Ideally, even at Level 1, the team member is strong at one of the core design skills, and capable in a couple others. One typical template is the graduate of a graphic or communication design program who is strong in visual design, and has shown capability in interaction design and prototyping. Another template is someone shifting from a writing background into digital product design, who is strong in writing, and capable in user research and information architecture.

The discussion of soft skills throughout these levels is meant to be additive—new ones are developed over time, and none are left behind. The first soft skill to acquire is professionalism. Show up on time. Listen. Contribute. Respect peers. For people who have worked for a while, this might seem overly basic, but it’s worth recognizing these are skills that need to be learned, particularly by those just coming out of school, but sometimes even by those who should know better.

As we discuss responsibilities level by level, we will use the example of working in a company delivering ecommerce. At this level, the focus of work is on the details of execution, typically for function-level challenges, such as “add item to shopping cart.”

People are on teams created by someone else, work within a process established by someone else, and look to their team lead for direction. In cross-functional meetings, they are a mostly silent presence, contributing when asked about their particular area.

They can strongly execute in two design skills, and are capable in two others. The specific path is less important than is the demonstration of deepening and widening of skills. Table 7-1 shows how that progress might happen from Levels 1 to 3.

Table 7-1. Two possible skills paths for two different roles (items in bold are acquired or improved at that level)

While continuing to deepen their professionalism from Level 1, the new soft skill most in need at Level 2 is communication and presentation. Designers often wish for the work to speak for itself, that the rightness of a solution is self-evident. The reality is that if designers want their work to be realized, they need to know how to talk about it, present it, and articulate a clear rationale for the decisions that led to it.

Execution details are still the primary focus, though the scope has shifted from function-level specifics to broader feature-level responsibilities, so from “add item to shopping cart” to “shopping cart.” They are still a member of a team created by someone else, work within a process established by someone else, and look to their team lead for direction. Given their broader purview, in cross-functional meetings, they are expected to provide greater contribution.

The designer also becomes a more integral member of the design organization, supporting recruiting and hiring practices, and contributing to the ongoing development of the team’s culture.

People at Level 3 continue to deepen their skills, though perhaps not at the rapid pace of the prior two levels. Shown in Table 7-1, as they move through this level, they should develop expertise in at least one skill, strength in two others, and competency in two more.

As the team member tackles bigger, hairier challenges, their scope becomes too complex for any one person to solve completely on their own. Grappling with this complexity requires designers getting ideas out of others, and so designers must develop the soft skill of facilitation.

To develop empathy and to facilitate successfully requires the team member to not just hear what others have to say, but to develop their skill of listening. Learn to devote undivided attention and appreciate interpersonal nuances. Be open to opinions and perspectives that challenge existing beliefs, and be willing to evolve their stance based on new information.

To succeed at Level 3, it is imperative to acquire leadership skills. The first is the ability to engage in strategy, no longer just executing the “how,” but articulating the “what” and “why” for a product and service. To conduct strategy is to make clear the trade-offs and positioning within business, technical, and customer contexts.

Along with strategy, this is the time to develop empathy and compassion. People who are caught up in their own thoughts, and their own perspectives, will have trouble leading. Developing a sense of empathy helps people better understand their colleagues, and engage them from their perspectives. Demonstrations of compassion make clear that other’s interests are being taken to heart.

With growth, the scope of responsibilities further widens, from specific features to more holistic product areas. Continuing our ecommerce example, the shift would be from “shopping cart” to “the conversion funnel,” the sequence that takes a shopper from a product description through to payment. Team members at this level continue to work on the execution of design, but importantly, begin to spend more time on product definition activities, collaborating with cross-functional peers on figuring out just what to make, and then coordinate the efforts of other design team members to deliver quality work. They are now responsible for developing the process and approach for solving the problem, and leading others toward that solution. In cross-functional meetings, they are not just contributing, but setting the agenda and driving the conversation.

Team members deepen their responsibilities to the team in such matters as recruiting, hiring, and developing culture. This includes handling phone screens, conducting Career Day visits at colleges, and being part of on-site interview panels.

