Firstly, thank you Rheaggy, dst and ary for your opinions. Good friendly feedback is always useful
I have been working with Grido since about Nov to resolve these LHO problems. I have been aware of them for a while and have had quite a few discussions with him as to what I think is wrong, and what we have been able to do. While initially they mainly focussed on negatives, we have been working on a number of areas that require improvement and what can be done. I have also been talking with a lot of MD'ers to try and work out what they think the issues are. Actually I have talked to some of you about this process I am going through, so some of you have known I have been working on this before. It has taken a bit of time because me and Grido have spent a lot of time planning and trying to work out what we should do. Now is a good time to bring it publicly.
Communication
The first area we identified is communication between Grido (as the head LHO) and others. It appeared that there were a number of times when there were communication problems at various stages of LHO applications. While not unexpected to have some communication issues, it appeared that there was some confusion for people applying and such.
Transparency
LHO sometimes seems to be veiled in a level of shadow and mist. Reasons why people were demoted/promoted generally are not as public as perhaps they should. While some demotions shouldn’t be too public (so as not to further publicly humiliate people) perhaps at least a posting should be made saying.
In addition to this, some feel Grido is not impartial. We know that no person can be truly impartial but we can try. Adding transparency will hopefully improve the view of Grido being pretty good at impartiality.
Idleness
Grido is indeed more inactive than usual. This cannot be helped currently and it is likely to get worse for the next period of time. Him agreeing to other work is a personal mistake and is something not related to LHO role. He has slowed in agreeing to do things (actively said no when I asked if he wanted to do legacy work) which I feel is a good sign.
Training
Grido and I both agree that LHO probably needs some form of guide or training. We are looking to get someone, or a couple people, to help write this "guide" for LHO's. If prospective LHO's want to help write something like this.
Replacement
There has been discussion of his replacement, but as he pointed out, there isnt too many people that can replace him. Therefore the solution most discussed was having a number of people perform his role, and have him mange these people. Then he can train them and get them doing good work. If he had time, he would be one of the more qualified candidates.
Actionable Work
New MD Guide - Since Nov Grido and I have been planning a new LHO system to introduce them. This will include a guide, and some basic questions and answers, including a mentor system for new LHO's. http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/16401-lho-improvements-new-md-guide/
Recruitment Agent - Since Grido is really busy, and to reduce the number of PM's that people have to send him, having a new recruitment agent for LHO's will be a major boost. This will be the person who handles recruitment. They will send a persons name to grido for a final "yes/no" which will almost always be yes. http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/16402-lho-improvements-recruitment-agent/
Transparency - A lot of the LHO's and people I talked to discussed mentioned some uncertainty about actions that happened within the LHO's. Lets talk about how we can improve this situation. http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/16403-lho-improvements-transparency/
LHO Rules - A number of people have raised concerns about rules applying to LHO's, lets dig further! - http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/topic/16400-lho-improvements-lho-rules/