Uncovering magic through leadership
I’m grateful that I’ve found a role leading a group of extremely talented and empathetic designers. As I’ve experienced it so far, leadership is achingly humbling. It provides me a deep sense of value to witness individuals on my team take ownership and create incredibly thoughtful and impactful work. When this happens, it is magic. These moments are by far my favorite part of my job. I once described them as how it felt when I walked amongst the Redwoods in California. There’s a different vibration running through that forest, and it’s the same vibration I feel when I witness these moments within my team.
I’ve witnessed this magic, flow, or whatever you’d like to call it, happen over and over across many projects in my time as a leader. It can manifest in both minor and more significant ways, but it can also be elusive and reluctant to reveal itself.
The question that we all ask ourselves is how do you replicate the magic? How do you copy-paste what you did, so your team produces it every time? What is the perfect ratio of people with the right set of skills combined that will produce a great outcome every time? I’m finding the answer isn’t as easy or pleasant as I had hoped, yet somehow more beautiful than I had expected.
This article is my attempt to articulate thoughts and observations I’ve had about how the way we lead can help foster this magic within our teams.
The work in between
Every project is different — with unique problems, unique contexts within and beyond the workplace, and diverse groups of people working together who are sometimes grappling with different personal and professional phases of their lives. With all these variable forces at play, I have found two constants with each project that I’ve been a part of:
- Challenges will come, always. And can appear in unexpected ways each time, smacking you in the face when you least expect it, and making it extremely frustrating to continue on the path on which you started. And no matter how much preparation you do, they still find you. Someone on your team gets sick, a stakeholder wants last-minute adjustments, a brand-new technology is on the horizon that you need to consider, or a worldwide pandemic happens. Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack.
- People genuinely want to help each other do good work that impacts the world in some way. It doesn’t have to be big, but sometimes it is. If they can see how their individual contribution has directly made something better, it’s huge. It impacts their self-worth and contributes to the greater good.
I’m discovering that my most important responsibility as a leader sits between the challenges and the genuine intentions of my team. How do I navigate this delicate and turbulent space? Realizing that it can be both hard and beautiful at the same time. Working through tough spots while at the same time not putting the spark out within a team.
#1: The challenges
I have learned to expect that challenges will come in all different forms, and I need to accept them with a level head and clear mind, adjust my trajectory, and move my team through them. It’s tough for me because these challenges can cloud my judgment with emotions making it difficult to see the best path forward. I’ve found that being honest and transparent with my team about what is going on has served me well. And then putting ego aside, stepping back and listening will often reveal the best path forward. But wow, is that hard.
Lately, I’ve found solace in simply accepting that every project will come with its own set of challenges. I don’t have to strive for the perfect combination of forces to make good work happen because it doesn’t exist. It’s going to be hard no matter what. That’s where the good work is. What I have to do is change the way in which I let these challenges affect me. See them as they come, approach them with openness, and then turn around and present them to the team in a way that will be as honest but least disruptive as possible.
I recently listened to a podcast with Ed Catmull, one of the co-founders of Pixar, and was inspired by the way he spoke about leading. This quote stood out to me:
“If you don’t try to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill-prepared to lead.”
– Ed Catmull
I think this is a really good way to approach leadership — staying aware of what’s happening both inside and outside of your team and tackling it head-on instead of avoiding it. This way, you’re prepared to lead through whatever comes your way.
#2: The intentions
The second constant I’ve seen play out within projects is a person’s genuine intention to do something that makes a difference. I’ve seen this recently in my team as they were creating our newly launched design system, Filament.
In the summer of 2022, our Product Experience division reorganized to officially support a design system team. SAS has had a design system in the form of common component libraries, style guides, and guidelines of best practices for many years but it was never officially organized in a way that solidified it within R&D under one division. With the reorg came a new focus, dedicated staff, and cross-disciplinary leadership to actively support its development.
Over the course of the past year and a half, we’ve worked to bring this new group together, build new relationships, and experiment with new processes all while trying to figure out what shape our design system should evolve into in the current landscape of our company. This has been fraught with challenges at every turn.
One of our design managers, Jacquie Goyena, and one of our designers, Christina Dotson, took our team through an exercise to uncover our design system’s unique set of values. The group landed on this set: Service, Inclusivity, Approachability, and Efficiency. The team writes about them in this way, “We strive to demonstrate these values, which inform others about what they can expect when interacting with Filament or working alongside the team.”
The number one, overarching value that they came up with is Service. Their top priority is to make a difference in the lives of the people who are using our design system. What a beautiful goal for a design system to hold and that the team came to this on their own, together, instead of it being mandated from high above makes it even more meaningful. They want to make a difference.
Earlier in November, we internally announced the Filament Design System. It was an inspiring moment to see a culmination of the team’s work and hear feedback from others about how helpful it is. I’m so proud of the team.
We have faced so many challenges and I am yet again humbled by the team’s energy, their constant commitment to push for high-quality work, and their ability to pivot while keeping their values close.
The hard work
Reflecting on these two constants, project challenges and team intentions, my current belief is that as a leader, if you set a clear vision, foster a respectful work environment, and then step aside, giving others autonomous opportunities to do good work, they will do incredible work. As leaders, we must protect this safe space for our teams while consistently setting our egos aside, speaking last, and holding firm to our values while being open to new ideas.
But this is hard.
Above I say “current” belief because I also strongly believe that I don’t know everything — not even close. This is what I’m currently experiencing, but I’m sure things will change as I continue to grow and that’s okay. It’s good. Life keeps moving, and so does my approach to leadership.
I urge leaders, in creative spaces or not, to delicately lead through that sacred space between the project challenges and the team’s intentions. Let’s listen more than speak and take a tailored approach to respond to the team and project dynamic that we are within. If we practice leading in that uncomfortable in-between space, perhaps the magic will come out of hiding more often and it will drive us all forward into a better world.
