Happy people make better products.
Happy people make better products.
Got it? Good. That phrase was the key theme for Catherine Herdlick’s session in the Leadership track today. Her session followed Tony Van’s “Communication Breakdown†and often echoed lessons Tony shared with a unique perspective.
Director of Production at Gamelab, Catherine offered some interesting advice to many in the audience were are “in the middle,†managing a team of folks below while simultaneously serving the needs of the executives above.
Everyone in your organization, she maintains, whether an artist cranking out textures or an executive negotiating a publishing deal want the same basic things.
- to feel that they have contributed meaningfully
- to know that the game will be popular and perform well
- to have a nice time along the way
“We, in the middle, are creating carefully designed and satisfying experiences for people – both gamers who consume our products as well as employees who are creating the games themselves,†said Catherine.
She suggested four key strategies for achieving success:
- Listen Closely
Gather information about and from the people you work with. - Be Open
Earn trust. Demonstrate respect. Lead by example. - Establish and Maintain Boundaries
Create safe, work-appropriate space to nurture openness and listening. - Establish and Maintain Expectations
Transform something scary into something thrilling, rewarding and fun.
Catherine spent the bulk of the hour-long session providing a variety of tactics for each of these strategies to help you, the middleman (or middlewoman), achieve success.
A few of the really big ones that stood out to me:
Remember when listening, this is listening. You don’t have to have an answer. Be honest and say you don’t know. (That’s part of #2, Being Open, right?) Or, better yet, answer with a question. You can use that to tease additional information out of the person you’re speaking with.
Your executives probably have lots of experience. Tap into their experience and use it to your advantage. Remember that they likely didn’t start the company in order to be a big boss. They wanted to create great games. By getting them involved your helping the team feel more connected to the company and you’re establishing a trusting relationship with the management.
When wrapping up meetings be sure to set next steps and then follow through on them. You’re setting expectations that must be met. When deciding on next steps have the other people in the meeting paraphrase or repeat your messages. You can eliminate lots of communication problems this way. (This would turn out to be a big theme at other sessions in both the Leadership and Production tracks during the sessions today.)
Be fearless. You are in the middle and have to be ready to challenge both the members of your team as well as the executives above you. You might be pleasantly surprised that both groups like a challenge.
Be prepared. When setting up or attending meetings have an agenda ready. “Game design meeting†is not good enough. Know what you are going in for and then be ready to set your expectations when you leave the room.
Follow through on her advice by listening, establishing an open relationship and then maintaining both expectations and boundaries and you’ll be guaranteed to have happier employees.
And, remember, happy people make better products.
