Shaping Our Team
I have always been in charge of high-growth design teams as the result of high revenue generation or acquisitions. In the past 10 years, I’ve grown a team from 3 to 32, and another from 1 to 8. I also took over an existing design team of 12 in a commercial design space for startups and led then in the transition from designing for startups to designing for a $90 million government contract.
Through it all, I learned that the most important thing is put people first, and include the team in the decision making process. I also learned how to apply design thinking to team growth and hiring.
Internal survey used to assess team skills. An alternate version was used for prospective hires.
A Visual Approach to Management
In 2020, I applied design thinking to our desgin team. The result was an engaging, highly visual report on the shape of our team, our core values, and where we needed to grow our skill set.
Team Data Plotted
Layering survey data from A Hire Purpose allowed me to see patterns in my team’s skill set.
Individual Team Shapes
Everyone on my team has a shape. I can see where an individual has a passion or strength, and where I can help them improve.
This visual approach to assessing our current design team was also very useful in assessing prospective hires – allowing us to see if their shape filled in the gaps we were hiring for.