How To Build and Grow a Successful Design Team from Scratch

The driving force of any successful UX department lies within the strength of a great team. This is true for all businesses, from small start-ups to large corporations. Teams exist for ideas to mature and develop in such a way that it would be impossible for any one individual to achieve alone.

Successful teams begin with recruiting the right employees. This can be achieved by identifying goal-orientated candidates who thrive when working towards a common goal and can adhere to the business hierarchy.

Only after hiring the right people can, you begin to work together as a successful team.

The Importance Behind Building A Strong Team

As a core principle, the assembled team’s skillset should complement each other so that the team can collectively handle a wider range of challenges that you, as a manager, would be unable to do by yourself.

Teams that excel require a leader who possesses a keen sense of team values, goals, and ethics. Without strong leadership steering the helm, your employees are just co-workers; it is up to you to shape them into an actual team.

Set Expectations From The Start

Employees new to the team arrive as an empty canvas who will quickly begin to learn cues for how to function as a team player in their new role. You should leverage this to set the ground rules early on; communicate expectations from the beginning in terms of projects and roadmaps and the kind of environment you are looking to shape. For example, you could be seeking out a culture of shared responsibility, problem-solving, and decision-making. Influential leaders share this knowledge from the very beginning and inform the new recruits of what is expected of them.

Respect Your Team Members

It is essential not to consider your team as just shells who perform tasks; strong team environments develop when employees are recognised and respected for their unique perspectives and skills, ultimately contributing toward the common team objective.

Use Positivity As A Motivational Tool

You will observe that your impact on shaping behaviours is more significant when using positive reinforcement than negative. Instead of criticising mistakes made by team members, create positive reinforcement by celebrating failures and learning lessons about what went wrong. Understand where and how errors happen, treat them as opportunities to learn, and plan for the future by adding support or resources to help shore up weaker areas to prevent this mistake from happening again. Underline positive aspects and behaviours by encouraging the team to draw more from your resources. Positive reinforcement is a much more powerful tool than criticising those who didn’t live up to expectations.

Over Communicate

At any given point in time, you need to be plugged into what your team is doing and how that work affects your immediate surroundings. Effective communication can keep working relationships strong for decades, while silence can quickly break things apart.

Reward Hard Work

The majority of people love affirmation of their hard work. If you are in a position that controls financial bonuses, this is a great way to share appreciation. One such method of rewarding individuals is to practice the art of delegation. For example, when a team member shows excellent judgment skills, encourage them to make some critical decisions that you may have once reserved for yourself. If they are particularly responsible with money, give them the authority to use the company credit card. Finding small ways to reward employees and their efforts is always appreciated; it reflects well on you as a manager and helps remind people that they are valued members of the team.

Diversify

The team you manage should aim to be as diverse as possible — different backgrounds, experiences, ages, and opinions. Hire with the goal to cover all angles; surround yourself with a team who will share their perspective and insight into the judgment calls you are to make and on the content you put out.

Whether you are starting your team from scratch (as I did) or a veteran CEO looking to improve your basic skill set, understanding the ins and outs of people management, team building, and effective workplace communication can make all the difference. At DP World, we focus on building the best UX teams in the world.

If you are looking to work in an environment that will challenge you to simplify complexity in design, look no further!

DP World is constantly on the lookout for intelligent, fun, and hungry-to-learn designers to build impactful solutions that make a difference in global trade. If you like solving complex design challenges and have a knack for creating products from scratch, do check out our careers section https://bit.ly/3MlHhtV