair, play my own two games, and keep all the balls in the air, just became too much.

I told the co-leaders I was burned out and had to step away. They decided among themselves who should step in. I left the alliance because I knew the new leader needed to set his own agenda and it’s not in my personality to keep my mouth shut

My husband stayed on the alliance since he really likes everyone there, and because he never got involved in leadership stuff, he wasnt burned out. I started an alliance with just my two accounts. I remained on their discord channel and while it was nice to have the contact, I needed the retreat of my own little, closed alliance.

I knew it wouldn’t be forever and it didn’t take long before I started missing everyone. I’d stepped in to other alliances to help with their titans, and while they were welcoming and friendly, it wasn’t the same as my “family”.

Our Leader and his new co-leader very quickly started to fill up all the vacancies that happened around the same time that I left. Soon there were only two spots open and even though I felt it hadn’t been long enough, I contacted the leader to see if I could bring my two profiles back, in fear I’d be waiting a few months otherwise. I promised him I wouldn’t step on his toes and would support his decisions.

I was very happy to come home but it wasn’t long before I started to get restless - our leader/co-leader are both European (same time zone) plus very busy in their jobs. Seeing the featured board stale or slow messaging on titans eventually drove me crazy enough to offer to the leader my becoming co-leader again. I also didn’t think it was fair that the two of them were expected to do all the tasks when I had the time to help out.

We had a great discussion and he said his one condition was that I’d be honest if I felt it was becoming too much.

It’s a long story so I’ll cut to the chase… it’s worked out wonderfully. We’ve worked out our areas of responsibility, he’s willing to take on the tasks I hate (messaging inactive players), I get to do the tasks I enjoy - all the positive and informative messaging, and we are all working together very well as a team.

The alliance is stronger than ever and we are all enjoying our game in a supportive, respectful, active and positive place.

Sometimes change is just the best course of action. Good luck and do what feels right for you and the alliance!

[Sorsha]

I was the leader of the alliance I founded for a long time. Then I reached the point (as probably everyone) where I was bored of the game. It was just like a work I had to do and I seriously thought about quitting. As I was playing for such a long time, I did not really want to give up but knew I had to change things. I passed the leadership to a wonderful member and started my time as a drifter (best decision I could make).
As I told my alliance before what my plans are, nobody was upset. This is about a year ago.
Now I got contact to them again and I am even a member of their line group without being in the alliance. Totally proud of it. They did not forget me and are not angry at me.
The new leader(s) made a wonderful job. I was always looking for them in the alliance search function and was pleased when I saw that the old bunch was still there.

[AirHawk]

If you delegate your work to your Co’s like I do, then you can still keep being the leader.
Just have a look every now and then.

If not, let a Co takeover and be the Co yourself.