The Culture

From my own experience, I have come to realise that the culture within a design department is absolutely crucial. I have seen how a lack of culture led to staff resigning en masse, and how feedback from former employees damaged the company’s reputation. I have also seen how a toxic employee poisoned the atmosphere within the team, whilst management hesitated for a long time before dismissing them, and all the staff were burning out from the emotional strain.

One might argue that an employee should be resilient to stress. This is true if the pressure comes from outside the company: under pressure and constraints, team members pull together and mobilise their resources to face a common challenge. But if the stress comes from within the department, it has exactly the opposite effect, tearing the team apart and undermining the results of their work.

In my view, the design department should serve as a cultural reference point – after all, designers are both cultural workers and technical intelligentsia.

I have always placed great emphasis on fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect and support within the design team, and I have recruited staff with a strong sense of empathy (it’s worth remembering that in user-centred design, empathy is one of the key skills a designer needs). This not only increased the designers’ engagement with their work, but also broke down the barriers that existed between different departments in some companies. Many people refer to soft power as my superpower, thanks to which I achieve better results than other managers.