Making video games is a serious and big business.

. According to the Entertainment Software Association, in 2011, the game industry had sales in excess of $10 billion and employed more than 32,000 people. The financial benefits of creating a superhit game are immense but making one takes a company 18 to 30 months!1 Since a game can only be released every two years, companies recognize that failure would mean two years worth of sunk cost. They work hard to maximize their chances of success and keep pushing limits to make games with lifelike graphics, involved storylines and deep characters. Understandably, creativity and constant innovation are essential, not just to produce imaginative storylines and characters, but also to apply creative problem-solving skills to demanding engineering tasks that continue to make games more sophisticated. Therefore, the game development organization is first, creative and second, where the culture drives creativity to innovation. I shall use evidence-based management techniques related to culture, rewards, motivation and employee selection to design such an organization: Interactive. Being creative Creativity is often perceived to be something that people are born with, however, several studies have shown that this might not necessarily be true2. Practitioners of evidence-based management argue that a company can spark innovation by selecting the right set of people3. Of course, any hi-tech company, regardless of whether it aims to be creative or not, needs to hire engineers who are likely to perform well on the job. This requires that applicants be screened for relevant skill-set and proficiency. However, if is to be a creative company, skill-set analysis is not enough. It is also important to assess how an applicant is likely to behave when faced with a task that needs out of the box thinking. Most companies interview candidates and chat with them to get a feel for their thought process. However, evidence has shown that this is not an effective selection process4. However, structured interviews with clear focus and simple assessment techniques have shown themselves to be highly correlated to job performance5. In Being the Evidence-Based Manager, Gary Latham recommends two kinds of structured interviews, Situational Interviews and Patterned Behavioral Interviews6. Indeed, amongst several other organizations, the Washington State Department of Personnel describes these methods to be highly recommended interview approaches7. Adopting this process will first identify key competencies that are needed for a role and for each key competency, create a question by describing a job-related scenario in which the competency is demonstrated. Candidates will be asked to describe past situations in which they have faced similar challenges by being specific about the actions they took. Finally, scoring rubrics developed by the specific team leaders, will be used by trained interviewers to rate a candidates answers. The scoring key will have clearly defined highly desirable, acceptable and unacceptable responses. A question for the competency, Creativity and Innovative thinking could, for example, be: Describe a situation in which you developed a brand new idea for a product and proceeded to build it. What was innovative about your idea? What resistance did you encounter as you attempted to sell your idea to your colleagues, and how did you overcome it? Please cite specific actions you took.7 With consistent and focused structural interviews, s trained interviewers can fairly compare various candidates to one another and recruit people who embody the companys goals.

Selecting such employees, who embody the companys goals, is more important for creative organizations than others. Creativity is something that cannot be measured through conventional monitoring systems8. It is hence essential that hire individuals who feel that the companys culture of creativity will be rewarding for them. Indeed, in Leading by Leveraging Culture, Chatman argues that for companies that aspire to innovate, selecting for culture-fit is even more important than selecting for job-fit9. While s structured selection process will aim to find such people, it might not be enough. Sometimes, for monetary reasons, candidates create a veneer of similarity and manage to get the job. In order to avoid such people, Tandem Computers CEO James Treybig, instituted an unorthodox policy. After an extensive recruiting process, Tandem would offer a candidate the job, but would not mention their salary. If they asked, they would only be told that its competitive. However, if they insisted on knowing they would not be hired. Treybig reasoned that by removing salary from the equation, people would join only if they liked the work, the management and the culture10. Using Tandems policy as an add-on to the recruiting process, will increase the likelihood of hiring only those people who are inherently interested in coming up with the most creative ideas and ultimately, designing the coolest games. In Weird Ideas That Work: 12 practices for Promoting, Managing and Sustaining Innovation, describes creativity as something that is not as mysterious as many would believe. He says, If you want to build a team or company that is constantly creative, you need to keep finding new places and ways to use existing ideas11. In fact, the movie industry has benefitted greatly from one man who did this. Walt Conti had started out working at IDEO where he was exposed to high-tech firms and learnt about sophisticated control systems and electromechanical technologies. Later, he went to work for George Lucas and discovered that the movie industry was using less sophisticated technology to make mechanical beasts. He founded Edge Innovations to fill this gap and hired IDEO to help his engineers develop better beasts. The results were stupendous! In Free Willy, for example, audiences couldnt tell the difference between Keiko (the real whale) and Edges mechanical whale. In emphasizing the importance of diversity went so far as to say, Any group can spark innovation by broadening the range of differences. Therefore, will aim to hire a diverse set of people, as well as people with diverse skillsets12. This will expose teams to a broad range of ideas, possibly from other fields, that can be put together to create a unique gaming experience. In laying out his formula for promoting, managing and sustaining innovation talks extensively about hiring slow learners to spark creativity. He describes slow learners as people who are not able to pick up on the right way to do things, people who are directed solely by their inner voice and do what they think is right rather than what everyone else expects them to. Slow learners often come up with ideas that are utter failures but its worth the cost because they generate a larger pool of ideas - novel ideas than typical fast learners. The Rogers Commission, convened to determine why the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded, benefitted from one such slow learner: Richard Feynman. Feynman a Nobel Prize winner in Physics - was known to have little interest in what others did or expected him to do. Like most slow learners, he was socially awkward. He ignored what he was told to do by the administrators who ran the commission and collected information on his own. Chairman Rogers even complained that Feynman is becoming a real pain in the ass. In one meeting, Feynman interrupted the proceedings and demonstrated that the shuttles O-rings lost flexibility at 32 degrees Fahrenheit which was the same temperature on the day of the launch. This was important because the rings created a seal that prevented the escape of hot gasses from the rocket boosters. Eventually, O-ring failure was identified as

