Are you familiar with Ted Lasso?  

If you are unfamiliar with him, Ted is a fun-loving coach whose empathy, optimism, and enthusiasm inspire and influence change.  There are two things that are true about Ted.  He does not fully understand the sport he is coaching, and his leadership is not reliant on that for success.  

Ted brings leadership that is rooted in a human-centered approach.  He works tirelessly to foster an atmosphere of empathy, growth, and care.  For Ted, success is not about wins and losses.  Ted sees success as the individuals he leads becoming the best versions of themselves on and off the field.  

I'm with Ted.

Before the first episode of Ted Lasso dropped, I was already in alignment with his leadership approach.  My philosophy has always been to surround myself with the brightest people I can find and then work tirelessly to remove every obstacle preventing them from doing their job.  This is what I have learned:

+ When your team feels heard, they are loyal.
+ When your team feels valued and their opinions matter, they bring great ideas that benefit the organization.
+ When your team knows that you care, they have the freedom to take risks and grow.

There are all kinds of metrics that also align with this philosophy.  My teams have experienced increased job satisfaction, productivity, and collaboration.  The best part is that this is a fully scalable model.  Whether you have a small and mighty team or a large complex organization, the results are the same.  

If your design team is struggling with operations, job satisfaction, retention, growth, productivity, efficiency, transparency, etc., we should talk.