It’s hard to reflect when you’re in the middle of it, and sometimes distance brings clarity. As a design leader, I’ve been looking back at what worked in building a team and culture that felt great. In retrospect, here are the 3 rituals that shaped a connected culture:
#1 - Design review
Cadence: Twice a week
Weekly design reviews gave every designer the opportunity to share work, gather feedback, and surface challenges to decision-makers. Design reviews had 3 main goals.
Get unblocked on a design challenge that you’re working on. Get specific on the feedback you want and why it’s important to solve.
Keep other teams in the loop. Every project has system implications. Your work affects everyone.
Practice storytelling. Design review is an opportunity to practice your written and verbal communication skills. How can you tell the story of your project to an audience that might be learning about your project for the first time?
Why this helped build a connected culture
Design review created a space where all designers could be in one place together. Sharing work isn’t easy. You’re constantly putting your work out there for everyone to see so that they can pick it apart. Design review has to be a place where we encourage vulnerability. It should feel accepting and encouraging but also supportive and direct.
#2 - Study hall
Cadence: Once a week
Weekly study hall was one of my favorite rituals. This was a 2 hour block where designers could get together and work on their projects in the same room. You could work quietly or talk with others and it was optional so designers would come in and out depending on their schedule. Some times it felt extremely focused on work and other times we would spend the time playing music and laughing about random things. Either way, it was productive in building connection.
Why this helped build a connected culture
Building connection requires being human with each other. I wanted to give designers the permission to have fun at work. To close their laptop for a moment so that they could take a breath. It’s okay. Let’s just be us for a moment. The more we were exposed to each other’s sense of humor, music interests, cultural differences, and snack preferences, the more we were able to operate more comfortably and efficiently at work. Trust was being formed.
#3 - 1:1
Cadence: Once a week
I hosted 1:1s weekly with each designer. The main goal of these meetings was to stay connected with each designer from a project and personal level. I wanted to know how you felt at work but also how you were doing in general. Of course there are boundaries here but I just wanted to create a space where designers felt comfortable sharing anything that they felt might be affecting them whether it was positive or negative. Sometimes that meant talking about personal struggles at home and other times it was celebrating a (simple yet important) good night of rest. I wanted to be someone that they felt would always listen to them.
Why this helped build a connected culture
Creating a psychologically safe space starts in your 1:1s. If you can’t create it there it won’t be available anywhere else. I wanted to lead by example. In 1:1s I was never afraid to lead with vulnerability. Designers often asked what I was working on and how I was doing. It was a dialogue not an interview. I wanted to be the same person to my team regardless of the context. The person you got in private 1:1s was the same person you saw in design reviews and study halls.
There are many characteristics that great design teams posses (like having high craft standards, being collaborative, consistently achieving business and user outcomes, etc) but one characteristic that has always been important to me is the idea of being connected. I love teams where individuals can feel like they can lean on each other. Where psychological safety is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about your team to others. Teams that can work hard together but also laugh together, sit in silence together, and struggle together.
Connection is what makes a culture last.