How to Encourage Effective Teamwork within your Design Department
Are you leading a team of designers towards a common purpose or goal? When there are lots of different designers working on one project, or even designers from different departments and different countries across the globe, then it can be quite difficult to streamline the process.
This is essential however, as if a few members of your creative team aren’t communicating effectively or following correct procedures, then the entire end product could be impacted as a result. As the leader of the team, the responsibility therefore rests on you.
If you’re not sure how to get your team to cooperate, you have come to the right place. While not a comprehensive guide, here are 4 simple tips that you can implement for starters, if you want to encourage effective teamwork no matter where your team of designers are located.
Put A Strong Structure in Place
When there are lots of people working on one project, it is important that you have clear communication in place, which will provide everyone with a structured approach in a fast-paced industry.
Everyone should be aware of what the common goal is and this is what will add value to the company’s long-term strategy. Having this strong structure will ensure that the right teams of designers are being brought together and this will also contribute to reducing any conflict between the different teams.
Streamline the Design Workflow
When you are trying to get into the finer details and specifics of how things will get done within in a project, it can sometimes get lost in transition, amongst the huge stream of daily tasks. As a team, you need to look at different ways you can ease the design handoff, provide feedback, share information and make the whole process a lot more efficient so you are not wasting valuable time.
There are many great tools out there that you can make use of, such as the MCAD Collaboration Datasheet. Some of the amazing features and benefits that this provides is real-time communication between teams, no interchanging of file formats, a private and secure collaboration server, as well as the same type of design environment, all of which will massively help designers in the PCB process.
Encourage Knowledge Sharing
Not every designer will be the same. They will all have their own personal strengths and then other areas in which they can learn and grow. As the team leader, it is your responsibility to maximize everyone’s contribution and build a culture focused more on sharing knowledge, rather than having people trying to compete with each other.
Encourage your team to share their own tips on how they have improved their working process. This does not have to be a formal event and can simply be a casual, but informative discussion. This is also a great way to reflect on what has worked, and what hasn’t, during your design process.
The Printed Circuit Board industry – PCB for short, is constantly changing. Thus, making adaptability a natural characteristic of your team will only serve to benefit them in the long run.
Implement A Design Critique Process
To have a well-rounded design process where the team works together effectively, you need to have a process in place for design critique. During this process, you should provide specific feedback, be clear with what you are looking for, and the aim should always be to find solutions.
With the aforementioned tips in mind, you should have gained a first level understanding of how you can motivate your team to work more effectively. You’ll find that most workers just need a streamlined process to follow, so once you have that in place, ensure that communication doesn’t drop off and you’ll be on track.
Image source:
Tags: Employee Performance, Leadership, Team Work
