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Spurred on by this thread, I thought I'd share a few of the ideas I've seen used to help recruit and maintain a healthy GM population. As pointed out by Alexis in his thread, there is no PFS without a GM. However, for reasons I go into over there, I don't think in-game rewards are the way to address this problem for the long term.
So, please share your thoughts, best practices, and ideas for how we (as the PFS community at large) can encourage people to start GMing, and continue to improve as GMs.
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First: It may be obvious, but this issue is one of the many reasons the Venture-Officer program is so awesome. V-O's are perfectly positioned to recruit and train GMs - it's arguably the most important thing they can do. It's one thing to see a blank "GM" slot in Warhorn and wonder who's going to sign up; it's another thing for Paizo's chosen volunteer rep in your area to approach you, give you encouragement and training, and help you fill that slot.
Some of the things I seen V-O's do to help grow GMs:
* ask people personally to run a specific scenario several weeks in advance, and provide printed scenarios, flip maps, minis, etc.;
* car pool;
* run special scenarios or newly-released scenarios for regular GMs first;
* give regular GMs preferential sign-up at events;
* hand out GM Star certificates;
* compliment GMs publicly;
* publicly thank GMs at events;
* I've even see a deep-pocketed GM give commemorative gifts to his long-serving GMs, and some venues and cons give GMs perks like store credit, discounts or free registration.
Not everyone has a V-O local to them, but there are still resources: the GM101 and GM201 program. Download it, read it, run it, live it. Store and venue coordinators have to do some of this stuff when the V-O isn't local. It's really volunteer management, and you have to realize that volunteers are not free - you just don't pay them a salary, but they still "cost" something for care and feeding.
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Another one, probably more controversial: NEVER PLAY OR RUN A SCENARIO COLD.
As in, never GM a game you haven't prepped; never play in a game the GM is running cold. You only have one chance to experience a story for the first time. GMs owe it to the players and the authors to not miss stuff by being unprepared; players shouldn't encourage GMs to run this way by playing in their games.
This may seem like a minor issue, but I think that places where GMs routinely run cold are making it even harder to recruit new GMs - a new person feels they have to not only be the GM, but be able to know everything on the spur of the moment without any prep.
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More and more it seems that the main "problem" has a lot to do with the fact that large ans small player bases can face different problems. Even worse, extra incentives which might help with smaller player bases can bring out "bad" people in the larger ones. This can put the organizers in a spot where they either have to favor the larger player bases or require a running census and allow only the smaller groups to give certain GM incentives.
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Another one, probably more controversial: NEVER PLAY OR RUN A SCENARIO COLD.
As in, never GM a game you haven't prepped; never play in a game the GM is running cold. You only have one chance to experience a story for the first time. GMs owe it to the players and the authors to not miss stuff by being unprepared; players shouldn't encourage GMs to run this way by playing in their games.
I second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth this comment.
We have a game store that was (is) notorious for the GMs running the scenarios cold. Now that I don't have to be politically correct, I have no qualms stating that I will not under any circumstances enter and play at this store. Yes the coordinator that caused most of the problems has moved on, but the habit that started there does continue there, and I have better places to play my games.
I've seen new players walk away from PFS because they have an "experienced" GM run the game cold. It's worse if you're not that comfortable with the game.
So, I don't care if you're flippin' Eric Brittain (the best GM I've seen and a man I swear can do no wrong), please don't do this to your players.
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Counter-comment on 'cold' running.
Last year at a local convention we had a *huge* overflow on Archives with players.
That is -- a whole table worth of folks plus GM worth.
The GM had run it before but was rusty on it, but still ran it well for us, despite our table throwing some odd curveballs back at him.
Are we talking Absolute Zero 'cold' (never run, never played) or Slightly Chilled (have run, but not in a while, and didn't prep for the slot as GM is stepping up to run second table?)
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Are we talking Absolute Zero 'cold' (never run, never played) or Slightly Chilled (have run, but not in a while, and didn't prep for the slot as GM is stepping up to run second table?)
We're talking (or at least I'm talking), "Hello, good morning, I haven't seen you in two weeks. Here's your scenario. It was just published on Wednesday. Your table is over there."
Huge difference over being asked to run something you've already run, and you have 30 minutes to read through and remember it (though that too is not ideal, but at least workable).