Unlike previous levels, mastery of core design skills is not the primary marker of professional growth. Yes, team members should continue their mastery, but the reality is that in order for them to excel, it’s less about how well they practice their skills, and more about how they lead others through the delivery of great design work.

A shrinking violet will struggle leading multiple teams and coordinating with accomplished peers across functions. To succeed at this level requires developing the soft skill of projecting confidence and even exhibiting swagger. This isn’t about cockiness or arrogance—that kind of overbearing display turns people away. But by demonstrating an abiding faith in the rightness of idea, offering a vision that compels people to follow, leaders encourage others to join them in making that idea a reality.

Going from Level 3 to Level 4 is to move from “little L” to “big L” leadership. The organizational expectation is that they are rallying teams to deliver great work. Team members at this level may have multiple smaller teams they are overseeing, requiring coordination to ensure effectiveness. This requires skills around planning, figuring out how a team will realize a strategy. This also requires a rich understanding of a range of design tools and methods, the time and effort it takes to practice them, and how to coordinate and deploy them to achieve desired results.

Getting the most out of a team means expending effort developing the members of that team. If this hasn’t happened organically already, it is at this level where mentorship becomes a necessary skill. Leaders gain leverage through coaching less experienced designers, improving their practices. They also garner respect from their team, both through the demonstration of their mastery, and in their willingness to spend time helping others.

The scope again shifts beyond already-known point solutions and features, and toward shaping products and services at a more holistic level. Team members are no longer given known problems to solve (“the conversion funnel,” common to all ecommerce), but instead have to start by framing a problem before tackling it (“How do people transact with our service?”). This reframing means this leader is no longer following “best practices,” but is setting themselves up to invent new ways of thinking about a problem, which enables innovation.

To deliver on this promise, team members are actively leading product definition, including planning, strategy, and the prioritization of work. They develop and drive initiatives such as style guides, pattern libraries, tackling new platforms, or generating wholly new product and service experiences. This broader mandate may require overseeing multiple workstreams within a program.

Outside of their design work, team members are responsible for elevating the organization. They recognize the headcount needs to deliver on their programs, and address it through recruiting and hiring. They support the professional development of their team members, whether through formal training and dedicated mentorship, or less formal coaching and advice.

By this point, core design skills may begin to wane, in favor of leadership and soft skills—and that’s OK. Skills such as planning, vision, and mentorship provide the leverage needed to direct the organization.

One more leadership skill is necessary to adopt at this level: vision. This is the ability to create a narrative and representation that makes strategy concrete, and provides a “north star” and inspiration for the teams building toward it. Driving this allows design leadership to stand out, from leadership of other functions. The leader’s success in this skill is not just in the development of a vision—the corporate world is littered with concept videos, detailed mockups, and other scenarios of possible futures. Their success is instead shown in how the vision catalyzes action, inspiring the people within a company to charge forward because they want to live in a world where that vision is made a reality.

Level 3 was about understanding strategy, Level 4 was about creating strategy and the planning to realize it, and Level 5 is about crafting and selling a vision that compels an organization to embrace that strategy. At this level, the team member’s impact goes beyond their team and direct peers. Their purview is to frame the end-to-end user experience for their company’s customers, and to establish the processes and mindsets to achieve it. Their efforts influence the work of large swaths of the organization, and prove crucial for setting the agenda for the company.

A fundamental shift occurs in their relationship to cross-functional meetings. Where before they planned and drove the meeting, now they are a stakeholder for whom the meeting exists. They contribute through feedback and review.

Team members at this level are the architects of the design organization, and the standard bearers of its culture. They run internal meetings, and get funding and make plans for events such as team offsites. It’s important to develop relationships with operations people in order to support the design organization—working with people in facilities to make sure the design space supports collaborative and visual work or partnering with HR to rework standard professional development practices to better support the needs of designers. They join other executives in annual planning initiatives, forecasting headcount and budget needs to keep the team effective and engaged.

