Recently, the design team I lead was going through a period of low morale. I noticed this through conversations in 1-1s, our team Slack channel, and most notably in our team meetings. The designers were all working on some very big product problems and while the work was really challenging, the rewarding aspect seemed to be replaced by a feeling of frustration.
Instead of trying to jump in and fix the actual issues, I tried a different approach. Jay, one of the designers on the team, had been referring to some topics and discussions as “spicy”. It became sort of a fun word that the team started using. On the next team meeting agenda, I added an item called “Spicy topics” and asked if anyone had anything on their minds that they’d like to talk about with the whole team. By this point, everyone knew that “spicy” meant something along the lines of: seemingly unsolvable, slightly controversial, generally frustrating, somewhat confusing, or any combination.
Here’s how it works: Someone on the team will describe the issue, topic, or ask a burning question. As a team, we discuss it for a while until we’ve reached some sort of conclusion. Depending on the topic, this could mean: it just needed to be discussed as a group, we’ve identified a problem that needs further action, or we were able to bring some clarification to something that was once confusing. As the lead, I tend to listen and only jump in when I think I am the best person to provide clarity or perspective on a topic.
We’ve been doing this consistently for a couple months now and I’ve seen a notable difference in the team. The benefits:
- Creates a space to bring up challenging product, business, and organizational problems.
- Diffuses issues that could become distracting, discouraging, harmful, or even toxic if left unaddressed. (Things that people initially thought were Extra Spicy ended up being not so hot once they said it out loud and talked it through.)
- Surfaces things you might miss as the lead who operates at a higher level and is more removed from project work. (For example, I was able to identify and prioritize an entire project that I otherwise wouldn’t have.)
The reason this works so well on our team is because we are a very close knit group and have built up a sense of trust. (One person even described Spicy Topics as group therapy.) I personally love it because it means we can all be open with one another and help each other out. Just because I’m “the boss” doesn’t mean I need to or should seek to fix everything. What I can do in this particular scenario is create the space and empower others.
Post originally published on kelly.blog.
Automattic Design 