Being a Design Manager During a Pandemic: 3 Lessons

Team Connection

I’ve never been a fan of introductory paragraphs to articles and blog posts. Let’s just start. One of the most important things I prioritized during the last two years was team connection. Regardless of how people were feeling or what they were dealing with, I made team connection a priority. It wasn’t about metrics, business performance, deadlines or feedback, it was about just connecting with other humans. As a Design Manager, I made sure my one on ones were first and foremost to just connect. “How’s it going?” “How’s life?” I did my best to ask them about their day, week, or month. If they wanted to open up and just chat, I was there. If they wanted to go right to work talk, that was cool too. It wasn’t about getting deeply personal. I wanted to make sure they knew I was there for the type of connection that they needed.

Try This:

During our team huddles, I leaned in to a more informal format and included a few agenda items when necessary.We had plenty of calls where conversations about gardening, moving, or pet ownership took over for the first half hour. That was ok! Even if I had agenda items to get to, I let the conversation go. As a remote team, we don’t get to have those personal convos very often. When it occurred organically, I made sure to let it happen.

Don’t let the agenda get in the way of real team connection.

Don’t Pretend

One of most important management lessons I had to learn the hard way was to be genuine. Be yourself. Don’t pretend. It’s been at the heart of how I manage for years now and it’s helped me find so much more reward in the work I do. During the pandemic, in a corporate work setting, it was easy to pretend like things were fine. Things were not fine. I tried to stay vigilant against that mindset not just for myself, but for my team. The last thing they needed was for me to maintain a happy face and only talk about work. Open up when appropriate. I find a team needs more information rather than less in order to build trust, have confidence in you, and just to feel more comfortable. If you keep your own feelings and challenges a secret, they’re going to know you aren’t sharing.

Try This:

Talk about what you’re working on and any challenges you’re facing. Talk about the car appointment you have later and how you’re thinking about getting a new car because your 2010 Prius is displaying strange errors on the dash. Talk about your hunt for a new house and how you hate moving.

A manager doesn’t have to be perfect.

Be a voice for your team

A big part of my role as a manager is listening. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve done my best to just listen. If a designer wanted to keep it light, I listened. If they needed to get serious, I listened. If they wanted to keep the conversation focused on work or a project, I listened. If they wanted to just vent, I listened. My team wanted to know their feelings and thoughts were valid and wanted representation at a team level. They wanted to be heard. In a remote setup, during a pandemic, the last thing my team wanted was to feel cut off or isolated. I wanted to ensure they knew I could represent them up the chain. I was a voice for them during leadership calls and represented their interests in decisions made at larger team level. I made sure they had a communication channel through me to the team at large.

Try This:

Ask specific questions like “if there’s one thing you want leadership to know right now, what would it be?” or “what’s something you aren’t hearing during team huddles that we should be talking about?” Find your own words to give your team the opening to share what’s on their mind, document it, and let them know you can share that with the team at large. And don’t forget to close the loop. Something I’ve always prioritized is getting back to my people. I’m not perfect at it but following up with their concern, showing how you took action and making progress to solving it is huge. It supports a lot of pillars that are critical for me as a manager — trust, accountability, follow-through, genuine concern for your people.

Don’t forget to close the loop.

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Obviously this global pandemic has affected us in ways we can’t even process just yet (cause it’s still going). But through it all, I have found a new sense of dedication to people. Not just at work but in my personal life as well. I feel so grateful that I’ve been in a management position during all of this. I don’t always execute it as best as I’d like to, but understanding that the effort to care and be empathetic with your team is at the heart of managing successfully.