Like other professionals, designers can be quite goal oriented, and are eager to succeed. Unlike other professionals, success can be challenging to define. Whereas a salesperson can have a clear goal of a certain dollar amount of sales in a quarter, designers’ goals are harder to articulate, because their work is collaborative by nature, and so any one person’s impact is less direct. Some companies have tried measuring designers’ work in terms of the amount of output, but that makes as much sense as rewarding engineers for the number of lines of code—quantity is not quality. Work with team members to make clear what is expected from them. For more junior members, whose work is farthest from direct impact, set expectations around improving their craft and learning processes, and developing the people skills necessary in a professional context. As designers become more senior, shift expectations to delivery, impact, and organizational influence. Consider factors such as the scope of projects, how many workstreams they are driving, timeliness and quality of their work, and their ability to productively engage senior executives. Because each team member is on their own journey, it’s important to manage expectations person by person, and resist the temptation to set middle-of-the-road standards everyone can meet. Tailoring growth plans to individuals encourages them to be the best they can be.

After setting expectations, the next step is to help team members achieve them. Avoid telling people how to do their work—this is the kind of behavior that gave the word “management” a negative association. While that may have been appropriate in companies geared toward mass work such as manufacturing or industry (and it’s debatable whether it was there), it’s never been the best way to engage people in creative or knowledge work. Instead, encourage the team member’s autonomy, and help them develop their own plan to achieve those expectations. When given ownership of not just their work product but also how they arrive there, the team member is even more driven to deliver.

Team members often find themselves blocked, unable to make progress, but unclear as to exactly why they can’t move forward. Sometimes it’s a hangup in the creative process, where the proposed design solutions just aren’t feeling right, and the team is spinning its wheels. Leaders identify when the team is slowed, and figure out ways to regain traction. A story: Not long after iPad launched, Peter led a team creating a cross-device ecommerce experience. The solutions for web and mobile were great, but the work for tablet was uninspired. Peter basically called “time out” and encouraged the team to stop designing, and to instead go back a few steps and think hard about what it means to deliver an experience on this new device. After a 45-minute ideation session based on this new thinking, the team became unstuck and began again to produce great work.

Often, the solution isn’t a matter of creative thinking, but interpersonal relationships. Team members may become frustrated working with others, particularly across functions, who don’t understand their contribution, or a team lead might have trouble getting executives to appreciate a proposed solution. A common tactic designers take at these times is to try to design their way out of the problem, doubling down on the work. This proves ineffective, because the problem isn’t the design, but how people communicate. The manager needs to help the team members engage in better conversations, reminding them to be sympathetic to others’ perspectives, and coaching them on how to frame a more productive discussion.

Whatever the issue, it’s important that the team member be encouraged to resolve the situation themselves; managers should only directly handle obstacles in matters requiring escalation.

Management isn’t just about support and enablement. Sometimes team members find themselves unfairly or inappropriately challenged, particularly by those more senior to them. In such situations, it can be easy for a manager to shrug and stay out of it, but that will confirm to team members that their best interests aren’t at heart. Sometimes, managers need to risk their social capital with the broader organization in favor of standing up and fighting for their team.

Too often, managers wait until a formal performance review cycle to provide needed critical feedback. Successful managers are those who offer small feedback frequently, whether positive or negative. It’s important that managers provide not only creative feedback. More important is feedback about being a professional and a member of the team, and what’s working and what’s not from this perspective. Creative feedback should handle itself through critique and review processes within the team. Professional feedback is the specific purview of the manager.

Designers and their managers can find themselves in a world where everything is about design. It’s important that managers remind their teams that design is one function of many, and to illuminate the role design plays within the broader organization. The goal is not for the company to deliver great design, but to deliver a great product and service experience in a profitable manner.

Designers work best when they can bring their whole selves to their work, and not just behave as an employee. When managing designers, seek to understand who they are outside of work. Encourage presentations between team members about their passions, hobbies, and pastimes. Host lunches where people share food traditional to their cultural backgrounds. Take them out for after-work drinks. These activities deepen the bond between team members, and the trust and respect engendered will lead to better work.