Getting the Best Out of Your Team

Posted by requiem2d

January 9, 2008

Team Header

So you’ve recruited a couple of people online, have a design plan and set up a forum, now what? You want to put them to work right? After all, you may be creating this content-heavy mod which will require years of production. Playing Napoleon may work with highly-paid employees, but with the fellow recruits you’ve managed to get to tag along the way, you’ll need to be a whole lot more flexible, especially if you don’t have the years of experience and achievements to back it up. Here are some ways I’ve jotted down for you to ponder on how to achieve the mods goals whilst keeping the majority happy:

Align your Goals. Imagine this example: Mod Leader Bob wants Weapon Modeler Frank to go ahead and create a Character for their latest Mod “Neo Kitty’s vs. Transformers”. Frank doesn’t think much of the idea, yet gives in as he doesn’t want to get in an argument. He has a rough start on this assignment, struggles and finally calls it quits. Bob gets aggravated by what he thinks is Frank’s lack of motivation and the relationship eventually falls apart. The moral of the story is, give your members tasks that they like to do! Sure, you can slip in an “everyone hates to do it – but it must be done” task every once in a while, but in general you need to keep it interesting for your team. They’ll be happier, more enthusiastic and produce work of a higher quality.

Be Available to Them. Lots of questions will be asked, emergencies will occur or sometimes they just need to let go of their joy because they finally managed to import the smallest thing you can imagine. Do not confuse the ability to be contacted with being online 24/7, no one asks that of a leader. However, make it a point to check your various mediums however much necessary, i.e. sign in to MSN in the evenings for 15-30 minutes, at the same time check your Mod E-mails & Private Messages, anything else can be discussed on the forums so that you’re not constantly ripped away from genuine attempts at work. 90% of tasks assigned will have questions, so take the time to support & listen to them or at least respond to your team within 24 hours.

Organize Team Events. A concept similar to where companies have management retreats, you will host an afterhours gathering (even if online), however without the cheesy icebreakers and teambuilding “games” that corporate providers like to market. Get online and instead of doing a bug-searching or testing session, play your mod, just enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed! Try other games together or just have an informal group chat every Sunday evening. As your mod develops, you may want to organize real life events. In the case of Project Reality, 11 members met up at the British Royal Armored Corps’ Bovington Camp in the UK. It was an incredible opportunity for some of the gang to meet up, play with guns and laugh about the biggest nabs on our forum over a cold pint. Bottom-line, volunteer work is sometimes hard to justify for some of your teammates, put together something to remind them why this is the only Mod they want to be working on!

Empower each and every of them! Trust is a powerful dynamic that can either swamp you in work or spread the load by giving people responsibility. By trusting your team, you bring them to your level and make it feel more like a successful team rather than a dictatorship. Constant nagging, short messages and requiring “evidence” of their work will cause your project to fail regardless of how great the theme is. Start with a neutral level of trust with any new member and take it from there, give back when they are hard workers. This can be achieved by promoting them, giving more responsibility or reserving the “premium” tasks for them (i.e. designing the final level, modeling the main character or conceptualizing the most damaging weapon). In short, trust & confidence in your fellow modders will bring out the best of them, in turn making them a real asset to your mod in the long term.

Forced Vacations! Oftentimes scheduled downtime is good. Take into consideration that the majority of your team may have day jobs, go to school or participate in other stressful or boring activities (however you see it). Web traffic is usually down during the Holidays, so take that chance to give them a forced vacation and do things such as restricting access to the private forums temporarily, planning tasks around the respective dates or just taking the time to thank each one of them individually for their hard work and commitment to the project. Modding can become a real sacrifice to some individuals, cherish it, recognize it, otherwise people will burn out & quit…

There’s a lot more you can do, but this should definitely help you get started with some ideas. Always remember that without your team, your project will fail. The product, the community, the sponsors or publishers, none of them take priority over the people that work next to you everyday to make this mod happen.

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