It is one thing to build a team, but to adopt a team and turn it around has it's fair share of difficulties. There are number of movies that talk about the hurdles a person goes through to become a coach that the team could rely upon. (Chak De India, Coach Carter and the recent Ted Lasso come to my mind)

When I had joined Appsmith as a design leader, I had the same apprehension. On top of that this was a team of 12. Uptil that point, the largest team I had managed was 4. A 3x challenge!

So, what do you do? Where do you start?

Without the critical ingredient of TRUST, you cannot bring about any meaningful change and start to affect people’s work. I knew that for me to introduce any change it is really important for me to create TRUST with the team members.

How do you build trust?

While your credentials could lend you some credibility, it is not at all enough. While you are higher in the hierarchy, people may listen to you but it is not enough.

Show that you are there for the team by asking them about what works well and what doesn’t. What prevents the org. in becoming the best place they have worked. What can you do about it? And then, Do it. By solving problem, no matter how small, that has been preventing the team to move ahead, you earn trust. (Someone recently pointed to me about the water pressure scene from Ted Lasso and how fixing this starts the team to start trusting Ted.)

Ask directly: what are the team’s expectations of having a design leader

Ask for constant feedback. Give constant feedback. This is really important. Cannot stress this enough.

The first 3 months are crucial for any new leader. This is the time to be curious about your team, understand what motivates them and sow the seeds to build strong relationships.

Another way to build trust is to ask your team what should be different in the environment that they work in? Or, what does it take for the current company to be the best place they have worked in. You will hear a ton of things.

If you could create a trusting environment where your team members open up and share with you, then it will be less of management and more of coaching. And, that is a wonderful place to be.