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Yeah, if you've run it before, I'd say it isn't "cold". But it probably varies. I took a hit to the head a while back that has messed with my short term memories, and so if I don't have time to read the thing again before running it I'm going to miss something.
One issue is that running cold seems to be integral to many smaller Lodges' scheduling method: see who shows up and then determine what everyone can play, and the GM runs that cold. I can't stress enough how important it is to take the step to pre-scheduling scenarios and GMs - now that Warhorn already has PFS support for all scenarios, there's no reason not to do it effort-wise. Yes, people will complain, for a month. And then your Lodge will grow, because the games are better, and word spreads, and more people will GM... it is the "magic bullet" for going from a small Lodge to a growing one.
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More and more it seems that the main "problem" has a lot to do with the fact that large ans small player bases can face different problems.
This is a great observation. To me, this is why in-game or campaign-wide incentives can't work, and more recognition and reward must be done on the local level by coordinators, V-Os, head GMs, or whoever is making things work. Although, perhaps this is an opportunity for Paizo's store retailer program to become more useful... if every registered venue had the ability to offer rewards to their local area (under some sort of controlled system) it could scale with the number of venues in a Lodge.
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One issue is that running cold seems to be integral to many smaller Lodges' scheduling method: see who shows up and then determine what everyone can play, and the GM runs that cold. I can't stress enough how important it is to take the step to pre-scheduling scenarios and GMs - now that Warhorn already has PFS support for all scenarios, there's no reason not to do it effort-wise. Yes, people will complain, for a month. And then your Lodge will grow, because the games are better, and word spreads, and more people will GM... it is the "magic bullet" for going from a small Lodge to a growing one.
In a small lodge the plan tends to last until the first arrow is loosed. Then you're on plans B, C, or D, which involve running a scenario... if not ice cold then more than a little chilly.
You plan 2 tables, you collapse onto 1
You plan 1 table, new people show up, you expand to 2, but then you don't have enough people to go up, so you either pregen (which we try to avoid like the plague) or have everyone go to another low table...
I call it geek soduku for a reason.
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I've only had to do this a couple times, but when I prepare a new GM I try to make sure their first few scenarios are ones that they have already played so that they can see the same scenario from another perspective. I use print outs so they usually get a scenario that is already had the important stuff highlighted and notes written and the extra details prepared. Of course I start with the tier 1-5 and 1-2 scenarios.
After wards as they gain more experience GMing I will give them higher tier scenarios and scenarios they have never seen before. I try to pair the scenarios to their strengths that do things they enjoy. I take it as a point of pride when if they flip through it and see the monsters picture and go "OH MY GOD! I've Always wanted to run one of these things!"
I also refuse to give/assign a scenario with less then a weeks notice now. This hasn't been an issue with GMs but my player base here is VERY bad about signing up so I don't know if I have 3 people or 8 people until about 15 mins after the time I would like to start the game.
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Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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You know with all the bad snacks and pizza that show up at my tables, I think I've "grown" enough as a GM. I've had to get much more serious about my exercise programs!
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I know that isn't what you meant, but I couldn't resist...
So here are factors that I think might help GMs grow up rather than out:
1) A great set of VOs
Minnesota is blessed with the most awesome Venture Flunkies that anyone could wish for. They keep games moving, come up with great events, and encourage newbies like me to step up.
2) A good player base
I hear a lot about bad players elsewhere that forget this is not a team game. But I look around locally, and see some of the best people I've ever had the pleasure to game with. Having a good player base makes it easier to make the decision to step up, especially if you see some of the others step up too.
I think you cannot put too high a price on creating the community from which you draw your GMs.
3) Start them small, and use mentors!
Andy Christian once told me that he likes to keep new GMs down to once a month, and give them a fun short scenario to try out. He doesn't want anyone to burn out.
As for mentors, he gave me people to talk to when I started, and then encouraged me to talk with another new female GM* about my experiences, and how to deal with guy players that might underestimate you just because you're not the expected gender.
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*There aren't many women in our player base, but many of those that are there in Minnesota step up to GM. I think that's awesome.
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I call it geek soduku for a reason.
