The Culture Code

[Shaka 228]

Yesterday, I saw a conversation regarding the value of Assistant GM's, specifically in the VHLM. While many of the replies were in support of assistants, a few were not. A few of the replies made comments like "VHL AGMs are fairly pointless" and " the AGM role serves one purpose and one purpose only: to learn from the GM so that you can one day step into an official GM role." I find it interesting how different everyone's opinion is on the roles, value and usage of an Assistant GM and it seems as good a reason as any to get my 2 TPE in today.

 

In my experience, the team's with the highest culture have the highest success rate. At the Professional level, the sheer TPE count of a team comes more into play. At the development level, it couldn't be any more important. In every locker room I have ran, I've shared in one iteration or another, this wall of text:

 

“Activity breeds updates. Updates improve players. Players win championships. Thus, activity wins championships. All you have to do, all we have to do, is bleed [Insert Team Colors] and the rest will take care of itself. Show up, shoot the shit in this locker room, watch the games, talk builds, write your PT's, do your graphics, have a great time and if you do all of that, success comes naturally. Winning is a byproduct of activity. So there are two golden rules in [Insert City]. Love this organization and love this league.”

 

An Assistant GM isn't necessary from a functionality standpoint, but I don't see why anyone wouldn't want a second leader in the clubhouse to raise activity, keep players engaged and drive retention. My theory is the more the merrier. Team Captains, Assistant GMs, Alumni. Anyone and everyone who can help our locker room stay engaging and attentive is who I want on my team. I don't care what I call them, because in the end of the day, the activity they drive in my locker room drives the activity in their update threads and update threads ultimately win championships.

 

[Quik 4,113]

You get a fire react for the Circle gif @Shaka, and the circle gif only!

[Quik 4,113]

But actually, the AGM role as someone who helps promote activity is fine and valid, but the way I look at it, and this is my own personal view that doesn't speak for anyone else, is that paying someone to be a cheerleader/mentee doesn't make sense from the league standpoint, and without regulations, which would be pretty hard to enforce, it's pretty arbitrary to say "Member X is my AGM, they'll be taking half my pay now."

 

To me, the AGM role can be assigned to someone, and that person can learn from the GM, but they should be using it as a stepping stone to move on from the role and understand how to run a team, not being put in a role that they're running a team/locker room in lieu of the actual GM.

[Shaka 228]

15 minutes ago, Quik said:

But actually, the AGM role as someone who helps promote activity is fine and valid, but the way I look at it, and this is my own personal view that doesn't speak for anyone else, is that paying someone to be a cheerleader/mentee doesn't make sense from the league standpoint, and without regulations, which would be pretty hard to enforce, it's pretty arbitrary to say "Member X is my AGM, they'll be taking half my pay now."

 

To me, the AGM role can be assigned to someone, and that person can learn from the GM, but they should be using it as a stepping stone to move on from the role and understand how to run a team, not being put in a role that they're running a team/locker room in lieu of the actual GM.

 

Well, I didn't even know AGM's get paid in this league  and I am one!

 

To play devil's advocate here, I'd say it makes perfect sense from a league standpoint. To my point, Activity >. Does the league not need new blood every year? Is it not important to retain players? Anyone can set lines, talk trades and be in gameplan mode all the time. That may impact the engine, but the engine itself doesn't keep people coming back to the site. Engagement does. Without engagement, and without those members, it doesn't matter how many people know to submit a lineup or what trade to take. So there's reasonable cause to say there is absolutely value in paying a person on the team, not only to engage in GM duties, but SPECIFICALLY to engage with the new members and drive the culture.

To your point, ya, obviously a GM should be teaching his AGM about the league and how to function as an AGM for their eventual step up in the league. If you're not, you're doing a disservice to the league. It's just my opinion that those who say they don't need one could probably use one for the sake of improving the culture of their team. At least, as the VHLM level. You can never have too much positive culture in a LR.

[Enorama 2,038]

2 minutes ago, Shaka said:

 

Well, I didn't even know AGM's get paid in this league  and I am one!

 

Either the GM gets 2 and the AGM gets 0 or they each get 1, it's up to the GM. So yell at your GM for not paying you.

[Shaka 228]

2 minutes ago, Enorama said:

 

Either the GM gets 2 and the AGM gets 0 or they each get 1, it's up to the GM. So yell at your GM for not paying you.

 

Oh, good. I don't need the pay. 

 

So, I stick by what I said. If you don't even have to pay the guy to be your AGM, why would you decide not to have one as a way to drive the culture? To each their own.

[Quik 4,113]

5 minutes ago, Shaka said:

 

Oh, good. I don't need the pay. 

 

So, I stick by what I said. If you don't even have to pay the guy to be your AGM, why would you decide not to have one as a way to drive the culture? To each their own.

 

I think that's pretty much what the argument comes down to. As an internship where you're main "job" is being active, I don't have an issue with GMs saying Member X is their AGM, in fact I'd encourage it. It's when you start going down the messy road of giving pay/splitting pay that my issue comes into play. An AGM shouldn't be doing enough work to garner pay, and I stick by the fact that if they are, the GM should be fired.