How to be a great leader at a games company – without going bananas

gamesindustry.biz:

With great power comes great responsibility. That's not only the oft-misquoted philosophy of Spider-Man's Uncle Ben, it was also the central theme of a talk by No Brakes Games' head of studio Sitara Shefta at Develop Brighton earlier this year.

Drawing on her five years of experience leading a team of 26, plus a sister studio in Lithuania, the leader of the Human Fall Flat developer shared what she believes to be the core priorities and best practices for becoming an effective manager.

"One of the worst things, in my opinion, is working somewhere you don't get to enjoy that spark, or innovation is limited," Shefta said. "I don't think that provides people with the opportunity to flourish. I knew that I wanted to create an environment where people feel happy coming into the studio – whether in person or virtually – and where people are motivated and driven about what they're doing."

Before getting into the core of the topic of how to be a good leader, Shefta reminded the audience of three priorities when building up a studio:

She addeds: "If you hire great talent and think that's enough, you will inevitably lose staff. Retention is key to both a successful team and business, and is a reflection of your studio or team culture – which in turn is a reflection of your leadership style. So don't make the mistake of shifting to the mentality that people are just bums on seats – that's how you lose your best talent."

The talk included advice on how to best support your team, how to avoid crunch (and why it's vital you do so), what to do when things go wrong and, to quote her directly, "how you can survive the pressures of leadership without going bananas."

One of the most powerful tools for anyone in a leadership position