[Ansteorra] Cookies and Management....was Whats happening...

[Paul Gilbert]

Greetings....

With respect...While the desire of the comradeship, fun of the game and 
ambiance is very important...there is a deeper and sometimes hidden 
level to the game of "cookies"....Soooooo....

Hummmmmmmm...ahhhhhhh....to a point I disagree..... that cookies are bad 
and the wrong reason to participate in the SCA.

Now, that statement is going to most likely get me in trouble with 
some.....but let me make this point before you swing the knives...

With the exception of very few people, the human being works better, 
responds better and is is much happier when one receives positive 
feedback of some type.

In the SCA, one of the primary means of this feedback is thru the 
awarding of the so-called  "cookies".

Having been a Landed Baron, I have had to sit and balance our 
recommendations for and against "cookies" vs rewards in our words to the 
Crown.

It was a great joy to reward (and reward is EXCATLY! what I mean) for 
hard work, good performance and getting along with others. H.E.Kezia and 
I also on the other hand, have given words of warning concerning 
recommendations that were ill advised.

I know that some folks have a "laundry list" or agenda to get this award 
by this date and so on. That does tend to raise a flag or warning, but 
(and here is where I am going to get in trouble) if that person is 
playing the game, performing, looking good and getting along well with 
others...perhaps this is a manageable ASSET (and I will save my asset vs 
liability speech for another time) that can be channeled to good means 
and efforts.

Many people must have goals to achieve or set their sights on a point to 
strive for or they are lost in life. In many cases these are the ones 
that are the high energy, hard workers that use "cookies" as bench marks 
of their life.

Often you can give those folks a task and get out of their way and watch 
it happen. It is a wondrous thing to watch some of these folks work. 
They can do great deeds if given the chance.

I have always believed that as any officer of the SCA, Crown or Landed 
Noble, it is a major part of your job to channel your team or groups 
members to the most of their potential.

Sometimes that is possible and sometimes not. You can tell in the groups 
where it is working and not.

True, there are those participants that just because they have been in 
the SCA 1 year plus, that they think they deserve an AoA. But, that does 
not mean they have earned it or deserve it, nor that they receive it.

Awards, cookies or as I prefer to call them...rewards, is extremely 
subjective in the criteria used to judge the candidates.

I know what we used and it worked well for us.

I feel that to use the blanket judgment that "cookies"
are bad, is a bit short sighted based on what we have seen and had to 
do. Rewards (call them "cookies" if you want to) can be a tool in 
managing your group.

Ok, so now you can fire at will....  :)


In Service,

H.E. Niklas Vasilevich, Former Baron of Raven's Fort


> 
>> Personally, I have always felt that  people who only play for the cookies,
>> are playing for the wrong reasons.
>>
>> They should be playing because the love the concept, the ambiance, the
>> excellent fellowship. and the fun of the game.

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Paul Gilbert, KE5ZW             H.E. Niklas Vasilevich
niklas at pbgilbert.net      CB,CSM,KGA,OTR,ORH,Crane,AoA
512-733-3035 Cellular             Kingdom of Ansteorra

            Society for Creative Anachronism

     Texas Dept. Of Transportation, Radio Operations
      Austin, Texas                  512-506-5141
                pgilber at dot.state.tx.us

                "The Eagle has landed"
  "Sable, a double-headed eagle, a bordure engrailed or"

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