How I Track and Address Team Member Communication

How I Track and Address Team Member Communication

This is part of my ongoing discussion about how I approach managing teams. This article ties into Enhancing Productivity & Communication with Team Members and How to Manage Strong & Low Performing Team Members.

Culture & Understanding

It is very important to help to establish an inclusive culture for the team. While many of our conversations revolve around the UX Process, I try to lead a department with a sense of humor and humility. I want my team to feel like we are all in this together and that I have their backs. I try to establish a light-hearted culture with an understanding that we are serious, focused, and driven by our client work and products.

Every four to six weeks, I organize a meeting for the team to get together and celebrate our team. These are typically remote meetings, but team members are provided lunch, and we each take turns to talk about our recent work, trends in the industry, and demonstrate interesting things that team members have done (e.g., look at this advanced prototype that I did in Axure, and here is how I did it). This is also a good time to bring in guest speakers to hear how other UX professionals approach their projects. I have found that having other UX professionals come to talk to my team gives us a bit of a morale boost, like you get from attending a conference.

Tracking Feedback

I approach everyone with the same respect and give some of my time to everyone one on one… in 1:1 meetings. This is so that there is visually a level playing ground for the high and low performers. I don’t want anyone to feel that I’m not giving them enough time, for it to appear that I’m spending more time with others, or worst of all, calling attention to a specific individual. These regular check-ins, in addition to utilizing Ways of Working documentation, help me to keep the pulse on how that team member is doing, if there is anything they need from me, and to gauge how I can help. I want to provide the tools, feedback, and support that allow everyone to do their work (and to do it well).

One-on-Ones (1:1s)

I prefer to meet with individual team members regularly. This cadence depends on the level of experience each team member has in the field. For junior and mid-level team members, I like to meet with more frequency, once a week, depending on the size of the team. For senior-level team members, once we have a rapport, syncing up bi-weekly and as needed is a good cadence to both check in and show trust in how they are performing their work.

Everyone is a human being. There are external factors to our work persona that will cause someone to be less motivated or distant at work. This is their time to talk, share, or vent. Show that you are listening to them; ask questions and offer short comments showing how you relate to or understand what they are saying. Show respect and let them know that you have their back. It is helpful when team members share external factors allowing you to tie their work performance to outside forces. When team members do talk, be an active listener.

For our 1:1s I ask for team members to keep their Ways of Working document updated. This is where we can center the discussion if they have questions or topics they want to address. I also keep documentation to track feedback using a private spreadsheet with tabs for each team member, dates for each 1:1, and notes from each interaction. This information acts as a reference sheet, so I have a history of my notes and comments to circle back on in future meetings.

Weekly Surveys

In addition, I send out a weekly survey at the end of the day on Fridays that asks four questions:

• Rate your week on a ten-point scale
• What was the best part of your week?
• What was the worst part of your week?
• Do you need anything from me?

The survey feedback gets sent as an email to my work account and is tracked with my notes from 1:1s. The feedback allows me to easily identify when someone has had a bad week and address it when I receive the survey results in my inbox. This allows me to take action in real-time. When team members rate their week a “6” or a “7,” I will follow up first thing on Monday morning to help to adjust their week and let them know that I’m here to support them and to help the next week be better. For any team member who rates their week at a “5” or lower, I reach out immediately to address the issue and get the team member to a better place before going into the weekend.

We all have bad weeks, but when someone is rating their week below a “7” with frequency, it is important to address what changes can be made to bring that number up and keep it steady. What do they need? What is the cause? How can you provide a roadmap to provide more successful weeks moving forward?

Ongoing

It is important to have a good understanding and relationship with each team member because everyone will approach projects and processes differently. This is where I like to have good documentation for the process I want everyone to follow, but also to be flexible about how everyone implements the process and creates deliverables. Building a strong team helps in individual happiness, retention, and individual success. The more trust you give a team member, the more they can function independently, streamlining your role as a manager and creating a positive work environment.

The images used in this article were created using MidJourney