Middle Kingdom Pursuivants Handbook 2nd Edition - Midrealm ...

The Submission ProcessWorking with ClientsMarten BrökerThis article addresses what I see as the biggest problem we have as heralds - our reputation. I hear endlesscomplaints about herald at all levels in the Society, but I know a good number of heralds who are reasonablepeople and very helpful to their submitters. I don’t believe heralds, as a group, have more difficult people towork with than any other collection of people, but somehow our job makes personality problems more visible.People get attached to their names and devices, and heralds tell some of them they can’t use them. This is boundto cause friction between the kindest of people. Submitters need a lot of help under these circumstances, andthey will not accept it from a person they are angry with. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are if asubmitter will not listen to you. Below are some suggestions for heralds to bear in mind when working withpeople that I hope will help you do your jobs more effectively.Work for your clients. We run a service, not a police force. The Laurel Sovereign of Arms establishes rulesto serve the broad goals of the Society, but the consulting heralds work for their clients. Your job is to helppeople. The most important thing is to find a design that both satisfies the rules and makes your client happy. Ifsomething is registered you know you have done half your job, but if your client is unhappy, you have not doneit all. We are too often caught in an adversarial relationship with people when we should be working together.Keep an Open Mind. People all have their own ideas about what the Society should be, and how their nameor their device fits in with it. Just because a person’s ideas are different than yours does not mean that person iswrong. The Board of Directors has been quite open about what it allows in the Society, and I think that sets thetone for what we should accept. You cannot work with someone if you do not know what he intends of whysomething is important to him. Try to find out, and try to understand those opinions and accept them as being asvalid as your own.Put Yourself in His Shoes. Try to understand that submitting can be traumatic, especially if the client hashad something returned before. The fact that your client is unsure of what the heralds want, and fears theoutcome, can sometimes color your dealings more than anything you actually suggest. If you understand this,you can be much more helpful. Listen to what you are saying and try to think “How would I react if someonetold me this?” If your client starts to get upset, try to see why and work with that problem before you work moredirectly on the name or device at hand.Explain Everything. I gather that a lot of people believe the heraldic system is a big monster that eats uptheir documentation, digests it for a while, and then spits out incomprehensible rulings about it. This reputationis extremely unfortunate, because it really isn’t true at any level I have seen. Every herald I know thinks he isbeing helpful and doing the right thing, but somehow that feeling is lost when decisions get back to the public.Try to learn as much as you can about Society heraldry, and about the reasons we do the things we do. Explainwhat kinds of things we are trying to accomplish right up front with your clients, the first time you talk withthem. Help them understand what they need. If something is not registered, help your client understand thereasons behind a decision. It is very frustrating to work in a system where you don’t know what is expected, doyour best work to satisfy unknown requirements, and then have your work rejected because it doesn’t follow therules. Try your best to give them the security of knowing why things happen.Start Early. When people join the Society, one of the first things they usually have to do is pick a name.That is where you should come in. Most people have to pick a Society name once or twice in their lives, youhelp people pick much more often. The same goes for designing devices. That means you have some experienceto share with a new member, and you should offer to help as soon as you can. Let people know where to lookfor real names, and where to look for good ideas about medieval devices, before they become emotionallyattached to things that are not particularly medieval. When someone comes to you with the name of a Klingon,you are already too late.Middle Kingdom Pursuivants Handbook 472nd Edition - 2002