Imagine the things teams can accomplish when they have good managers helping them produce. Every management book in the universe offers a selection of key qualities of a good manager, but simply keeping in mind how you would want to be treated is a good practice. Being a good leader is not about you, it is about helping the artists you are leading produce the best work they can. A great looking game owes its success to the teamwork behind it. Communication, Empowerment, and Ownership Communication, empowerment, and ownership are terms that are thrown around within our industry without any real effort to understand or incorporate them into the management model.
Communication is the most important factor in successful teamwork.
When the lines of communication are truely open people can function the way they need to in order to get the job done. If your style of communication is to focus on weakness, mistakes, and to play one employee against another, then the people you are leading are effected by your example. Lay the groundwork for constructive communication by encouraging open discussion and feedback within your team. That way, no artist will feel that they cannot speak their mind. To encourage feedback is to teach the skills of positive evaluation of work, rather than negative criticism.