What's in a name?
As everyone knows, naming is hard! When we founded the company in 2017, we needed to pick a name that felt right: it had to fit what we do, and be something that we had a personal connection to. In 2019, when we rebranded, we considered changing the name, but Blackmill just stuck with us.
Regular readers might know that Blackmill is named after a power station in Sydney on the land of the Gadigal people. The White Bay Power Station, overlooking Rozelle Bay. It looks like a black mill because of its location, standing out with quiet dignity, enduring legacy, heart of the city, unmistakeable silhouette. As a power station, it generates energy to power its local communities. And it helps the local members and organisations to get to where where they need. White Bay Power Station got heritage listed (1999) because of its core impact on the social fabric of the community.
Blackmill sets out to do the same. We are about empowering you to put your energy where it will do the most good. You can read more about the name and its meaning on our website.
And as for the Blackmill icon? His name is Sean. You’ll have to wait for a future issue to find out why!
If you or your team would like to ‘power up’ next year, either from one of our workshops, or for a period of coaching or consulting, we’d love to hear from you! Drop us a line at gday@blackmill.co. And until next year, wishing you all a restful end to an eventful year.
~ Nicola
What’s been happening?
Nicola at Last Conference
On December 1st, Nicola spoke at Last Conference in Melbourne. Her talk, titled Hope Punk: inspiring leadership in tough times, discussed the challenging times we've seen recently as well as the challenges ahead. If you’re looking for a way to lead with purpose, keep your team feeling motivated, even when everything sucks (without burning out), and you want an approach to making the world a better place that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely, then this talk was for you! Don't just survive, Hope Punk is the art of being alive.
We hope that this talk becomes available online, so that we could watch Nicola deliver it and join her rebellious cry. In the meantime, Narmadha Anenthan summarised the talk at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leading-inspiringly-through-hopepunk-narmadha-anenthan-xvypc
Coaching certification
Last week, Elle and Lachlan completed the IECL's coaching certification workshop level one. It was packed with useful useful information and a coaching toolkit.
Special end of year RORO Sydney night
On Dec 19, Elle and Lachlan headed down to the Trinity pub on Crown in Surry Hills, Sydney, to catch up with a bunch of Ruby friends that they hadn't seen in way too long.
What are we reading?
- How to communicate a decision you disagree with — a framework for understanding, and then communicating to your team decisions you may disagree with.
- The will/skill matrix — learn how to tailor your coaching style to people’s skills and motivation levels.
- Why Dungeons and Dragons is good for the workplace — a University of Melbourne expert says a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired mindset could help change how we think about our workplaces and working as a team.
- Workshops to brainstorm life and career goals — since 2024 is literally around the corner, here's a simple way to help decide what's next.
A cuppa with Liam Esler
What do you do? And what do you like about your work?
I make video games! Well, more accurately, I am the managing director at Melbourne based Summerfall Studios. We make character and narrative driven games on PC and console, and our first title shipped this year.
Making video games requires an incredibly diverse group of skillsets and experience, from engineering to audio to game design to narrative to 3D to illustration to UI/UX and much, much more. I love working with the incredibly diverse people that build those skillsets and make games. At Summerfall we've been able to assemble a wonderful team of very talented, kind and empathetic people who are very passionate about making games, and every day I feel lucky coming in to work with them.
What aspect of your work do you find most challenging?
The business of video games is pretty unique, and the funding model is very difficult especially for the kinds of games we make. It's vastly different to the startup world (which I've had some exposure to), which makes things complex as well. Much like many friends in the startup world, I often wish we could just make things, but unfortunately the reality is that we also have to run businesses in order to support the incredible people we work with. Keeping everyone in a job is the hardest part, but also possibly the most rewarding!
What are you passionate about?
I'm very passionate about people, and helping people be the best version of themselves at work. That means I'm passionate about work culture, project management, HR, remuneration -- all of the things that funnel into the ethics and realities of running a company. I love a good conversation about positive leadership!
What are recent accomplishments you are happy with?
In August we shipped Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, which was a looong 5-year project. We just got nominated for a Grammy, so I think it was worth it!
What is one mistake that you will never make again?
I don't know if I'd say "never," because I think that would be a lie, but many of the worst mistakes I've ever made come down to my inclination to seize control when things become difficult. Over the past decade and a half of my career, particularly in the middle of it, I participated in ruining both friendships and professional relationships by not being able to trust others when it comes down to the wire. I've become significantly better at this — turns out, some traumatic experiences that have you majority at fault really help with learning — but it's an ongoing lesson, and I regularly have to remind myself: Take a breath. Let go. Trust in the people you work with, and let them come to you if they need help.
How do you manage stress?
Compartmentalisation and distraction! I joke, but I don't feel I'm great at managing stress. I am very good at coping with having stress, but not very good at managing stress. There's a difference, even if it's subtle. Usually, the best tools I have for coping with stress are pretty basic: Try to solve the problem, or at least make movement on it. Break it down. Talk to others. I have been told I'm very resilient, which is something I'm not sure I agree with — but if I am, it's absolutely due to those things.
What is the best advice you can give?
For founders, it would be that your people are your company. If you aren't prioritising them, you aren't prioritising your company. That doesn't mean you should always support every single individual — there are times when an individual is toxic and has to go — but even that is a way of supporting the people in your company. Don't be capricious, treat people the way you'd want to be treated.
For leads, it would be, build trust. I often tell our new leads when we're training them that at the end of the day, I don't care what you talk about in your 1:1s with your reports — all I care about is that you are building rapport, and trust. Be vulnerable, be human, allow them in, and give them space to do the same for you. That way, when something actually bad happens, they'll feel comfortable telling you about it. I've seen too many situations go south because a lead prioritised the structure of a 1:1 over the fundamental need to build a relationship.
For individual contributors, it would be to make sure you are over-communicating. Let the team help calibrate you. It's so easy to assume everyone knows what you do, but especially in industries like games, we all have such different experience and skillsets that shared understanding of even the basics is often difficult. Keep everyone in the loop, explain what you're doing, and make sure you tell your lead what you're up to and what your problems are so they can help!
What one thing would you change about our society?
BRING BACK THE DODO. We can abolish capitalism while we're at it.
What are your goals or aspirations for 2024?
Professionally, to keep Summerfall operating and sell our next game to a publisher so we can continue being an amazing place to make games.
Personally, to become a better listener and partner, and to stop letting my first reaction dominate my responses. It's rarely the useful one.
What are we cooking?
From Liam: one of my absolute favourite dishes to make is Madhur Jaffrey’s Tikka Masala — a little bit of effort for an absolutely delicious result.
And we’re out
Thank you for showing an interest in our newsletter and we hope that you enjoyed the read. Feel free to contact us if you have any feedback, a burning question, or just a recipe that you would like to share.
Until next time, keep learning!
Everyone at Blackmill