Hello again! I am Jonathan, a visionary Program Director based in Portland, OR, renowned for driving digital transformation and innovation within high-performing design teams.
In the first part of this article, I explored the challenges faced by creatives that are led by corporate operational leaders, and the need to align creative values with corporate goals to foster innovation and empowerment. I emphasised that creativity spans across various roles and is essential for business growth, requiring leaders who inspire and value their teams. Drawing from my experience at Nike, I discussed the importance of understanding the creative mindset and overcoming common corporate obstacles like rigid hierarchies and short-term focus. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.
Now, in Part 2, I do a deep dive into the 7-steps of the playbook I wrote to bridge this gap and to create an environment where corporate structure and creative freedom thrive together, driving extraordinary success. I will cover a lot of ground here but stick at it – from my own personal experience I guarantee this will positively impact you and your team!
I’ve witnessed this time and time again: managers lose sight of what’s truly important. They forget that the most crucial aspect of their role is to take care of those under their care. When managers remember this fundamental truth, incredible results inevitably follow. You can’t create a product without the people, and you can’t sell it if it doesn’t meet the needs and desires of your customers. It’s always about the people.
KPIs, revenue growth, and efficiencies are vital—there’s no denying that; without financial success, you can’t employ talented designers. But if you foster a healthy and inspiring environment for your team, you will naturally attract world-class talent and produce world-class products that drive your business metrics. You also can’t define appropriate business metrics without building strong relationships with your talented team members, trusting them, and understanding their work.
Understanding the work is essential; you don’t have to be an expert—that’s the job of the specialists. However, you must know what it takes to complete a project, the complexity involved, and the pressure of juggling multiple deadlines. Managers who haven’t regularly experienced life from a creative’s perspective become too detached to lead effectively.
Unless you are the CEO, as a manager, you are often handed goals and KPIs that you must achieve. However, it’s essential to understand that KPIs and goals are not synonymous with vision. Even if a vision is provided for your group, they might not resonate deeply with your team. This is why co-creating a clear vision with your team is critical to their success, even if you have a team of 1.
Why?
- Unified Direction: Co-creating a vision ensures that every team member is aligned and moving towards a common goal. Imagine a rowing team; if everyone isn’t paddling in the same direction, the boat goes nowhere. A shared vision helps your team avoid misalignment and inefficiency.
- Deepened Commitment: When team members are involved in shaping the vision, they see their contributions as vital to the mission. This is a chance for them to give creatively and infuse themselves into something larger than themselves. This involvement fosters a deeper level of buy-in and commitment because they feel a personal connection to the “why” behind their work.
- Resilience in Adversity: In challenging times, a shared vision provides a powerful anchor. Knowing the deeper behind their efforts can inspire and sustain team members far more effectively than merely knowing the targets they need to hit.
The Ethical Imperative
Approaching the process of setting a vision with genuine intent is crucial. Vision should never be used as a tool of manipulation. If done insincerely, you risk worse outcomes than if you had never set a vision at all, including losing the trust of your entire team. Authenticity is key; your team must believe in the vision and see that it truly represents their values and aspirations.
This vision must be the thread that ties everything you do together, acting as a constant filter and being visible throughout all your work to ensure it is never forgotten. If it is not consistently referenced and applied, it will be disregarded, seen as a lack of follow-through, and lead to a divide between management and creatives, as they may feel their efforts are not valued or utilised.
Deploying in the Real World
Imagine, as a manager, your boss tasks you with creating 100 designs this quarter. Perhaps they even frame your team’s purpose as simply producing those 100 designs. Here’s how you can translate this directive into a compelling vision with your team:
- Set the Stage: Schedule a long team meeting, at least half a day. Buy lunch, bring snacks, and meet in an inspirational space that fosters creativity and openness.
- Communicate the Directive: Start by clearly stating the objective: “We have been asked to create 100 designs this quarter. This is our KPI. Knowing this, I want to work with you all on how we are going to achieve this objective.”
- Co-Create the Vision: Engage the team in a collaborative discussion:
“What does our vision look like for this?”
“What do we want to be known for?”
“What will be our inspiration and driving force?”
“How do you want to work together to achieve this?”
“What areas should we look to grow and develop in?”
“How can we create time to explore and fail?”
- Empower and Involve: Here’s the twist that brings it all together: “This is brilliant. I love it. I want to be accountable to you and ensure I am being the best leader for you. What are 3 KPIs you would like me to track and update you on weekly to ensure I am leading well?”