the cause of the accident largely through tests that replicated Feynmans demonstration in the meeting. Even though it was not easy to work with Feynman, the payoff was worth it. Apart from programmers, game development also involves designers. Designers dont do much technical work, their job is to dream. They create the characters, storylines and game mechanics that the programmers work off of. will have a special emphasis on hiring slow learners in the design team. Although s weird ideas would make most CEOs raise their eyebrows, will follow his advice and hire some people who are smart, but socially awkward, imaginative, but had bad grades and who have been slow to learn how things are supposed to be done at their current company. However, since slow learners generally find it difficult to communicate, they will be placed in teams such that they are surrounded by fast learners who can understand how to translate and promote their creative ideas. These practices will allow the company to benefit from people who ignore or reject the heat of the herd. Driving Creativity to Innovation Innovation is much more than having, describing and criticizing ideas. These first steps are useful but only if they lead to getting the concept or product in a form that can be tested and refined13. Testing ideas takes time and sucks up valuable resources but a company that aspires to build innovative products cannot expect to predict which of its ideas will work and which wont. Research shows that creative geniuses like Mozart, Shakespeare and Picasso didnt have hot streaks of success, they simply did more and failed just as much as they succeeded. cannot expect employees to be innovative if it rewards only success and punishes failure. Instead, employees should be encouraged to take risks and try out their wackiest ideas. However, it is also important to have a strong emphasis on doing rather than just talking. Another one of s Weird Ideas is, Reward success and failure but punish inaction. He reasons that if a company wants to innovate, it needs to keep trying out new ideas while testing them under realistic conditions. They should use what they learn to decide whether the entire idea is a failure, or short of something that they can add. At , employees will be rewarded for such actions regardless of whether the idea succeeds or fails. By rewarding, rather than just tolerating failure the company will be create a psychologically safe environment14 where employees will be motivated to innovate. At the same time, people will be punished for inaction. argues that even though punish seems to be a harsh word, it is very necessary. Inactive teams that just discuss ideas and dont test them will be disbanded and sent for retraining. If employees are pulled off a job and told that they cant have it back until they do things differently, they will see it as a punishment. If even this doesnt work, they may be fired. Getting rid of such people will signal that their behavior is destructive and unnecessary. Defining desirable behavior is only the first step towards creating an effective reward system. It is equally important to define what constitutes a reward. For example, even if desirable behavior is clearly defined, a system that provides bonuses for coming up with innovative ideas is most likely going to do just the opposite of what it intends to15. At , the rewards will be designed to strengthen the employee-organization bond16. The motive will be to show employees that the company they value so much, values them too. Rewards will be treated like surprise birthday gifts. If someone is up for a reward (for reasons outlined above), the team leader will bring the entire team together to come up with something specifically for him. It could be a ticket to watch his favorite band in concert, a massagetherapy gift certificate or maybe a simple beer-and-pizza party thrown for him. Once the team has (secretly!) decided, will make all the arrangements and congratulate the employee on his fine performance. Apart from motivating the individual this will also bolster team spirit. For more serious

achievements the company will focus on fulfilling a major desire that the employee has in his life. Once again, this will be customized to his specific interests. For example, if he is really concerned about eradicating Polio, he could be given the opportunity to make a pitch to the CSR committee. Maybe if hes passionate about seeing one of his ideas in the mainstream, a meeting could be arranged with the executive board where he can push them to take it up as a part of the companys mission. Such rewards will greatly increase an individuals commitment to the company. Through this reward system will be able to increase the volume of ideas, ensure that ideas evolve through the testing process and ultimately, come up with a larger number of innovative products. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,17 Dan Pink argues that people are most driven to master the things they choose to do. He says, If you want compliance you need to manage people but if you want engagement self-direction works better. To explain this concept, MIT and Berkeley professors, Heyman and Ariely cite a story from the novel Tom Sawyer. Tom is faced with the unenviable job of whitewashing a fence and is mocked by his friends. However he is quick to reply, Do you call this work? Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day? Armed with this new information his friends discover the joys of whitewashing a fence and actually give him all their personal treasures for the privilege of painting it. Twain adds, if Tom had been a wise philosopher he would now have comprehended that work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do18. People work the hardest at the tasks that they have chosen for themselves. Recognizing that autonomy leads to mastery, companies like Google and Atlasian, allow employees to choose their work for 20% of the week. Some of Googles most innovative products, like Gmail and Spell-check on search, have come from this rule. Through a similar culture, will be able to boost innovation and continue making better games. By selecting the right people and creating a system that intertwines cultural values, work practices, and rewards will be able to create a workforce that requires little intervention from senior management. Employees will choose the company only if they are inherent interest draws them to it, furthermore, being exposed to a diverse set of people they will have the tools they need to be creative. With creativity raring to go, s implementation-focused reward system will push employees to drive creativity to innovation. In addition, the reward system will tell employees that they are of immense value to their coworkers, teams and company. Finally, by giving employees the freedom to work on projects of their choice, will be able to boost innovative thinking at the firm. Word Count: 2500