Feature: 'Becoming a Stellar Games Industry Manager, Part 2'

In the latest part of his Gamasutra original series on being a stellar game development manager, author Marc Mencher teaches us how to grow a team (while part one dealt with building a team), including tips on delegating work, motivating employees, career building, and training. In this excerpt, Mencher explains how an essential part of team building not only focuses on the team itself, but of the career-building and development of its individual members: "A team’s main objective is to work together to succeed at a given task, and this is a lot easier when individual members are willing to augment their own skills. Good team leaders understand that a team’s future success depends in part on how individuals develop. Be ready to act as both coach and career counselor for your team. Help them advance their careers by encouraging them to develop their natural talents and provide training and support to make that happen. The larger the team and the wider its mandate, the greater the chance for individuals to develop their careers by changing roles or being promoted based on their work. While promotion is usually vertical, team careers tend to progress laterally as people move to larger teams handling higher-profile projects. Do not discourage this. Help promising colleagues find suitable positions is good for the company. Even in organizations where vertical promotion is harder, individuals can still progress as they move from team to team. However helpful you and other senior colleagues are, individual team members should accept responsibility for their own careers. Encourage each member to regard working on the team as part of a learning process, in which all lessons can open up new opportunities and help them build a body of qualifications to take to their next position – whether in another team, different department or outside the organization. Career building, like good teamwork, will always be more effective if it is targeted. " You can now read the full Gamasutra column on the subject, including much more team building tips and more on the benefits of the self-managed team (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).