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How is work tracked and assigned today? Have you done any skills assessments? Have you had growth and goals discussions yet to see where they want to grow and think they need to develop? How do they run design reviews and how do you participate in them?
1. Evaluate current processes and identify gaps that need to be addressed. We track projects in airtable (there was nothing in place when I joined) and everyone is expected to update it but everyone also has visibility. It helps me track over time who does what type of work so I can also make sure I’m assigning work to the right skills and growth goal fit.
2. Get to know the skills/potential/career vision of each designer so you know who is a fit for what work in the future AND so you understand where they think they are in terms of skill/ability. They may like the work they are doing but may not realize that it won’t position them for the growth they want.
3. If you have not- closely evaluate the design review process in action- I’ve seen many teams fall into bad habits and patterns with these reviews and it breeds and reinforces bad team culture. If you see that, reset the process, lean in hard to show them how to do it differently and see if that has an effect. Teach them how to critique work properly- both their own and the work of others. It shouldn’t just be a free for all. There is a method.
4. Give feedback on soft skills consistently and with some degree of immediacy when it is damaging to a positive team culture. This is much easier to do when I deeply understand their goals for growth because I can position it as such. I’m not sure about your team, but I used to hear “we have a culture of feedback as designers. It’s part of our training and are used to being critiqued.” but I observed them not being able to give or receive feedback on soft skills or professionalism without withering and going into a tailspin. We had to correct that quickly.
5. Find time to have fun. With a small team, it is easier to carve out time to play. Our team has a Monday meeting stand up (of sorts) but the first 30 min we play (e.g., Gartic Phone, sharing ridiculous examples of bad design or UX that we can laugh at, etc).
If things are tense, you can give feedback on positive behaviors you want to reinforce until you build trust with each person and the team. “Your feedback to so and so in the design review was well phrased.” Stuff like that.
But unless there is a riot, you don’t have to make any big changes or moves right away. Observe, learn from them about how things work and what could work better, what their pain points are, etc.
Getting visibility into the work and how things are prioritized are critical- especially how requirements are collected, documented and shared. Yes- focus on your team’s process, skills, abilities, etc. but scrutinize the process for engaging & communicating with them from “outside”. They may be reacting to a lack of clarity, priorities, transparency, and poorly articulated asks. Your team may not be perfect but they are yours to fight for.
Have you sat down with them to understand their pain points when it comes to working with the other stakeholders or what prevents them from doing their best work?
Two ideas: have crits on WIP and have the team give “1 thing working and 1 thing to improve” ideally without repeats. Or call them “glows and grows”.
My other suggestion can help give structure to individual roles, open up opportunities for feedback and discussion. It’s a career framework tool called Progression. They have a bunch of skills for designers with 5 levels to see ahead and behind. It opens up the space to talk about these things. I set mine up pretty easily and the team LOVES it. Happy to share what I built.
https://progression.co/
Thank you so much — crits are also in my notes. Love the structure you have for them, I’ll try that out! And check out Progression when I’m not sleepily scrolling on my phone.
I think you need to get to know them each individually and start to build that trust. I would tell them what you plan to do and be transparent in what your expectations of them will be. Make sure you are readily available and check in frequently.
I would say your more junior folks will probably need more one on one support. But you’ll be able to tell once you know them all individually.
I would also be sure to have group meetings to discuss progress, updates, things that need attention - etc.
You’re so right — step one is trust. The rest is frameworks and cadence. I appreciate the distillation, that’s a great first step. Thank you!!
Get to know them and find out their strengths (only focus on strengths right now) everyone gets a clean slate. Once you have started to get to know them and have built some trust, ask them to share what their goals are and the goals of the team. Have a “vision” meeting or figure out a way that works for them and you to set/agree what the team’s priorities should be. Then figure out how often you need to meet as a team and individually to stay on track (this will vary by person).
I go by the motto that they won’t do anything for you or the company until they know you care about them, and the genuine way to care about them is to get to know them personally and in a professional manner. My typical one on one meeting starts with personal life and checking in on them and family members and this helps to plan for disruptions/distractions. I have personnel that have gone through divorces, their own health issues, family members health issues and so much more. I personally lost my mom last year to cancer and everyone of my team stepped up so I could spend a lot of time with her before she died, we do the same for everyone. I genuinely care about each one and they know that they can count on me as I can count on them. A team environment needs friendship and caring at its core. Some competition is good too though, just depends on the person and you will learn what makes them want to be better by getting to know them.
I charge a consultation fee for these answers, I’m an expert.
Bot? Bot. 🫡