How to lead a design team effectively as a design leader

A practical design leader should be creative, professional, encouraging, and very well organized at the same time. They have a team behind them to lead and inspire as the clients’ requirements are completed and the goals are achieved. 

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Even the most experienced leaders struggle with the role of design leader because it’s not an easy job, especially in an era when everyone chooses to work remotely. It’s even challenging to organize team members who work from all around the world and live in different time zones. 

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But, fortunately, it’s still possible working productively and have all tasks done by a specific deadline.

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Here’re some tips on how to lead a design team effectively. Let’s check them out:

Be the support your design team need

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Always encourage your team to ask questions when a project starts. Your role doesn’t finish when you have the tasks assigned, but you have a responsibility to support your team throughout the entire process. 

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Inspire them to give ideas for improving the project. Be a good listener when they come up with their challenges and problems. You have the final word and they will always rely on you and your opinion.

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Find every team member’s passion

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Your design team is already very creative and every team member is trying their best to create a masterpiece. Your duty is to follow members’ jobs and analyze why one project is more successful than another one. Find out what they’re most passionate about and which part they feel most inspired and comfortable working on. 

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Then, assign tasks matching their wishes and possibilities. 

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Improve the information flow to improve design team management

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As a design leader, your job may be not designing anymore, but you are responsible for client relations and assign tasks. In this case, you have meetings with your clients first, and then you give all information to the team via video call. 

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How to lead a design team effectively, and give all key points necessary for doing a great job for the client?

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The bots of Chanl can join on each next meeting you have with your client and record it. Having Chanl in hand you’ll have the entire video and audio recorded or just a part of it. Save tons of time and just send the snippets to your design team, after the meeting.

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All members will be able to hear firsthand what the client exactly requires and what to pay attention to while designing.

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Give feedback regularly

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Every team member, no matter if it’s a senior or junior needs real feedback from you as a design leader. With regular feedback, they would exactly know if they’re on the right track or not. Don’t leave any questions unclear and set clear tasks and goals. 

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However, providing positive feedback has a huge impact on increasing confidence in a team. So make sure you give them one as often as possible.

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Moreover, while working remotely, different time zones can be a huge barrier to giving feedback right on time. You capture a problem today and have to wait till tomorrow morning to share your opinion with the team members. 

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Asynchronous videos are real live savers in moments as such. Instead of writing long texts and being understood wrongly, you can record a video where people can clearly see your facial expressions and your true intentions. You can record it the moment you notice a problem and the member would be able to work on it in the morning. 

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Chanl gives you the ability to record the video and pin it in the channel you have created only for your team.

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Learn more

Break time and flexible work

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Find a balance between workaholics and the ones that are ready for break time every hour. Following the creative concept of design work, it’s essential taking regular break time and have more flexible work. Not just the weekends and vacation days, but allow them to take breaks during the weekdays and keep them from burning out. 

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Flexible work is okay until the job is done great. So don’t forget to follow and stick to deadlines.

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Use methods to improve communication

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The lack of communication within a team leads to unclear tasks, arguments, missed deadlines, and unhappy clients. On another hand, great communication improves workflow quality by keeping everyone up-to-date.

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Project management tools like Chanl, take communication to the next level. All team members are on the same page, on one channel, and collaborate on a daily basis. 

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As a design leader encourage everyone to share files and videos and leave comments, so they have all the essential information for bringing a successful project. Inspire them to give new ideas for each project by boosting team engagement.

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Exchange thousand 1-1 meetings with one with a more extensive group, where everyone can record just the part that concerns them.

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Create a happy virtual workplace as a design leader

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Sometimes working from home and alone can really make someone depressed or lonely. But, you don’t want your team to be in such a mood, because it will result in less productivity. Instead, use these tricks to create a happy environment and make your team members feel important. 

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• Greet them every day and say that you’re very happy that they’re a part of your team. Mention that it would be your pleasure if they love what they do. 
• Show appreciation for their work more often.
• Recognize their work with salary, bonuses, vacation days, or flexible work. Send them separate emails asking what would be the best recognition for them.

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Final thoughts

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Being inspiring, well-organized, and productive is a real challenge for a design leader. You should connect your client's wishes with your team's possibilities and opportunities. 

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No matter what type of project your work on, you’ll always need some project management tool to bring all ideas, key points, and goals into one place. Instead of using millions of tools every day to bring the requirements into tasks, now you can do all of that in a blink of an eye.

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Share key discussions with your clients and involve your team in giving ideas and bringing decisions. Don’t leave any message unclear, but encourage them to collaborate, leave comments and share every material they have with the rest of the group. 

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Chanl is a software that keeps everyone on the same page allowing the team to skyrocket. Summarizing and assigning tasks to your other favorite tool is finally possible.

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