As a design leader, the first week at a company I share my leadership blueprint - a document that shows how I lead, my expectations for others and for myself. This is shared with each person whom I manage after our first 1:1. Below is an example:
As a leader, I am here to inspire and deliver outstanding results for the entire design team through clear strategy, process, and models of collaboration.
As a manager, I’m here to ensure that each team and member of that team are working and growing to achieve their highest output and personal performance.
I am committed to:
- Creating the opportunity for you to make the best design work of your career.
- Providing a safe space for you to grow personally and professionally.
- Listening and learning to always find the best way to work and grow together.
I will hold myself accountable to:
- Taking responsibility for my actions.
- To follow through on my commitments and promises.
- To recognize my mistakes and make changes so as not to repeat them.
I will respect you individually:
- I am committed to getting to know you as a unique person.
- I welcome feedback in order to strive for excellence and will provide feedback to you.
- I try my best to be real and vulnerable and seek the same in others.
How I will work with you:
- I am a transparent person and carry this trait over to my management style. If I don’t know the answer or am unable to share information, then I will tell you.
- My success comes from your success. I will not take credit for your or someone else’s work. I want you to receive the accolade for any work that you design, not me.
- I will strive to protect you from drama and politics. I will be the first one to take any blowback from outside the team so that this doesn’t affect you or your work.
- I expect us all to be kind to one another and avoid gossip or negativity as it affects the morale of the team and hinders what we can accomplish together.
- I am a positive, social person, I view life and our job as a privilege and hope that we can crack jokes and have as much fun as possible together.
- I view management as an opportunity to be a coach and a friend. If you ask me for advice, I will gladly give it. If you want to figure out things on your own, I will not look over your shoulder.
- I will always be here for you, even if we aren’t working together anymore.
Family and your health come first:
- If you ever have family or health related issues please do everything you need to do to take care and attend to these.
- Please keep me informed when you need time off and there is no need nor expectations to manage your work or attend to your email/slack.
- We have a team of supporting and caring individuals that can cover for you in your absence.
Work/life balance:
- I don’t believe that putting in 12 hours per day makes a team successful. I would rather you prioritize tasks in order to be effective during a regular work day.
- If you need to clock out early to take care of personal business - no questions asked. I believe we are all professionals and responsible individuals who know how to manage the schedule in the most effective and productive ways.
- Please use your paid time off
- PTO is there for a reason. The work is always going to be there - it will be there when you leave, and it will be there when you get back.
- Burnout is not healthy - it's not healthy for you and those around you - whether it's your family or co-workers.
- Please give the team enough time to plan for your time off.
My asks of you:
- Bring your best self to work
- Own your work and be responsible for driving impact
- Help elevate the team by regularly sharing your experiences, thoughts and processes
- Own our team culture and help make it the place where we all want to be
- Actively experiment with ways to grow yourself as a designer and a person
- Be open to being coached and trust that I have your best interest at heart
- Question your assumption and things that don’t make sense to you
- Be ok making mistakes, owning them, and learning from them
- Be kind and respectful regardless of the way others behave
- Voice your needs and concerns
- Share your ideas early...who knows what they may lead to!
How we work
1:1s:
- This is an opportunity to voice your thoughts in a safe and private environment.
- This time is focused on you and can be used however you see fit. Initially, we will focus on your career.
- I typically ask for feedback about how I am doing and will provide the same for you.
- I don’t have a certain structure for these meetings - whatever degree of preparedness you choose is fine with me.
Work Hours:
- We are all adults. Use your best judgment in regards to the work you need to complete and the dependencies that others have on it.
- Please communicate with your team and me so we know what to expect. A good rule of thumb: notify a week before, if possible, when you’re going to be OOO. This gives people some leeway in adapting their plans to your situation.
- I will never question the reason you have to be absent, trust is the most important attribute here.
Ownership and Decision Making:
- Business decision-making is not a single individual’s activity. Get involved, speak up!
- We are driving the business together and to make the best decision we need your input.
- We are also building the team culture together so please be involved.
Working with others:
- Collaboration is essential for our success and the highest quality work comes as a result of a high-collaboration team.
- We should always be thinking of who would have an opinion of our work and try to include them as early as possible.
- Designers are not in service of other teams and we should teach others how to collaborate with us as well.
Career Development:
- You are expected to drive your career development plan and I, as your manager, will assist you. We will use your 1:1 time to discuss this.
- Tell me where you want to be in the next six months, a year or six years. We will work together to create a clear career plan with steps and timelines.
- Apply a growth mindset to your career. Since it can be hard to know where you want to go, think about what motivates you and how you might go around in experimental ways to learn these things.
Acknowledgement & Recognition:
- I believe in recognizing a job well done. I’ll recognize your work publicly so you receive attention toward your work.
- I will also mention your achievements to my lead in our 1:1 conversations.
- Recognition is important to me - it highlights the value of our team to the larger organization and the company.
- Recognition is an opportunity to teach others about meaningful contribution.
Performance Feedback:
- I will give you feedback on a regular basis to help you grow throughout the year. Your performance review should never be a surprise as it’s topics that we discuss consistently.
- I will work with you to capture goals and review them with you during our 1:1s.
- Please feel empowered to deliver feedback to me whether it happens via structured 1:1 or on an ad hoc basis.
Communication:
- Effective communication is vital to the success of a team and individuals.
- I encourage open and constructive communication. You should feel comfortable pushing back if you disagree with something. You should feel comfortable coming and talking to me about anything.
- I value diversity in viewpoints, experience, and skills. Diversity in thinking creates stronger outcomes for our work.
- We also should strive to create trust and transparency with our cross-functional partners and others across the organization. This will lead to us being able to make bigger bets and gain trust from others in doing so.