The Impact
Can you see the monumental impact this approach could have on your team? I have goosebumps! Not only do you achieve the 100 designs, but you do so as a high-performing team aligned on the same goal, committed to working together, with a clear path for growth, creativity, and learning. Moreover, the team feels empowered because you have given them the authority to hold you accountable, creating a two-way street of trust and ownership.
This method transforms a simple task into an inspiring mission, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and mutual respect. It aligns the team’s efforts with a shared vision, driving both personal and collective excellence.
Note: If you’ve been in your managerial role for a while and your team has been tasked with creating 100 designs, and it is an impossible task, the responsibility lies with you, not them.
Taking Action: KPIs
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” – W. Edwards Deming
Remember when I talked about compromising and diluting the essence of the team? This is an example of how we can bring the full potential of leadership together with the full potential of operational management. If you followed the above advice, you now have a co-created business plan that was never advertised as such. You have KPIs to measure against that align with everyone, without imposing restrictive business jargon on any creative. You now have all the data needed by the business to lead a high-performing creative team toward achieving business goals. It is now your job to track these KPIs and work with the team to ensure accountability and efficiency.
This does not give you the authority to be a helicopter manager. Instead, it grants you the privilege of connecting with your creatives and removing roadblocks so they can deliver in the way they feel is best, aligned with the agreed-upon goals. If things begin to derail, bring the team together and problem-solve collaboratively. After the project, conduct an After Action Review to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Continue to drive the efficiencies that the business requires in a manner that resonates with your creatives.
This is how you provide 100% of the empowering environment that creatives need and 100% of the structure that the business requires, without compromise or dilution. By aligning everyone’s values, needs, and missions, you achieve an output that is greater than the sum of its parts, 1+1=3.
In the fast-paced corporate world, the transition from manager to leader is a journey that requires dedication, continuous learning, and practical application. Managing and leading are distinct skills, much like programming or 3D modelling. Yet, unlike these “hard skills,” management and leadership are rarely taught with the same rigour and structure. This lack of formal education in leadership is a critical gap that many organisations fail to address.
Corporations often promote highly successful individual contributors into management roles, recognising their technical prowess and exceptional performance. However, these new managers are frequently left without the necessary tools and training to lead effectively which can lead to frustration, disengagement, and suboptimal team performance.
The most critical component of leading by example is implementing systems and processes where you routinely present to your team what you are working on, share your progress, discuss successes and areas for improvement. This builds trust and accountability, bridging the gap between managers and creatives. It opens doors to more discussions and shows your team how dedicated you are to their success.
Leadership Education
The key to bridging this gap lies in self-directed learning through obtaining an armchair Masters in Leadership. The most accessible and cost-effective way to embark on this journey is through books. Books offer a wealth of knowledge, insights, and practical strategies from some of the most respected thought leaders in the field.
Here are ten books that have profoundly impacted my approach to leadership:
- Accelerating Excellence: A guide to achieving high performance and fostering a culture of excellence.
- Crucial Conversations: Techniques for effective communication, especially in high-stakes situations.
- Dare to Lead: Brené Brown’s insights on courage, vulnerability, and authentic leadership.
- Emotional Intelligence: Daniel Goleman’s seminal work on the importance of EQ in leadership.
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win: Lessons on accountability and leadership from the battlefield.
- It’s The Manager: Insights into the pivotal role of managers in employee engagement and organizational success.
- Leaders Eat Last: Simon Sinek’s exploration of the importance of trust and cooperation in leadership.
- Start With Why: Understanding the importance of purpose and vision in inspiring teams.
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Timeless principles for personal and professional effectiveness.
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: Identifying and overcoming common team challenges.
From Learning to Application
Reading these books is only the beginning. The real transformation occurs when you implement what you learn. Choose one book that addresses your most significant leadership gap, and immerse yourself in it. Read it thoroughly, apply its principles, and then revisit it. This iterative process of reading, implementing, and re-reading ensures deep learning and practical application.
And while you are working and applying new leadership learnings, make your efforts visible to everyone around you. Share your journey openly, discussing what you are learning with your team and inviting their feedback. Collaborate on ideas for implementation, making your development a shared experience. Demonstrate your efforts by visibly applying new techniques and showing tangible results. This transparency fosters trust and inspires others, reinforcing your commitment to their benefit. By making your learning process visible, you create a culture of continuous improvement, engaging and motivating your team to actively pursue their own growth. Leadership is not just about directing but about growing together and striving to improve for collective success.
Learning in isolation can be challenging, so to enhance your growth, find a learning partner or a group of like-minded individuals committed to leadership development. Share insights, discuss challenges, and hold each other accountable. This collaborative approach reinforces your learning while building a supportive network.
