leadership
developing creatives
mentorship
design strategy
skills matrixing
Overview
Accepting the position of Head of Design at 100 Shapes came at my provoking to have someone in a position to provide a personal development structure for the creatives in our agency. I was faced with the task of not only providing routine daily support for my designers but also establishing a process by which their future could be defined and a plan put in place to support that growth.
Building growth one step at a time.
Instituting a role hierarchy and accompanying skills matrixes would take time and intentional thought. In the short term I utilised individual OKRs to establish patterns of individual T-shaped growth and design team-wide collaboration and culture maturation.
Building a rudder
Soon thereafter OKR's were supported by new rituals of pairing structures and corporate learning facilitation. These new rituals then supported skill sharing and the emergence of platforms for me to introduce core design principles to the team centred around experimentation and collaboration. In time these tactical steps allowed me the time to establish strategically crafted skills matrixes that unlocked better growth opportunities for the team and clearer progression paths.
With more clear guiding principles in place, I could be assured we were all speaking the same language. Coupling this with distinct new rituals and reasons for collaboration, we could take a moment to recenter, refocus, and grow together in the right direction.
Alongside these practices of setting up individual growth & aligning cooperate language, I set out to determine the appropriate cadence of meetings that would bolter culture rather than stifle it.
All of this was leading to…
the opportunity for me to set clear and thorough guidance in place for individual skills growth. A skills matrix that allowed for individual growth to be aligned with the strategic objectives of the company. Defining pillars and tactical implementation skills that were fine tuned to serve the companies needs, all while allowing the designer to progress in their career.
Along with these, we experimented with better names for design seniority. We needed easy ways to track what progression between those roles meant. A layman’s approach to understanding growth.
In Conclusion
Having been tasked with leading a team of individuals of varying degrees of maturity and specialisations, I established a culture of collaboration and learning. This posturing allowed me the time to intentionally craft a vision of the future for the team that was centred around core pillars of excellence, unifying expectations and solidifying paths to success for individuals and the team.
