Leadership philosophy.
Every role and organisation presents unique challenges and opportunities as a design leader.
It’s important to understand the problem space, the priorities of the organisation, the maturity of the organisation and the team in order to establish where and how you can add the most value.
As a leader, I tend to orientate around pillars which cover strategy & delivery, collaboration, quality and people. The amount of effort required in each pillar depends on the context and situation.
The pillars
Shape the now whilst envisioning the future
Foster alignment & collaboration
Champion & raise quality standards
Focus on people
Shape the now whilst envisioning the future.
It’s important to create environments which strike a balance between shaping the strategy and delivering value (to users and the business) incrementally whilst also envisioning a future state of the product or service.
Establishing connections between these horizons helps teams understand how the products they are shipping align and the steps they are taking towards a future state.
Foster alignment and collaboration.
Creating alignment, a shared understanding and fostering collaboration in organisations is vital to creating joined up experiences. There are two enablers I focus on.
Forums & moments - Things like stand ups, retros, design meet ups & critiques, project kick offs, project show & tells, etc.
Frameworks & tools - Things like Journey maps, Service blueprints, Jobs To Be Done, Principles, Initiative alignment documents, etc.
Champion and raise quality standards.
Quality runs throughout the product development lifecycle and takes many forms. I believe it goes beyond the products that are shipped. It’s important to create a shared definition of quality at the different stages and then put mechanisms in place to measure and assess.
Quality at the different product life cycle stages means, for example:
Teams are aligned and appropriate inputs are used when identifying problems, in the problem definition phase.
A range of concepts are explored and validated, pushing boundaries and innovating in the solution phase.
Design standards are in place, feedback loops incorporated and actionable in the implementation phase.
Focus on people.
I’m an empathetic leader. I believe it’s important to get to know the humans you work with, understand their lives and ambitions to enable them to thrive. There are four aspects to happy and successful teams.
Performance - Enable the team to add the most value to users and the business.
Growth - Create an environment in which the team can learn and progress their careers.
Community - Create a strong community and belonging where people can be their authentic selves.
Wellbeing - Support the team in living a healthy and balanced life where they make time for the things that are important to them.