This was my entire last week. One of our locations had 6 tables of players and the GM had to cancel morning of, due to waking up sick. I wasnt going to come out, but stepped in to ensure that the 6 players could play a game. I had a half hour between work and game to prep. It happens, even when not ideal. Same week, apartment adjacent to mine goes up in smoke, ruining my prep time as I deal with Fire Dept, possible smoke damage, etc. Then another of our GMs gets sick and has to cancel, which Tonya steps in to save the day (THANK YOU!). A few players have things come up, and 3 tables becomes 2 just before games start, with a few playing pregens.
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Another one, probably more controversial: NEVER PLAY OR RUN A SCENARIO COLD.
As in, never GM a game you haven't prepped; never play in a game the GM is running cold. You only have one chance to experience a story for the first time. GMs owe it to the players and the authors to not miss stuff by being unprepared; players shouldn't encourage GMs to run this way by playing in their games.
This may seem like a minor issue, but I think that places where GMs routinely run cold are making it even harder to recruit new GMs - a new person feels they have to not only be the GM, but be able to know everything on the spur of the moment without any prep.
For better or for worse GMing cold has become a necessary skill locally. Having extra tables pop up on the day of game day or making last minute accommodations for experienced players who have played a large majority of scenarios makes it fairly difficult to schedule in advance. The first few times I prepped a scenario that ended up never running have been enough to convince me not to prepare a scenario unless I know I'll have table for it. Buying a PDF the day before or the day of game because players are late to express their interest in playing something other than what was scheduled isn't unheard of.
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We have an online sign up system. But it seems unavoidable to have a surge of sign up the day of a game or last minute drop outs or walk ins. It's very much a case of GMs being flexible in what they run or sending people home a lot of the time. We've tried to encourage players to communicate more but not much has changed.
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We have an online sign up system. But it seems unavoidable to have a surge of sign up the day of a game or last minute drop outs or walk ins. It's very much a case of GMs being flexible in what they run or sending people home a lot of the time. We've tried to encourage players to communicate more but not much has changed.
That is solvable. It just takes persistence on the effort of the organizers, and training for those gaming.
One time sent home and you'll start signing up.
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We have an online sign up system. But it seems unavoidable to have a surge of sign up the day of a game or last minute drop outs or walk ins. It's very much a case of GMs being flexible in what they run or sending people home a lot of the time. We've tried to encourage players to communicate more but not much has changed.That is solvable. It just takes persistence on the effort of the organizers, and training for those gaming.
One time sent home and you'll start signing up.
All it takes is once. If the player is ignorant of the method used to sign up, then by all means try to accommodate the new player. But if they are a regular, then send them home and remind them that the signup process is there for a reason.
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You know with all the bad snacks and pizza that show up at my tables, I think I've "grown" enough as a GM. I've had to get much more serious about my exercise programs!
_________________________________________
I know that isn't what you meant, but I couldn't resist...
So here are factors that I think might help GMs grow up rather than out:
1) A great set of VOs
Minnesota is blessed with the most awesome Venture Flunkies that anyone could wish for. They keep games moving, come up with great events, and encourage newbies like me to step up.
2) A good player base
I hear a lot about bad players elsewhere that forget this is not a team game. But I look around locally, and see some of the best people I've ever had the pleasure to game with. Having a good player base makes it easier to make the decision to step up, especially if you see some of the others step up too.
I think you cannot put too high a price on creating the community from which you draw your GMs.
3) Start them small, and use mentors!
Andy Christian once told me that he likes to keep new GMs down to once a month, and give them a fun short scenario to try out. He doesn't want anyone to burn out.
As for mentors, he gave me people to talk to when I started, and then encouraged me to talk with another new female GM* about my experiences, and how to deal with guy players that might underestimate you just because you're not the expected gender.
________________________________________________
*There aren't many women in our player base, but many of those that are there in Minnesota step up to GM. I think that's awesome.
Check's in the mail. Try using a bit more flowery language next time.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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We have an online sign up system. But it seems unavoidable to have a surge of sign up the day of a game or last minute drop outs or walk ins. It's very much a case of GMs being flexible in what they run or sending people home a lot of the time. We've tried to encourage players to communicate more but not much has changed.That is solvable. It just takes persistence on the effort of the organizers, and training for those gaming.
One time sent home and you'll start signing up.
