In the design profession, nearly all important projects are too large to be completed by just one person. Because of this, each creative firm strives to develop a culture that fosters effective teamwork. In many other professions, teams can be rather hierarchical, inflexible, and slow. This is especially true for corporate teams that are together for a number of years. Over time, they often become inwardly focused and bureaucratic. They suffer from turf battles and politics.

Design teams, however, are quite different. They are brought together for a short period of time, usually just a few weeks or a few months to complete a single project. No two projects are identical, so the size and composition of each team varies. A cookie-cutter approach will not work—most projects need different processes and tools. To accommodate this, design firms structure their resources like a network, making them scalable and flexible enough to allow multiple configurations.

Design teams have fewer rules and a greater flow of information, both of which are important for rapid innovation. Design teams are externally oriented and focused on client needs. Because of this, the organizational structure for the team tends to be decentralized and organic rather than hierarchical and rigid. Having fewer layers and rules allows the group to be more adaptive to the external environment. Design teams also have an egalitarian nature that encourages self-management and regular participation in decision-making by all group members. Individuals who do well in this environment are those who are drawn to challenges and are strongly motivated by opportunities for personal and professional growth.

GETTING THE RIGHT MIX OF SKILLS

When a new project is first being pitched, one of the most important aspects of advance planning is to determine the exact mix of skills that will be required for success. Smart planning includes lining up the appropriate resources and resolving any competing demands for their availability. Design of course is the magic ingredient in the mix, but other skills will be vitally important as well. The needs of a large project will span multiple disciplines. A complex problem will require a wide range of expertise—from research, strategy, and content development to technology, engineering, and project management. The ultimate success of the project will depend upon getting just the right mix of talent, technical skills, and industry experience.

The exact size of each team is determined by the number of separate skill sets required. On a large project, there will be a core team that is augmented by other players on an as-needed basis. Many organizational experts advise that the most effective size for a problem-solving group is between five and seven people—core teams tend to be small. Other resources are called upon in a very targeted way. In design firms, the core team for a project will be composed primarily of employees. The firm makes an important business decision about which skills to have on staff. This defines its core competencies and enables it to meet the recurring needs within its category of services. Outside resources are used for temporary needs and to accommodate project variations. Keep in mind that key project skills can also be provided by the client organization. Good design firms work in close collaboration with clients, functioning more like a partner than a vendor.

When other professionals are brought into a project, they may be freelancers or separate creative firms recruited on a subcontract basis. Within each of the many possible skill sets, there will also be people at different levels of experience, from senior down to entry level. Not everyone will be involved for the full duration of the project—some may be needed during one or two phases only. The full team must of course be large enough to accomplish the work—the project will be doomed if the overall team is too small to carry the load or if key skills are missing. However, as teams increase in size, they can suffer from less cohesion, more confusion, and escalating costs.

CLARIFYING EACH PERSON’S ROLE

Each person is added to the team for the skills they possess, then placed in a particular role. It’s important to clarify at the start exactly which role each person is being asked to play and what their relationship will be to the others. An individual’s role may vary significantly from project to project. Each role carries certain responsibilities and is assigned specific tasks—the daily activities required to move the project forward.

As you can see, quite an assortment of individuals can be involved on a big project. Once you have assembled the right mix of resources, how do you keep everything functioning smoothly? Two roles are vital to hold this shifting cast together—a team leader and a project manager.

TEAM LEADER
In design firms, a creative director usually fills the role of the leader, although a senior professional from another discipline might also serve in this capacity. In general, leaders of design teams do not take a top-down approach, acting like bosses and telling people precisely what to do. Rather, they serve more as facilitators and catalysts. A leader must motivate team members, clarify difficult issues, and orchestrate everyone’s efforts. This means exploring alternatives, pushing boundaries, keeping the whole team involved, and moving the group toward consensus. It means getting members to share and preventing the team from diverging into the silos of separate disciplines. Leaders pull the entire team together at key milestones, conducting brainstorming sessions and critiques, and guiding the development of a unifying concept for the project that will unite the various disciplines and span different types of media.

The leader will have to make tough judgment calls when the group is faced with dif. cult trade-offs. She must guide the creative process in such a way that the finished work is strategically sound and of the highest possible quality. In a short period of time, good ideas must be developed then executed flawlessly. The team leader serves as the primary client contact for strategic and creative issues. She is responsible for managing client expectations over the course of the project and may often have to push back and persuade.

The team leader must also be sensitive to the needs and goals of individual team members. A good leader will serve as a mentor, encouraging others to stretch creatively and helping them to develop their potential. In the case of staff members, this includes nurturing their personal growth over the course of multiple projects. To be a mentor, the team leader must have credibility. She must bring proven ability and relevant industry experience to the position. Leaders must establish and maintain mutual respect. This requires honesty, trust, and a genuine and consistent emphasis on us/we/ our. Effective leaders tend to have a decentralized approach to authority, allowing individuals to work independently on tasks, then bringing their work back to the group for evaluation and integration. This moves most projects forward through a cycle of rapid prototyping and incremental changes.

Fun is a powerful motivator, and strong team leaders acknowledge this. It puts things into new contexts and leads to fresh ideas. Every design firm faces a paradox here. What is the right balance between freedom and discipline? True innovation requires creative risk. It involves experimentation and making mistakes. At the same time, however, design teams must be provided with just the right amount of structure. They must take a mature and responsible approach to budgets and schedules. In this respect, a team leader can greatly benefit from a capable project manager.

PROJECT MANAGER
The role of the project manager is a very important one. Most design teams find it indispensable to have someone specifically charged with the coordination of logistics. This person must have a good understanding of the creative and production processes involved, but their role on the team is not that of a designer. When a project is first being pitched, the project manager may assist in developing estimates and timelines and identifying potential risks. Once a project is active, his primary responsibility is to support the team by taking care of a range of administrative tasks. In small firms, designers may be asked to take care of the logistics on their own projects, but these responsibilities may not be the best use of their time. Having a project manager on the team frees up designers to spend more time actually designing. The project manager arranges any necessary meetings, distributes updated information, monitors budgets and deadlines, and documents the progress of each assignment.

Often the project manager serves as a filter to protect the productivity of other team members by shielding them from distractions. He may take incoming logistical information and requests, then route them to the appropriate team members. However, this is not at all the same as the account director role that exists in many advertising agencies. Design firms tend to regard account directors as middlemen or interpreters. Most design consultancies eliminate the account director role in order to have direct contact between the client and the creative team.

DEALING WITH PEOPLE PROBLEMS

The ideal situation for every team is to maintain positive interpersonal dynamics throughout the project. Realistically though, a few personality clashes are almost inevitable when you have a variety of bright, ambitious people who are working together for the first time, particularly as deadlines approach and pressure mounts. So what can you do to prevent or minimize people problems? Here are the secrets of successful teamwork.

CAREFUL RECRUITMENT
Be selective when first assembling the team. In addition to creative and technical skills, look for personalities that will fit together well in a team environment. Look for professionalism, reliability, and a positive attitude. A collection of big egos will clash and work at cross-purposes. Individuals who are difficult or manipulative will undermine the success of the entire project.