Office Leaders:
Kara Scott: General Manager
Doug Dorton: Client Partner
Myself: Director of Experience Design
Nathan Smith: Director of Technology
After several years at the Projekt202 Dallas office, leading the company's largest and most profitable design projects, I was offered the chance to move to Seattle. There, I took charge of a small design practice in a struggling office producing negative margins with no pipeline to speak of. Despite the considerable risk involved, I relocated with plans to turn the situation around.
This was a new kind of challenge for me. Many of the ideas I had around building a practice were theory. I would need to learn fast, seek experienced advice, and pivot quickly if I wasn’t seeing the type of results the business needed.
Build Trust and Assess Skills
I familiarized myself with the team I inherited by organizing weekly one-on-one meetings to understand their mental and emotional states. I also clarified their expectations of me as their manager and made adjustments where needed. Additionally, I participated in client presentations and working sessions to gauge each team member's skill level, provide alternative perspectives, and enhance their trust in my craft experience.
Learn & Evaluate the Sales Process
Each satellite office managed its own sales process, with varying levels of success. Coming from an office with a successful process, I aimed to identify deviations from my previous experience and guide the adjustment to achieve improved results.
Learn & Evaluate the Local Management Approach
I needed to understand the expectations that had previously been set with my direct reports regarding raises, promotions, roles, and responsibilities. While management and operational changes were anticipated for the office, I aimed to be able to speak to the rationale of those changes to get the team on board.
Learn About & Evaluate the Local Market
Moving from Dallas to Seattle meant stepping into a new market. It was crucial to grasp the characteristics of local companies and their perspective on design to effectively communicate with their leaders during pursuits. Moreover, understanding the local talent market was essential for comprehending compensation trends and identifying ways to distinguish our practice from others in the area.
Build Rapport with Local Leaders
All of my local peer relationships would be fresh, including a new general manager. Building trust with them would be essential.
Articulate a Practice Vision
Based on my findings, I needed to be able to articulate a vision for the practice to both the team and my general manager.
The primary insight I gleaned from my discovery activities was the scarcity of resources from the past leadership team. To move forward, I focused on involving the remaining team in shaping the practice they desired. Establishing the full leadership team and addressing the sales pipeline were top priorities for the office, so I would need to balance that contribution that was largely out of my control with establishing a strong baseline for my design practice.
Building Trust
Two out of the five designers I inherited were actively interviewing and would leave the team before I assumed the new role. The remaining team members seldom interacted and expressed concerns about each other. There was evident mistrust toward corporate leaders, and as I was chosen by these leaders to take over the group, I would start with mostly negative sentiment. Lastly, it was apparent that the remaining team had limited experience in self-managing their projects, making it challenging to staff new client engagements, but offering significant opportunities for upward mobility for those willing to invest effort.
Rebooting the Sales Process
There was no established sales process, and the pipeline was empty. Our only client partner was new, and most previous client relationships had dissolved with the previous leadership team. It was evident that we needed to leverage our networks to cultivate new business contacts, create new processes, and establish aligned expectations for sales activity.
Designing the Management Approach
My three remaining design team members revealed that they weren't meeting regularly with their former managers, lacked clarity about their roles, and felt marginalized working on remote projects in different time zones. They perceived decisions as being made without their input, leaving them feeling like they had little power to make positive change. None of the team members participated in sales, feeling no sense of ownership over the plans they would be asked to execute or responsibility for project success. With the full office leadership not yet in place, I saw an opportunity to help select leaders and shape the overall people management philosophy.
A UX Mature Market
After researching the Seattle market, it became evident that several major local brands were established leaders in experience-driven design, contrasting with Dallas where many companies were just beginning digital transformations and hadn't yet integrated design internally. Upon further examination of local job markets, salaries, and living expenses, it was apparent that costs were significantly higher in this area. Therefore, adjustments to local pay and billable rates would be necessary to attract and retain talent. Influence and data would be required to gain approval from corporate leaders for these adjustments.
Building Rapport with Local Leaders
The new local leadership team was focused on building a healthy local business. There was a deep experience on the team to build on and for me to draw from personally.
Articulate a Practice Vision
There were numerous issues to address: undefined designer career levels, unclear roles on projects, no pay range definition, limited self-reflection and learning, absence of community, and a lack of shared ownership of business health. Despite the challenges, starting fresh promised an exciting opportunity for learning and improvement.
I made efforts to involve my team in the work I was accountable for, either by including them as contributors or providing opportunities for feedback on early iterations. I expected similar collaboration and rationale building from them on their projects, so this form of leading by example helped establish the behavior we aimed for at all levels.
Trust Built and Contribution Expectations Set
Over time, I gained the trust of the existing design team by implementing clear levels and growth plans and involving them in the process. We met weekly to discuss issues, share work, and discuss industry trends. Occasional social events were scheduled to strengthen team bonds and connections across practices. To manage the growing workload, I hired another people manager early on, which was well-received by the team due to their improved understanding of roles and levels.
Sales Process Foundation
We utilized the social networks of our project managers and sales staff to uncover new leads and secure a cornerstone account. As a leadership team, we implemented new sales processes and role expectations, drawing from our past experiences and working closely with our sales team. Additionally, we set up regular retrospectives for sales to refine and enhance the process moving forward.
Management Approach Baseline Set
My practice took the lead on tasks such as salary research, role definitions, and growth plans. The groundwork I laid would serve as a foundation for new leaders in other practice areas. We would refine and ensure consistency across practices over the next few years.
Local Market Explored & Findings Implemented
We shifted our pitch approach from methodology-focused to emphasizing services and business outcomes. Our market strategy would shift slightly to prioritize building relationships with in-house practice leaders, providing skilled craftsmen for their projects, and expanding our influence gradually. We made minor adjustments to our language to clarify the services we offer to clients. Additionally, I pushed for new compensation ranges and bill rates to stay competitive in the market and attract top talent.
Local Leaders Established
I participated in interviewing practice leaders and aided in their onboarding process. I provided insights into the office's history, current status, and future plans from my perspective. Additionally, I assisted in sales training, provided access to assets, and ensured alignment in approaches. I shared my progress and made adjustments to align with other practices. Collaboration with other practice leads was extensive to promote cross-functional work in pitches for new client engagements.
Practice Vision
I defined designer roles at different levels, ensuring each team member's fit was clear. I created a hiring strategy to scale the team, set transparent pay ranges, and clarified designers' roles in sales. Collaboration with peers and reports was key. Additionally, I built an inclusive design culture by creating safe spaces for designers to express their point-of-view. We put a custom interview process in place to ensure designers would have a voice in the team who would ultimately contribute to the culture of the office. Lastly, we established metrics that we would visit quarterly so that we could have visibility into how our practice contributed to the business and celebrated key moments and actions that led to business success.