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The Group Dynamic And Sharing The Duties


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Hello All!

 

Currently I am the Leader of three Categories.... "FIRST of its kind", "Monarchs of the World" and "Canadian National Historic Sites". Here is what I was wondering, but first a bit of why I am wondering.

 

As it stands now, at least as I see it, whenever a new Waymark is submitted to any of those three Categories, I usually review it and either Approve It or Decline It. The other Members of the Group either don't get the chance, or let me do it since it is my Category.

 

But I don't want people to feel that they can't help, or participate in the Group. It was my impression that the Groups were supposed to feel more like a committee. But like I said, I don't think I give them the chance to review things since I am on the computer so much. I would be happy to have other people do the reviewing... after all I picked people that I thought would be helpful, based upon their Forum history.

 

So, do you as Waymarkers and possibly members of a Group (anyone's Group) think that Officers should get the opportunity to review listings along with the Leader, or should the duty fall to the Leader except in times when the Leader is not available?

 

This is kind of hard to express, so bear with me.... I would gladly leave new Waymarks sitting in the queue if I knew that others would like to Review them. But if everyone feels that it is the Leader's job, then I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

 

The other concern I have is that I will NOT review my own Waymarks... that is not the best idea IMHO. I did submit one and Silverquill did review it, even suggesting some updates. I was glad they did, I was also glad to see someone else in the Group ensuring that things were done properly. But if the Group feels that it should fall upon the Leader exclusively, then what happens with that case?

 

So I guess it comes down to this....

 

Should the Leader and the Officers share the duties of Waymark Reviewing all the time, or just when the Leader is not available?

 

<_< The Blue Quasar

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Should the Leader and the Officers share the duties of Waymark Reviewing all the time, or just when the Leader is not available?

cool.gif The Blue Quasar

You know my feeling about this Quasar.

 

1st.. chance should go to the owner of the 'Category'!!! After a couple of days any of the other 'Officers' can (should) jump in and take his/her place in case of unapproved 'Waymarks'.

 

2nd..if the owner is absent or asks others to take his place when needed.

 

3rd...or if you see the "LEADER'S" box under 'Group Profile' ** "Active/Away"** is marked ---AWAY---

 

If you asked for a 'Category' you should be able to maintain it or not ask for it in the first place.

 

BTW.....Now that I post 'Waymarks' for my own 'Category' I always let someone else approve it, just as Quasar or HardOiler will let others dis/approve their 'Waymarks'

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I am the leader of just 2 categories. However, in both, I immediately gave the officers the permission to edit the category, change logo, send messages, etc. I also said to go ahead and approve/disapprove waymarks, and in the Recovered US Benchmarks they have all done that function regularly (the Exceptional Trees category is very new with only a very few waymarks). I see no reason not to be totally equal about this.

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I'm "Leader" on two categories but would like the officers as a group to manage and "own" them. I have specifically NOT approved some of the waymarks so others would be able to jump in and get involved.

 

We've had a couple of waymarks approved without all the requirements but the ensuing discussion has been good for the group.

 

So I guess that qualifies as one vote for sharing the management duties.

 

~J of TeamRJMK~

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as far as i have seen there is an 'active' and 'away' setting on group membership.

obviously we all know what 'active' is, but what is 'away'? do you still recieve all emails? or just 'group notifications'? if i am 'away' can i still be active in the group--can 'inactive' people approve marks?

 

can there be another designation like 'minimal'--to indicate that the person does not desire to approve marks, but wants to participate in other group activities/discussions?

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Well part of the reason this came up was I was starting to feel maybe I was too heavy-handed, and perhaps I should see what someone else does with new submissions.

 

So, there is one in the queue for FIRST right now, and I'm going let another Officer decide.

 

But please, keep discussing, I like what I've seen so far and hadn't considered a few things I saw already.

 

:o The Blue Quasar

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When I set up my category (actually I was asked to manage it after complaining enough) there was no group management and I expected to manage it on my own. Now that Group Management has been created I am forced to share the duties. I know there are good reasons for Group Management (ie. owner not available to perform their duties and even the sharing of opinions to make a better category) but to date for my Canadian Benchmark category I have approved all but one of the waymarks (somehow Black Dog Trackers beat me to one) and done so within 48 hours on all of them for the last 7 months and many within one hour. Also to date none of my other officers or members have contributed much. So, so far it really hasn't been Group Management although it is called that. Perhaps some people are hesitant to speak up since I got the category started and it's doing pretty well number wise. However, I do continue to ask for input on the category.

 

I can understand the smaller categories can be quite easily be managed by one individual while larger categories can be quite time consuming for individual to keep up with.

 

Group Management seems like a necessity in the long run as even the most diligent category owner will have periods that they are unavailable (even I take a vacation sometimes) at times. But I don't agree with giving up complete control. I like Jake39's suggestions as a way to manage. The leader gets first crack at approving/denying for a set period of time like 6 to 48 hours which maybe the leader could even set so that if they can't keep up then one of the officers can jump in.

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My personal opinion is that both methods are ok but I think this will become a source of hurt feelings and misunderstandings if an officer who assumes one thing joins a group with a leader who assumes the opposite.

 

Maybe we should start a practice of including the management policies in the group description information. If this makes sense to others as well, maybe TPTB could add a spot for it.

 

~J of TeamRJMK~

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South Surrey Scavengers -

 

The one I did was because I mistook it for a Recovered US Benchmark category submission. The mark was a border mark and didn't fit the RUSB rules because it was on the geocaching benchmark database. (This is not a rule of the Canadian Benchmarks category of course!) Anyway, I mistakenly declined the submission with a note about the RUSB rules. The submitter politely informed me that it was actually a Candadian Benchmarks submission. :ph34r:

When I read that email later that day, I rushed to approve the waymark! :)

 

Well, THAT won't happen again! I will be watching for this: ......been submitted to your group's category (Canadian Benchmarks) from now on. :o

Sorry about that.

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South Surrey Scavengers -

 

The one I did was because I mistook it for a Recovered US Benchmark category submission. The mark was a border mark and didn't fit the RUSB rules because it was on the geocaching benchmark database. (This is not a rule of the Canadian Benchmarks category of course!) Anyway, I mistakenly declined the submission with a note about the RUSB rules. The submitter politely informed me that it was actually a Candadian Benchmarks submission. :lol:

When I read that email later that day, I rushed to approve the waymark! :D

 

Well, THAT won't happen again! I will be watching for this: ......been submitted to your group's category (Canadian Benchmarks) from now on. :lol:

Sorry about that.

No problem, I was a bit surprised that it was rejected so quickly because it was the first time that anyone other than myself had approved or declined a waymark in the category. I trust your judgement though, although mistaken that time. There were no specific guidelines given to officers on how and when they should approve/decline. Given the current setup of group management, of course it is open for any officer to perform any appropriate function needed in the category. Group management was not setup to allow a leader to have special privelages. If it were setup to give the leader special privelages I would recomment allowing them some leeway on the approve/decline decisions for the first 48 hours.

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When group management came to the RUSB category, I emailed the 4 officers, telling them all my thoughts, philosophies, guidelines, and procedures for the Accept/Decline function. In the email, I said that I would stop doing the function for a while and that they should all do some themselves. I didn't do the function for a couple weeks or something, and they all did all the approvals and even a couple declines. Somehow, though, I seem to be the one stuck with doing most of the declines, which I hate doing. :( We discuss them first in email, however, to get a consensus.

Edited by Black Dog Trackers
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