Agreed. Players won't want to sign up at first. You have to take a bit of a hard line on that. Showing up the day of a game without signing up in advance anywhere in Colorado means you don't get to play unless there was an open seat that no one claimed in advance.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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We have an online sign up system. But it seems unavoidable to have a surge of sign up the day of a game or last minute drop outs or walk ins. It's very much a case of GMs being flexible in what they run or sending people home a lot of the time. We've tried to encourage players to communicate more but not much has changed.That is solvable. It just takes persistence on the effort of the organizers, and training for those gaming.
One time sent home and you'll start signing up.
One time sent home and they will often never return.
Yes, but advance signups also eliminate the possiblity of a player driving a long distance and then finding out they won't get to play. You save them the wasted drive.
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One time sent home and they will often never return.We have an online sign up system. But it seems unavoidable to have a surge of sign up the day of a game or last minute drop outs or walk ins. It's very much a case of GMs being flexible in what they run or sending people home a lot of the time. We've tried to encourage players to communicate more but not much has changed.That is solvable. It just takes persistence on the effort of the organizers, and training for those gaming.
One time sent home and you'll start signing up.
As mentioned, not necessarily a bad thing. Signing up can be considered part of both "Don't be a Jerk." and Cooperate.
We use a sign-up out here. Too many people don't use it.
However, as many of them know, if I see only two people signed up on Game Day for my table, I will cancel it, since it won't go. Why should I spend an hour travelling by bus across town, if I don't have enough players to make a table?
Once they figure that out, and I make it no secret, they start to use the signup.
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Again, to me, running cold is not "Oh, I was going to play, but there are extra people and so now I'll run something I already have run before, even if I'm a bit rusty." I think that sort of flexibility is important, too - it's how you keep new players who just show up because they heard about you that day. But, it's what I expect from the more regular GMs and the veteran players, not from a new GM. When a GM has time to prep, and actually does prep, the game is generally better for everyone.
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some scenarios I trust some GMS to run cold. Usually the low level ones that are not complex.
New players if they are sent home, often never show up again. I know personally 5 players that really wanted to play, but did not know they had to sign up and were sent home.
I will never send a new player home because of that. I would rather send someone that did sign up and refuses to Gm home first. Now I never had to do that, but I also have bribe other people to DM, called in friends , bribed people with food, and a such to make sure it does not come down to that.
If need be I will shadow DM the game to give a new player a chance to Dm and give them the store credit and such.
I will do everythign I can to make sure no one goes home. Although if it came to force people to go home I could careless who signed up. I will take people that are most helpful in building the community first.
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Another one, probably more controversial: NEVER PLAY OR RUN A SCENARIO COLD.
As a general practice, I agree wholeheartedly.
Sometimes, though, you have a choice to either run cold or have a table not go off. I had this happen last year at a convention; I walked in the door expecting to play a slot when the coordinator came up to me and told me he'd had a GM bail on him, and had a table ready to play part one of a series I hadn't played, read, or even opened yet. It's on the coordinator's tablet — could I run it for them so they don't all have to miss and play parts 2 and 3 later that day without having done part 1?
I took the tablet, read through the summary and the briefing as quickly as I could (GM 101 at work!) and tried my best to give the table a good game. When I told them halfway through I was running cold, they seemed surprised and told me it wasn't apparent that I didn't know anything about it. Perhaps they were just being exceptionally kind, I don't know. And maybe the play experience wasn't as optimal as it could have been. I still think it's better than not playing at all. YMMV.
Now of course this is a single anecdote, which is hardly data. I would never, ever advocate a steady diet of this, or do it on a regular basis — no small part of why I have a stable of scenarios with which I'm familiar that accompany me any time I go to a convention or a game day — but given the options that day, I'd run cold again before I'd turn a whole table away.
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Is there a GM Boot Camp or Tutorial program that new GMs (and those that are starting with experience from other campaigns) can get a 'feel' for how to run a table in Society play?
Yeah, they have the gm 101 and 201.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/gmResources.
These are great tips for new GMs.
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We ran an event to encourage people to GM based on all the scenarios that mention solo pathfinders that are sent into the field.
We selected two scenarios (Immortal Conundrum and Golemworks Incident) and sent half our player home with one and the other half home with the other to prepare them. The next week players with separate scenarios were paired and ran the scenario for a character 3-4 levels higher than tier.
