My Task
As the manager of the UI UX team, I was tasked to lead them and develop their skills as designers.
Background
The design team is separated into two groups called mobility and non-mobility.
How are they being managed:
😶🌫️ Indirectly-led by the COO\
Because the COO doesn't have enough time to lead the team.
🖖 Separately managed
The mobility members are managed by the client-side UX Manager and the Non-mobility is managed by the Developer Senior Manager.
💼 Work in different projects
Each of the member are assigned to different projects and act as the sole designer for each of them.
How I will manage them:
Scheduling the sessions
With many people in the team, I have to plan a weekly session for all them.
Things to talk about
Certain topics that might be interesting for them to talk about.
Helping them better
Whether they want me to help them directly or not.
Other materials that I can teach them.
The methods
Scheduling 1:1 sessions
I use this method because I want to personally know more about my team. I invited them to an online call and set their sessions based on their availability and preferences.
Initial Questions
As we move on to the 1:1 sessions, I prepared questions for us to answer.
Their names, peferred nickname, and current project.
Designer type. Interaction Designer? Visual Designer? or both?
Skills — Mastered, still learning, and want to learn.
Their expectations of me as their leader and manager.
By asking these, I was able to:
Get closer with the team.
Identify their specialty skills & their collective strengths and weaknesses.
Manage their expectations early on.
Main Questions
What activities did I love last week?
What activities did I hate last week?
What are my priorities this week?
What help do I need?
By answering these, we were able to have lots of conversation points that led to other insightful topics around design, work focus, and even life.
Feedback
After one month, I ran a survey to improve the 1:1 sessions. I asked the team about:
How do you feel about this 1:1 session?
Does this activity improve your way of working?
What other things we should add to these sessions?
13 out 16 agreed the sessions improved their way of working. New suggestions to add in the session, such as, Framer tutorials, Workshop requests, soft skills on design presentation and communication, and many more.
Overall, the 1:1 session is received very positively.
Year 1
One year has passed. The team improved significantly. They have become braver, outspoken, and more confident as a designer and as a person.
Their achivements:
💥 From timid to bold
The team
🏅 Praised by clients
A selected few were highly valued and received a higher grade in the company's annual performance review.
Consistency with purpose
With customized and unique paths to mastery, the team performed better and met expectations.
Final Impression
As my time ends with BitHealth, I asked the team for another feedback about my overall leadership and management. Here are the results:
Lesson learned
You lead people and you manage things.