Enabling a video game team to become player-centric
Achieving an aligned leadership team, committed to a shared purpose which puts the player at the
heart of what they do
The CEO of this video game company is focused on putting creativity and imagination first, and a
commitment to listen to the player. Putting this into practice is the job of every team across the
business.
One of those teams is the Certification team, led by our client. Certification ensures that games are
ready to be released to consumers and are certified by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo and mobile
partners too. In the light of the CEO’s commitment to the player, our client partnered with Value
Partnership to work on the following goals with his team:
1. Agree a unifying purpose and set of values for Certification that will rally the teams
2. Ensure that this purpose and set of values has strong ownership across the team so that
members will act on them
3. A follow-up plan that embeds the purpose and values in the work and culture of the
leadership group and the wider organisation through personal communication and action
4. Develop the leaders of Certification, their confidence and capability to deliver both the
purpose and values
Prior to the offsite, our client talked to key stakeholders of Certification to understand how their
views on the purpose and role of Certification are evolving. The Value Partnership consultant
interviewed each team member to capture their views about the purpose and values of Certification
and to prepare them for the meeting. This was a crucial step in achieving alignment around the
agenda, a positive mindset going into the meeting and awareness of where the critical challenges
lie.
During the two-day offsite the team worked on the purpose of Certification and came up with being
the Company’s ‘release safeguard for partners & players’. Once consensus was achieved about
the purpose the team realised the implications for how success was measured, how the team
needed to work together and with partners, and the strategies they pursued. To be genuinely
player-centric, the team agreed 8 high impact project initiatives after a process of prioritisation.
Those initiatives are now underway.
© value-partnership.com 2015
Enabling a video game team to become player-centric
The team agreed to work together with a new sense of ‘one team’, holding each other to account
for these ground rules:

One plan

United front

Help each other succeed

Accountable to each other

Feedback exchanged

Open dialogue
The team also committed to share their new purpose and values, seek buy-in from the rest of
Certification, the rest of the Company and partners, to listen & adjust.
After the offsite and a couple of weeks to reflect, the client and consultant worked together on what
had been achieved, and how to lead on the purpose and values throughout Certification and
across the Company.
“Certification’s latest transition – now ‘The Player @ Cert’ is well underway and has full
organisational support across partner and development organisations. The team culture is
coalescing around this change now and many initiatives are being launched or are underway to
help make this transition successful.” our client commented. “The work we have done with Value
Partnership, culminating in the last summit, has been invaluable for me and the department.”
© value-partnership.com 2015