Coaching creative teams
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much I enjoy managing creative people, and how managing creatives is different from managing those in less creatively intense roles. One thing that I observe is that what creative people need from me as a mentor and coach changes drastically throughout their design cycle. Generally speaking, there are 5 phases to the design cycle: discovery, defining, design, development, and deployment. Given that each team I work with is at a different phase in their creative process, it’s important for me to tune my style several times throughout the day. As I begin a 1:1 or feedback session with a project team, I’ll think about where they are in the creative process and tailor my contributions accordingly. I find that this helps keep the team more energized and leads to better design outcomes.