I the event was a success. People enjoyed seeing their experienced Pathfinders lording their skills over weaker opponents, several people that hadn't GMed before mentioned that they liked getting some experience at it in a low pressure environment, and as organizers we could spot some people that we really wanted to get to GM. In the 1 on 1 setting the scenarios ran 1.5 to 2.5 hours so both parties could run in one normal session. Players did not receive any rewards as this is a non-sanctioned format, but were excited at the end of the night and traded stories of how they handed the various encounters.
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I honestly have to second, third, fourth, ^10, etc. the "Stop allowing GMs to run cold." mantra.
I absolutely understand the idea that we never want to turn players away for lack of a game. I think that's a great goal. But on the other side of things, we get games that are not so enjoyable for everyone involved (GM included) when folks run it cold. It also doesn't foster skill building for GMs who can't take time to learn specific rules as they interact within the scenario, think on how to role-play the NPCs, etc.
The other side of this is that people don't always want (or can!) spend the $3-4 to get a copy of the scenario ahead of time. Our FLGS has print outs of the scenarios, but those aren't available until the day of. I would really encourage coordinators to find ways to help folks cheaply (and legally!) get copies of scenarios with time to prepare if they are unable to cover the cost.
But please, please, please, please cultivate a culture at your game days of how important it is to prepare scenarios ahead of time! This may mean having weeks where folks don't play because people failed to step up or you're running some of the evergreen things a bunch as filler, but it will encourage people to start rotating in and expanding the list of scenarios they know and can run. As coordinators, offer GMs the opportunity to play a scenario you expect demand for outside of your usual game day schedule with the expectation they will run it in the coming weeks. In Living Campaigns, when running a scenario before playing it meant you could never play it or get any credit for it, we had "Zero Slots" for conventions and regular game days to make sure regular GMs got to not only play prior to running, but also to incentivize them TO run it.
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I will do everythign I can to make sure no one goes home.
This sort of coordinator is the type we want everywhere!
I think the people able to break the rules already know they can do it, and under what circumstances it's a good idea. It did surprise me, though, how many Lodges use this as "the way the do things". Hence the warning.
What other things can we do to encourage more GMs to take up the mantle?
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One time sent home and they will often never return.
Except that's not what happened regionally. Not at all. And we have the player base to prove that.
Honestly this whole, "I can't do X, it won't work" argument drives me bonkers. We've (and this is primary focused on our current Venture-Leadership) have been pretty hard-nosed about, "you show up to a game day as a player, and we will do everything to accommodate you, but we expect you to come being flexible". And you know what? It's worked, and we pulled off a brand new convention to prove it.
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One time sent home and they will often never return.Except that's not what happened regionally. Not at all. And we have the player base to prove that.
Do you meant the players (as in the individuals that were turned away but came back) or the players (as in we turned people away but got more people anyway) ?
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Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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One time sent home and they will often never return.Except that's not what happened regionally. Not at all. And we have the player base to prove that.
Honestly this whole, "I can't do X, it won't work" argument drives me bonkers. We've (and this is primary focused on our current Venture-Leadership) have been pretty hard-nosed about, "you show up to a game day as a player, and we will do everything to accommodate you, but we expect you to come being flexible". And you know what? It's worked, and we pulled off a brand new convention to prove it.
Presentation matters. It is something that I have really had to work on all my life.
"You didn't RSVP and we've no place for you." is direct, truthful, and likely to be taken too harshly by many. It is also the most natural to me, so I always have to watch that I'm not slipping into it.
"We ask that everyone RSVP on <insert site> so that we can properly plan our tables. I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise you a spot." and then you make a best effort. If you still can't arrange it, spend a little time with them talking about it and then "I'm really sorry, but I don't have a place to seat you today." sets a very different tone. Even better if you follow it up by talking about RSVPing them for the next session at that location. This is also still a work in progress for me.
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Presentation matters. It is something that I have really had to work on all my life.
"You didn't RSVP and we've no place for you." is direct, truthful, and likely to be taken too harshly by many. It is also the most natural to me, so I always have to watch that I'm not slipping into it.
"We ask that everyone RSVP on <insert site> so that we can properly plan our tables. I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise you a spot." and then you make a best effort. If you still can't arrange it, spend a little time with them talking about it and then "I'm really sorry, but I don't have a place to seat you today." sets a very different tone. Even better if you follow it up by talking about RSVPing them for the next session at that location. This is also still a work in progress for me.
