Pick Up That Shield And Fight..

One of the very worst things I think that any one person in the raid can do is give up. In this instance an example would be guilds like mine that are at the hump with Vashj and Kael left on their SSC/TK plate.
We've been going at vash for almost 2-3 days a week for 3 weeks now. Only last night did we actually get the fight to phase 3, although it was messy. Mobs floating all over, people dead etc. Our GM was lit the latter end of the night and started being coarse with the raid.
To get to the point, it was very easy to see how I or anyone else in the raid could start to just go through the motions.
Our GM gave the raid force a stern talking to before our last few attempts, and it seemed as though they came alive again.
As with any life endeavour it's very easy to become dwindled when in the face of adversity, especially when your put into a situation with others where you can't always control every action.
This situation is commonly called "banging your head against a wall" lol.
When I thought about it all during the lovely jog back to SSC, I thought about what I could do to help more.
It was just like having sports team mates. If someone would start heading in front of the naga I was tanking I'd pop up in vent "Watch it Mangle, run behind the naga!" immediately mangle would correct his path and go behind the naga as to not eat a cleave.
If I saw an elemental near Vashj I'd chuck the hammer at it to finish it off.
Once my naga was down I'd call it out in vent "My naga is down, great work keep working!"
If I had a free second I'd fling a flash heal or spam decursive if someone had poison on them.
It was all about the small things, putting myself into a situation where I was being active and doing not a whole lot more, but at the same time I was adding to what I contributed.

I was picking my shield up and fighting harder, being the rally cry. Where the GM was giving out the strict discipline I was reinforcing the individual by sending tells "hey don't take in all the bad man, I saw you chip in that extra heal" or "I saw you run yourself over to the generator when mangle got bogged down, great work!"
It's just like just like picking up your shield from the sand and yelling to the rest of your comrades, you have to keep the pendulum swinging! It very much pays off to be the one with the booming voice that calls out for people to keep it up, push harder.

Some vent's are insanely church mouse quiet and thats absolutely cool, things are running well oiled at that point. But if you see people slipping you gotta tell them to pick that shield back up and keep pushing.
As it's been said, the Phalanx is only as good as the shields that make it. Keep everyone's blood running and heads where they should be. It's not about shouting for excellence, but helping people first push to their potential, and from that point making sure they hold it from the start of the raid all the way to the discussion after it.