Answering the question: what type of person is successful in our team?
How to be proactive, self-sufficient and take ownership
One of the many tips I received when looking for a job was that it’s important to prepare some questions to ask at the end of the interview. Three years later, I’m on the other side of the table interviewing candidates, and I now understand how important these questions are to discover what the team’s values are.
There has been one particular reoccurring question from the candidates this year: “What type of person would be successful in our team?”.
For myself, I put the emphasis on “team” — what does your team value the most? Our team values trust, and we believe that trust is defined by three key qualities: being proactive, self-sufficient and taking ownership.
What does this actually mean? I’ll be explaining with some real-life examples from our team. Let’s dive in!
Being proactive
In our team, we don’t believe in micromanagement and each team member is empowered to take ownership of their projects. We expect everyone to be proactive and take the initiative. This means knowing when and how to apply design methodologies, making decisions, and driving projects forward.
Example 1: having a “pull” approach
Every Monday, team members send a weekly summary board instead of receiving task assignments from middle managers. We call this a “pull” approach, demonstrating our trust in your ability to manage your workload and communicate your availability.
In addition to tasks, we have a section for “availability”, where one would clearly state if they are available to take on new projects, if not, when they will be available — usually an approximate date in the near future. If you are too busy to take a new project, but have some time, you can also state this — “can help on UI reviews, coding challenges, taking notes on a usability test etc”.
Moreover, when we need advice about our designs or user research, we utilise our teams channels. You are expected to reach out when you need help, and also proactively help others when they need help too. For instance, if someone posts a question and you know the answer, you are expected to provide examples.
Example 2: contributing to the Design System
Although we have an internal design system council, which you can read more about in Henry’s article on “Taming Chaos: Our Design System Governance at Scale”, our design system is a collaborative effort, constantly evolving with input from our UX team.
Being proactive means actively seeking ways to fill in gaps, innovate, and contribute to our ever-evolving design system.
For instance, this summer, I proactively opted to contribute a new design pattern — multi-step forms. Not only did this desire come from my personal need of a curated pattern, I wanted to create a source which others could refer to. In our team, it comes quite naturally, to want to proactively help our team.
Read about how we contribute to our design system by creating a new component.
Being self-sufficient
While collaboration is essential, self-sufficiency is equally crucial. Each team member is responsible for delivering their own projects and leading pizza teams, which requires confidence in briefing teams and upholding our UX methodology.
Example 1: being autonomous, with support
Regardless of their experience as a designer, we push everyone to be the lead UX of their project. This means that they are the ones to organise and lead meetings, prepare designs and take care of the technical aspects too. You can read about how we set up our trainees for success by building our own onboarding journey.
To achieve this, the designer needs to be self-sufficient, meaning not asking for advice on every step of the process but to be able to manage by themselves.
Nevertheless, our team structure ensures that help and advice are always available when needed. We encourage autonomy but also understand the importance of consulting peers when making decisions about our design outcomes.
For instance, we also have dedicated 30-minute design review sessions, where anyone can take it up and gain advice about their designs from colleagues.
Example 2: making the most of existing resources and documentation
As a team, we all dedicate some of our time to document our procedures and materials. We have a SharePoint where one can find all our useful methodologies, UX templates, user research guidance and even accessibility information.
Having a core resource helps us to look for answers first, thus being self-sufficient, before asking for help. Moreover, if you find something missing, you are encouraged to add to this core resource too.
Taking ownership
As previously mentioned, in our team the goal is that every member is the lead UX for their team, thus needs to take ownership of their projects. This means having responsibility and taking the initiative for the growth and success of the project — you are in charge of keeping track of the project, sending meeting minutes and leading UX workshops. In our team, we have created our own tools to help with this.
Example 1: organisation is key
With a project comes a “project folder”. This is the golden source of all the key scoping documents, resources and conversations regarding the project. It’s important to take ownership of this folder so that it is organised and up to date to make sure everything within it is relevant.
We have “blank project folder” which has diverse templates that have been built and adapted over the years. This helps one set up the initial project folder.
Example 2: documenting projects
Within the project folder, is what we call a “project flow”. This is our way of keeping track of the progress of a project, particularly making sure important updates are noted down. This helps to remind oneself, but also useful when someone else is onboarded to the project. You can link key emails into the flow too.
As the “owner” of the project, it’s your responsibility to keep the project flow updated.
In the end, it’s all about embracing trust
All these efforts of being proactive, self-sufficient and taking ownership lead to an underlying condition: trust. When one joins us, they become part of an environment built on trust, where being proactive and self-sufficient are the key attributes we value.
In our team, trust is the cornerstone of our collaborative efforts. We trust them to be a reliable team member, to work effectively with projects and teammates, and to manage their responsibilities with diligence.
These are some qualities and examples, specific to our team, which hopefully can be an inspiration to your team. It’s important to find what works for oneself, as these building blocks of trust come in many shapes and forms.
To sum up, to thrive in a team with a foundation of trust, you need to have 3 key qualities:
🏃♂️Be proactive
💪Be self-sufficient
📂Take ownership
This trust is not built overnight by only one member, but it’s a responsibility we all share in which we all participate in building.
To read more about what we do, check our website where you can read more about what it’s like being on our team!