This, really, is the difference between ranks in Diplomacy vs. no ranks ;)
But yeah, if you are diplomatic and make every reasonable effort for a person to have a seat, then turning someone away due to lack of capacity is not unreasonable. We generally go so far at my game day as to try and pull a person or two from full tables to run something else entirely to try and make things work sometimes. There are, sadly, limits. Handling this well and communicating how much you do want them to play and want to see them come back next time is important.
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Is there a good spot to find downloadable or pre-printed maps for given scenarios?
One of my GMs at Gen Con had awesomely printed maps for one of the specials, and it really helped cut down on scene 'set-up' time.
A couple of others had photocopies that had been enlarged for given scenarios, and there was one hand-drawn series of map at a Confirmation table (that was very well-drawn).
I tried doing something similar with the print-out/photocopy method for Wisp, but it burned out my ink cartridge part of the way through the Wisp maps.
I'm honestly a little worried that I'll burn up too much time trying to draw a map out -- the days I could jot a quick jobber down are sadly long past for me.
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Yeah, if you've run it before, I'd say it isn't "cold". But it probably varies. I took a hit to the head a while back that has messed with my short term memories, and so if I don't have time to read the thing again before running it I'm going to miss something.
One issue is that running cold seems to be integral to many smaller Lodges' scheduling method: see who shows up and then determine what everyone can play, and the GM runs that cold. I can't stress enough how important it is to take the step to pre-scheduling scenarios and GMs - now that Warhorn already has PFS support for all scenarios, there's no reason not to do it effort-wise. Yes, people will complain, for a month. And then your Lodge will grow, because the games are better, and word spreads, and more people will GM... it is the "magic bullet" for going from a small Lodge to a growing one.
We used warhorn with a lot of success in my area, and I can't stress one thing enough: Donate! The awesome planning tool that that website is shouldn't go down because we, as a whole, could not manage to financially support it.
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Is there a good spot to find downloadable or pre-printed maps for given scenarios?
One of my GMs at Gen Con had awesomely printed maps for one of the specials, and it really helped cut down on scene 'set-up' time.
A couple of others had photocopies that had been enlarged for given scenarios, and there was one hand-drawn series of map at a Confirmation table (that was very well-drawn).
I tried doing something similar with the print-out/photocopy method for Wisp, but it burned out my ink cartridge part of the way through the Wisp maps.
I'm honestly a little worried that I'll burn up too much time trying to draw a map out -- the days I could jot a quick jobber down are sadly long past for me.
Unfortunately, maps in scenarios and modules aren't covered under the Community Use Policy, so they can't be shared.
I encourage getting the flip-maps and/or the map packs; those help out a lot. You can also pre-draw the maps on blank flip-mats and/or grid easel pads from an office supply store. I've seen people use Dundjinni for maps too. Or, if you're ambitious/crazy (raises hand), you can do your own in an image manipulation program and print them out, either at home or at a print shop.
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I either draw or print. Both have advantages; drawing allows me to slightly adjust diagonals so that it's clearer which spaces are and aren't accessible, and add other clarifications. It's straightforward if the map is mostly built from straight lines and circles. Printing is good for maps that are annoying to draw (shrubberies and other chaotic terrain).
To print, you can start by using any free online tool to extract images from your PDF, and then polishing them up a bit in GIMP or Photoshop. Then paste them into a text document so you can accurately control the scaling.
I'm sure there's more savvy ways to do it but this is easy and available and gets decent results.
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Do you meant the players (as in the individuals that were turned away but came back) or the players (as in we turned people away but got more people anyway) ?One time sent home and they will often never return.Except that's not what happened regionally. Not at all. And we have the player base to prove that.
More the former, but some latter as well.
Once people understand the system we use, signing up for game days is a very easy proposition. Scenarios are listed well in advance so you know whether or not there is something you can play. Again, if someone is ignorant of how we control attendance then we do try to accommodate them (maybe running a seven person table, asking if a player can switch tables). We also don't tell them to just leave. Every VO here takes the time to talk to new players, answer any questions they may have, and invite them to sit and watch a game.
We have success because we have tight controls. New store coordinators come up through the existing system. They see that it works. They also saw what doesn't work from a previous entrenched coordinator who refused to work with prior leadership. Once the benefits of what we implemented became obvious then that store began using the same process. It reduces confusion, anger, poor experiences, and ill-equipped GMs.