|
 Features
Becoming a Stellar Games Industry Manager, Part 2: Growing the Team
 Grow the Team
As a project proceeds, the need for various skills may change. For example, some specialist skills that were vital at the beginning of the project may become superfluous as the project develops. To maintain the right balance of complementary skills, you’ll need to manage change and act accordingly (hopefully in advance) to insure no disruption in the schedule.) This is as important as the ability to evaluate the technical and analytical skills of potential team members. Growing the team may mean letting someone go; then again, it might mean arranging a weekend training session. Sometimes you can’t determine this in advance, so be prepared for as many eventualities as possible.
Motivate the Team
There’s no limit to the personal and group potential of a great team. Given an “impossible” task, team members can (and should) reinforce each other’s confidence as they turn the impossible into reality. The collective ability to innovate is stronger than that of the individual (it’s that synergy thing) because of the team’s combined abilities (it’s that synergy thing…)
Different people respond to different types of goals; some prefer ambitious, challenging ones while others do better with smaller bites. If possible, set both general and specific goals that aim high but remain realistic. Encourage everyone to participate in setting personal as well as team goals. Look for the optimal combination of strong teamwork and technical capabilities so you don’t compromise the needs of the team or the project.
Most people respond best to constructive, positive leadership. Try not to voice your doubts about your team’s abilities to anyone who will run back to the group with this information. You’ll undoubtedly be misquoted and end up needing to do a huge amount of damage control. Without being annoyingly rah-rah, show confidence in the team’s ability to reach its targets and make each team member feel appreciated. Believe it or not, this doesn’t have to cost you a dime; the words “Thank you” have a great deal of positive power when said sincerely and at the right moment.
- I know I’m asking for the impossible, but I also know that this team can do it.
- If we can work together through this minor setback, reaching the next milestone/goal will be smooth sailing.
- Do you think we need to revise our original plan?
- Thanks for a terrific job! I think you’re ready for something even bigger now!
Whatever you do, don’t promise the world and expect your team to deliver every time you feel pressure from management. It’s great if you can pull it off once but you don’t want management or the client to assume that they’ll get everything they want whenever they want it. Protecting your team is as important as helping them advance. (And it should go without saying that you should never use the team as a scapegoat for your failure as a manager!)
Provide Training
Training helps to improve the team’s technical skills and develop managerial and interpersonal relations within a team. Review and upgrade the skills of a team constantly to meet current and future challenges successfully.
When trying to optimize the various skills in a team, involve the whole team in planning its own development. The aim is to reinforce the strengths and eliminate the weakness of all the team members, and develop those skills necessary to seize future opportunities and face any threats. Discuss these aims with the whole team, draw up a training plan, and work out with each individual what his or her own needs are now and what will benefit projects and the team as a whole in the future.
As a team leader, you should exemplify the qualities necessary to manage a team successfully. Be sure that you have the requisite training to prioritize, supervise, delegate, motivate and manage your time. Make these an integral part of your personal development plan, and ensure that team members – specially your deputies – also develop their own leadership skills. Listen carefully, suggest constructively, be tolerant of error while correcting mistakes and retain your objectivity – and don’t be afraid to join your team in a training session. There’s nothing wrong with saying, “I didn’t know that” once in a while.
The formative stage of any project is always slightly experimental, and a team can be an excellent testing ground for new ideas. Although experiments should be worked out with care to give them a fair chance of success, a major part of teamwork is recognizing mistakes early and correcting them without anger or recrimination. Dealing with failed experiments is part of the learning process. Remember that different solutions are required at varying stages of the team’s development. At each stage of your team’s development, you will set challenging goals, review its working methods and evaluate its achievements to improve overall performance.
Despite the expense involved in training, it is sometimes more cost effective than trying to go further without it. Calculate training costs, including course fees (which can be actual or charge backs), materials, room rental, meals, travel and loss of work hours. Weigh these costs against the expected financial gains and improvements evident in team performance following trainings. (And be sure that everyone you’re sending to training really needs the class for their work on the project. You’re not there to pay for a team member’s education so that they can abandon the project once they have the new skill set.)
Consider using consultants as “guest speakers” at brown bag lunches. It will make them feel more like a part of the team, save you some money and provide another bonding opportunity for the team.
|
|
|
|
|
Previous