Let’s recap: you understand it’s about the people, always. You have executed a co-created shared vision with your team. You have grasped the importance of continued education for the sake of your team. Now it’s time to turn on the afterburners and accelerate the growth and impact of your team. This is done through intentional and regular coaching.
In most companies, annual goal setting and Individual Development Plans tend to follow this approach: overreact at the beginning of the fiscal year to late goals shared by the company, quickly get the team aligned to how you will execute against the goals, write it all down and then…forget about it until HR reminds you 6 months later to check in for your mid year. At which point it is forgotten until 6 months later during the Year End Review. This is ineffective and is disrespectful for everyone under your care that is working so hard under tight deadlines.
Here is a better way: create a visually appealing “Coaching Card.” Drop the word document. In fact, ask if one of your creatives would be willing to create a design that is inspiring. You should walk through this card once a month with those in your care, not twice a year. This coaching card needs to have these items on it:
- Photo
A picture makes it easy to immediately identify who’s card this is. Don’t have a picture? Spring for a photoshoot for the whole team. Make it part of a team-bonding offsite Bring them into the process. - Name and Title
You don’t want to accidentally mix up an individual’s goals, do you? That would be embarrassing. - Their Branding Statement
Every team member needs to craft a personal branding statement that is concise, compelling, and serves as a clear introduction to who they are and what their mission is. This is critical. Do not pass go if you don’t have this. They need to know and you need to know and you both need to have an aligned understanding. If you think their mission is to write clean code when in reality they want to be the next Van Gogh, you are going to run into a few surprises. - Personality Test Results
The specific test you use isn’t crucial but personally, I like 16Personalities. What truly matters is the dialogue that stems from this test. It opens the door to deep conversations, offering insights into different values and perspectives. I’ve had creatives who aligned perfectly with their results and others who felt completely misaligned. In cases of misalignment, we adjusted the results to better match the individual’s true self. Some of my most meaningful conversations have emerged from discussing these test results. These should just be highlights so that you can quickly look at the card and get a reminder.
Here’s an example of how this conversation can unfold:
Leader: “I see the results indicate you are an Advocate. What do you think about that? Does it resonate with you?”
Creative: “Absolutely, I relate to many of these descriptions, except for one.”
Leader: “Oh, interesting. Which one?”
Creative: “Introvertedness. I don’t feel that describes me at all.”
Leader: “Why do you think that?”
Creative: “I love meeting people, collaborating with others, and I get energized by spending time with friends.”
Leader: “That’s amazing. Tell me more.”
Can you see how much value is unlocked in this simple conversation? It’s not about the test itself; it’s about the dialogue and understanding the people behind the results. In this short exchange, I learned that this person identifies as an Advocate but is extroverted and thrives on collaboration. This insight tells me that placing this creative in environments where they can engage in cross-functional team efforts will help them excel and help the business excel through the explosive results that will naturally occur through these partnerships.
Personal values aligned with business needs—unlocked. - Business Goals
This section should outline the business KPIs you and your team are striving to achieve. These KPIs should be co-created with your team members, ensuring alignment and buy-in. It’s crucial to limit the number of KPIs to a maximum of three. Any more than that, and you may experience a drop in performance and an increase in missed deliverables. This means having a total of three KPIs, not three major pillars each with three KPIs (e.g., Business, Team, Personal with 3 KPIs each).
I typically set these KPIs on a quarterly basis, but depending on your business model, they could be set weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
As business goals and priorities change, so should your KPIs. However, it’s important to maintain a record of changes. If a KPI changes, cross out the old one and write the new one below it. This way, you can keep a holistic picture of all accomplishments, not just the end results.
KPIs themselves are an art form and should focus on tracking actions rather than results. Results are often influenced by factors beyond our control. A good KPI tracks actions that, under normal circumstances, should lead to the desired outcome. This approach is powerful in two ways: it tracks what the creative has control over and it measures the effort that should typically result in the desired outcome. If the outcome isn’t achieved, it indicates that external factors may have played a role, allowing for investigation without immediately placing blame and negatively impacting performance reviews. - Personal Goals
This section should outline your team members’ top three personal goals, along with a self-assessed expertise level for each goal on a scale of 1-5. Here’s how I approach this process:
– Defining Personal Goals: I collaborate with each team member to identify their personal goals. I’m not in the driver’s seat; my role is to help tease out what’s most important to them and facilitate the conversation.
