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Leadership Styles Your Team Needs
Joshua HowardIGDA Leadership ForumNov 2010
Acting
Interacting
Players World
KillersAchiever
s
Socializers
Explorers
Bartle’s MMO Player Model
• The games industry is used to using models to help us build better games
• Models help us understand the landscape of a given problem space
Playerexperience
HardFun
PeopleFun
EasyFun
SeriousFun
amuse
fiero curiosity
relax
goal
life
open ended
game
The 4 Fun Keys
© XEO Design
• Another model that games industry is familiar with
• This model is one of several that lets us understand the different kinds of fun
• Different models for the same thing can shed different insights onto the same topic
• Understanding what your team needs and what your team wants is key to knowing what leadership style you should using
• Develop a Leadership Strategy based on a Model of Needs & a Model of Wants
• Not selling you these particular models• About the power of using models
• Not training on a specific leadership strategy• About showing you how to come up with
your own leadership strategy
PremiseWe think a lot about the user experience in games,
butdon’t think enough about the employee experience
Developing yourLeadership Strategy
Action Deliverable Result
The ADR EquationAll work can be broken into a
Result, which is achieved (or not) by a Deliverable, which is the
consequence of an Action.
Raise MoneyProduct
BuiltMake Money
Use 3d Modeler3d ModelCreated
Model ready for
Dev
Applies at Any ScaleAny task can be broken into many
smaller ADR Equations
ADR is fractal
Action Deliverable Result
Action Deliverable Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
Action Deliverable Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
Action Deliverable Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
ActionDeliverable
Result
Management’s job is to scale the ADR Equation appropriately for each given project and team/team
member
• Before you could do a book report you had to learn to read
• Your Teacher taught you to read• Your Teacher was your first
manager
NeedsParents are not Managers, because
Parents offer unconditional love. What Managers offer – pay, rewards, etc. – is conditional, based on performance.
• Before we start anything we have to learn the basics
• Then we develop those skills a little more
• Then transition to the skill of using those skills
• We need different kinds of help along the way
Progression of Needs
TEACHER
• Skill Acquisition• Learning how to do something you have never done before
COACH
• Skill Application• Applying the essential skills in diverse and less controlled
situations
MENTOR
• Wisdom/Experience• Council of someone who has a deep understanding gained
through iteration
PEER
• Perspective• Council of someone enough uninvolved to see things that
otherwise would be missed
Progression of Needs Model
See Situational Leadership as more advanced take on
this core idea
• Step 1: Diagnosis• Which role does your team need (for the task at
hand)?
• Step 2: Filling the Need• Provide the role, either personally, or through the
application of other resources• Perhaps from within the team itself
• Step 3: Validating the Diagnosis• If the team is still not making sufficient progress
(on the task at hand) then consider an alternate diagnosis
• Step 4: Re-evaluation• Before the next step make a new diagnosis• Don’t assume the team is in the same place, nor
that they have moved further alongApplying the Needs Model
TEACHER
COACH
MENTOR
PEER
• Not a value statement about how ‘good’ or ‘smart’ the team is
• Is highly dependent upon the task at hand• Teams are often good at some things but not
yet at others• Teams often contain their own Teachers,
Coaches, and Mentors• Don’t assume they must be externally
sourced• Find your natural default role, and be
careful not to slide into it too often
Needs Model Notes
TEACHER
COACH
MENTOR
PEER
What do they Want?
• Bartle’s Model applies to MMO players
• Could it also apply to the work place?
• Finding a useful model for you is the point
• While useful for MMOs, perhaps Bartle’s model is not the best way to think about the workplace…
Model of Motivations
Acting
Interacting
Players World
KillersAchiever
s
Socializers
Explorers
Bartle’s MMO Player Model
“likes getting stuff done”
“likes working with others”
“likes doing new things”
“likes winning most of all”
Bartle’s Employee Model?
Secret to Success
Hold yourself accountable
with everyone
Say what you are going to
do
Do It
When asked what it takes to be successful and get promoted, this is the advice I have offered over
and over again.
‘Flip Success Over’ to see Wants
Hold yourself accountable
with everyone
Say what you are going to
doDo It
Decide for yourself
Pride in a job well done
Knowing what you do
mattersAutono
myMastery Purpose
*See D. Pink’s “Drive” for more about these primary
motivators
* **
• Autonomy• Having the right to make decisions
about your own work
• Mastery• Feeling good about being good, and
getting better at what you do
• Purpose• Making a difference• At work and/or in the world
Primary Motivators
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
• In general, everyone wants these• Assumes certain conditions have
already been met• Pay is sufficient that money is not a primary
motivator• Essential needs already meet (safety, etc.)
• Doesn’t distinguish between different individual motivators, but is a good broad tool
Notes on Wants
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
Putting it All Together
Action Deliverable Result
Results should have
Purpose
Deliverables provide opportunit
y for Mastery
The Team deciding how to get a Result
provides opportunity for
Autonomy
Teachers tend to operate on this
end of the equation
Coaches move closer to the
Result
Mentors provide feedback, not
dictates
Frame Results such that the Action and
Deliverable are Self-
discoverable
Self-discoverable being dependent
on where the team is on the Needs model
Combining Needs & Wants leads to a ‘playbook’ – a Leadership Strategy
• ADR Equation gives us components to consider
• Progression of Needs illustrates how needs are situation and team dependent
• Secret to Success ‘flipped over’ is Model of Wants
• Using models helps us create our own Leadership Strategy
• Use these models, find or create your own, and commit to being a better leader
Conclusion
Questions?
{ {Resources
• Situational Leadership• http://www.situational.com/
• “Drive” by Daniel H. Pink• http://www.danpink.com/drive
• Bartle’s MMO Player Model• http://
www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
• The 4 Fun Keys by XEO Design• http://www.xeodesign.com
Recommended Reading for growing Leaders
• “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni• http
://www.tablegroup.com/books/dysfunctions/
• “Freakonomics” by Levitt and Dubner• http://freakonomicsbook.com
• “It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy” by Michael Abrashoff
References {Contact• More from Joshua Howard
• http://thereisnothem.wordpress.com
• Email [email protected]• All material © 2010 Joshua Howard or
their respective owners
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