I was originally hired as an individual contributor/senior experience designer when I first joined Sainsbury’s. But about a month after joining the company, several business changes took place and within that short time span I went from being an IC to a manager.

Needless to say, finding myself in a new job managing 4 people that I barely knew plus a product I had to familiarise myself with ASAP was pretty intense. I briefly had a stint managing 2 people in my early 20s, but I could barely call that management. It was more me turning in my swivel chair to the designer beside me, and loudly saying “How’s it going?” and then turning back to my monitor to continue doing my own designs.

Since I’ve now become a manager twice through serendipity, I’ve tried to embrace what I can and I’ve also really pushed myself to learn from past mistakes so that I can be the best manager for my team. First, it’s probably important to point out that two years ago, I was totally fine being a lone wolf. I’m an introvert, and I also like being independent. Charisma was never my strong point, and the idea of speaking to large groups of people was something that would make me break out into a cold sweat rather than feel calm and collected.

I was pretty eager though to make sure that however I managed this team, that each designer felt they could come to me for help and clarity in their projects. Sounds easy, right? Somehow, as if by magic, I would learn all the people skills and public speaking skills I need, and I’d be the best manager ever…

Here’s what I learned over the past two years from my time in management:

Understand your team, their strengths and weaknesses and how to help them grow

As I mentioned, I came into the role with a restructure happening and designers shifting into my team from other teams. I assumed that they would get on with the work, and if there was a problem they’d come to me.That was probably one of the biggest mistakes that I’ve learned from.Designers obviously come in all shapes and sizes, different interests and different ways of expressing themselves. I quickly learned that some wouldn’t say anything if they didn’t understand the core problem because of a fear of looking stupid or because they felt they were bothering me. I also started to come across resentment because they didn’t feel the project they were on fit their specific passion.

How could I fix this? I started to really grasp how important it was to sit down with each designer, really understand what they liked to do, what they wanted to improve and what they thought was fun in their daily job. I became so much more aware of how important it is to make sure that whatever work that person receives, they need to vibe with that project in terms of how it matches their skillset, as well as being confident in delivering an outcome they will be proud of.

Sometimes I couldn’t provide that though, and sometimes the grind of working on intensive UX projects didn’t suit people. That was tough, because while I hated the idea of losing designers, the reality is that I have had to learn how to deal with processing a designer quitting. The aftermath was also hard, which consisted of picking up the pieces through jumping in and taking over their workload, recruiting someone that will fit the team environment better all the while trying to be stable and positive for the rest of my team.


Build trust

That whole thing about people coming to me and everything would be harmonious and wonderful — yeah, that doesn’t happen unless people really trust you. Trust only comes from being consistently there for your team, listening to them and making them feel that their opinion is valid. I believe it also comes from giving people autonomy and obviously recognising that the people I’ve hired are here for a reason; they’re good at their job and they add something to the team that makes it that much better.The idea of micromanagement is not something that I’ve ever liked. I think it’s important to respect people’s creative freedom, but at the same time constructively providing feedback or inspiration maybe from different sources they haven’t considered yet. Keeping an open dialogue regarding their thought process, how they’re feeling, and understanding what they want to work on — it’s from this level of investment into individual designers that trust begins to build naturally (although it’s taken me some practise to get here).

Things do go wrong, but you’ll survive

Two years ago when I started out, although I was pretty naive about how it would be, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I would screw this whole management thing up and everyone would call me an idiot.My first day of management wasn’t too far off…The thing is, I really had to ignore that voice and embrace the fact through various experiences that things do go wrong. I’m also the one accountable for my team when something goes wrong, and sometimes that’s painful — but from every mistake, I want to learn from it and I want my team to learn from it as well. Whether it’s improving communication or overhauling our Figma files, I try not to dwell on things going wrong because it’s our chance to take a step back and think about how we can make things better.

It’s a (constant) balancing act

The context changing is something that I was not prepared for, and had no idea how crazy it could get. Sometimes I feel like I’m on a gameshow and my job consists of going to back to back meetings reciting random facts I’ve memorised, or recounting stories of users with our products to different stakeholders. Then the next day I’ll have to jump onto design work, then switch gears again and organise a research plan, or review another designer’s work.This is where delegation is so, so important. Delegating work is something that I’ve learned is extremely vital to keep a team smoothly running. When I do delegate, I try hard to ensure the team doesn’t feel overwhelmed by checking up on how they feel, how their projects are going and so on. The in-store team is pretty lean, and we seem to constantly have large, innovative projects to work on which is great, but it also makes it so important to strategically divide our workload. This concept was very foreign to me when I jumped into management, because I had always been okay with being solo and felt I could do it all. If I had kept that mindset, not only would that have been detrimental to the product but to my mental health as well. And on that note, I think it’s important to let colleagues know when you don’t feel okay and you can’t do it all.

In conclusion…

Jumping into management isn’t for the faint of the heart, and it’s so important to be open-minded and receptive to growing as a person. I feel that in the past two years, I’ve learned a lot about myself in terms of what I feel comfortable and confident with, versus when I’m pushing myself too hard to be what everyone needs all the time.I still feel that I have a huge amount to learn ahead of me as I continue in my career, and I’m always thinking of how I can keep improving the work environment for my team. More than anything, I want my team to feel that they have grown as designers whether they reach a point when they want to move into another stage of their career at Sainsbury’s, or to a different company.