– Self-Rating: I ask them to rate their expertise level for each goal on a scale of 1-5. I do the same independently, without insight into their ratings. If I’m unsure, I write “NA” and inform them that I will observe their performance over the coming weeks to provide an accurate assessment later.
– Sharing and Discussing Ratings: When we come together, we share our ratings. This is powerful because it allows us to see each other’s perspectives unfiltered. This exercise helps identify and mitigate unconscious biases and preconceptions. Whether the ratings are similar or divergent, it opens up authentic and meaningful conversations, which is the primary goal.
If they rate themselves high and I rate them low, we discuss the reasons behind our differing assessments and open dialogue for either party to adjust based on evidence. This clarifies my expectations and helps them understand what objectively constitutes a high score in my view.
If I rate them high and they rate themselves low, it can help them see their strengths more clearly, challenging any limiting beliefs they may have.
– Setting Future Goals: After discussing the ratings, I ask them to set a target expertise level and a timeline for achieving it. Based on my knowledge of the business, I then create a reasonable plan to help them reach their desired level. This is how we align personal goals and values with business objectives.
Example:
Suppose you are in the apparel industry, and a 3D Designer on your team wants to improve their computational skills. You know there’s an opportunity in the next season that could accelerate their growth in this area. You can now connect this creative with that opportunity, fostering their talent, benefiting the business, and demonstrating supportive leadership that promotes a healthy and inclusive culture. - Portfolio Links
This section has links to the work and accomplishments they made during the last period. After a record of all of the work is crucial because it allows me to see their progression, but also always me to share their work with under business leaders and give them publicity and accolades without having to constantly ask them for different examples.
Why create your own, when I’ve done the work for you! You can download my template in PDF and/or PPT formats here:
Additional Advice:
I have clear, visual, and written expectations for job descriptions at each level. This transparency ensures that everyone understands what is required for each stage in a creative’s journey. For instance, if a Designer 1 is developing skills to become a Designer 2, I provide visual examples of Designer 2 work along with the necessary soft skills. This clarity eliminates ambiguity, allowing us to make direct comparisons between a Designer 1’s portfolio and the expectations for a Designer 2. When a Designer 1 believes they have the skills to advance, we can have a transparent, honest, and productive conversation about their progress. This approach also empowers them to present evidence that aligns with the clearly defined expectations, boosting their confidence and fostering growth.
Providing Resources
As the manager and leader of your team, it is your responsibility to interface with the business and represent your team’s best interests. This requires a fine balance and can be challenging, but you are in this role for a reason. You need to develop a strong understanding of your team’s needs, goals, and future growth areas, and advocate for them in a way that secures the necessary finances and resources to create a healthy work environment. These resources are often monetary but can also include business structures that allow for stretch assignments, offsites, up-to-date hardware, new software, or larger desks.
Being in the business world, you understand that companies won’t simply throw money at you just because you have an incredible team that’s making significant contributions. Creatives may have a harder time seeing and understanding this. It is your job as their leader to bridge this gap, managing both stakeholders to maintain peace and authenticity.
The best resources you can provide to any team are meaningful and intentional actions such as learning opportunities, volunteer activities, career growth opportunities, team lunches, performance bonuses, maintained hardware, and upgraded internet. Identify what is most important to your team and align with the future direction of the team, and advocate for those needs effectively.
Providing Support & Celebrating Achievements
You are the team’s advocate. They are in your care and trust. Don’t skimp on providing value to your team through thoughtful gestures. These don’t have to be expensive.
If I could change one thing in this industry, it would be to eliminate the superficial high-fiving that is rampant in large corporations. We see through it. It’s a shallow way to create a perceived sense of health at the business level, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. We all see through it, and we all want it to stop.
Here’s a better approach: Genuine and intentional thank yous, and consistently representing your team’s best interests. When you’re with a team member and another leader, share the amazing work your team member has done. When you talk to your boss, highlight the incredible contributions of your team. When you see a team member in the hallway, thank them for the extra effort you noticed.
If you want to be a world-class leader, take it up a notch:
Discover how each team member prefers to receive recognition. Is it monetary? A thank you card? Flexible work schedules? Public accolades? Once you know, thank them in their preferred way, showing that you remember and value that conversation. For example, “Hey, I saw you went above and beyond on the last project and wanted to thank you for your effort. I know one of the ways you appreciate recognition is by presenting your work. I have a meeting with the VP this week, and I’d love for you to join me and present the project.”
This is how you create and sustain a healthy culture, not with high-fives, but with genuine appreciation and meaningful gestures.
In today’s fast-paced corporate environment, fostering a culture of feedback and continuous improvement is essential for both personal and organizational growth – and requires incredible intentionality and effort, on top of an already demanding workload. As a manager and leader, your role is not just to direct but to nurture an environment where feedback is valued and continuous improvement is part of the everyday fabric of work life.
Genuine Feedback
Feedback is a powerful tool when used correctly. It’s not about pointing out flaws but about guiding and supporting your team to reach their full potential. Effective feedback should be constructive, actionable, and delivered with empathy. This requires creating a safe space where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and receiving feedback without fear of judgment. Pro tip: This is bi-directional. Start statements with “This is my feedback on X, what do you think of that, is it accurate, or am I not seeing something clearly?”
Trust Through Transparency
A key component of a feedback culture is transparency. Be open about your intentions and the reasons behind your feedback. This helps in building trust and shows that you are invested in their development. Encourage team members to seek feedback regularly and make it a two-way street. As a leader, you should also be open to receiving feedback from your team. This demonstrates humility and a commitment to your own growth, further solidifying trust within the team.
Structured Yet Flexible Approach
Implement structured yet flexible processes for regular feedback. This could be through weekly check-ins, monthly performance reviews, or informal catch-ups. The aim is to make feedback a regular, natural part of the workflow, rather than a forced or occasional event. My favourite is monthly. It keeps you out of the danger zone of being a helicopter, but it’s not too far out that things go left unchecked for too long.
Celebrate Small Wins
Continuous improvement is not just about identifying areas for development; it’s also about celebrating progress and achievements, no matter how small. Recognize and celebrate the efforts and successes of your team. This positive reinforcement motivates them to keep improving and striving for excellence.
Encourage a Growth Mindset
Promote a growth mindset within your team. Encourage them to view challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. When mistakes happen, use them as learning experiences rather than reasons for punishment. This mindset shift can transform the way your team approaches their work, leading to greater innovation and resilience.
Provide Resources for Growth
Ensure that your team has access to the resources they need to improve. This could include training programs, workshops, mentoring, or new tools and technologies. Investing in their development shows that you value their growth and are committed to helping them succeed.
Lead by Example
As a leader, model the behaviour you want to see. Show that you are committed to feedback and continuous improvement by seeking feedback yourself and actively working on your development areas. Your actions will inspire your team to follow suit.
Ensure Failure is Never an Orphan
“Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan” is a famous proverb and it tends to mean the inclination to take credit for successes while blaming others for failures. Follow Jocko’s teaching in “Extreme Ownership”: If the team succeeds, it’s the team’s doing. If they fail, it’s your doing. Create an environment where if someone fails, they never stand alone. This way, if you fail, you won’t have to stand alone.
Supercharging Your Work Culture
Now that you have the high-level ideas, this is how you implement it:
- Conduct an eNPS Survey: Have your team take an Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) survey. Emphasize the importance of honesty and openness in their responses. The score doesn’t matter. The action you take as a result is what matters.
- Evaluation: Review the survey results with your team in real-time. This transparency fosters trust and shows your commitment to improvement.
- Identify Key Growth Areas: Collaborate with your team to identify the top three areas for growth. These may not necessarily be the lowest-scoring areas but should reflect what is most important to your team.
- Empower Accountability: Give your team the authority to hold you accountable for achieving these goals. Develop a plan and establish a regular cadence for updates and progress reports.
- Quarterly Feedback Surveys: After each quarter, provide a survey focusing on the identified growth areas to gather feedback on perceived improvements. If the team does not see improvements, ask for suggestions on what can be done better. Retake the entire assessment 1X a year. Track the trends.
This is going to be the easiest and yet hardest step for any manager. The good news is, if you follow the above guidance, you won’t have time to find yourself in the weeds, it will be impossible to helicopter. The other benefit is, your team will feel so valued, supported, and empowered you can trust them to do amazing things you never thought possible. You will be able to trust them in any situation. You will be able to count on them to deliver and to speak up when they need help. This is the definition of a world-class, high-performing, healthy team.
Final Thoughts
Leading a world-class creative team within a corporate setting is about more than just managing tasks and achieving KPIs. It’s about creating an environment where creativity and business acumen coexist harmoniously, driving extraordinary success. By prioritizing people, co-creating a shared vision, leading by example, providing individualized support, and empowering your team, you lay the foundation for a dynamic, innovative, and high-performing workplace. This holistic approach ensures that your team not only meets but exceeds expectations, delivering exceptional results that contribute to the long-term success of your organization.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” Ken Blanchard
