Design Poll Results

One of the annual rituals at Big Tech is the team poll. It's an opportunity to gather feedback on the team's health, work-life balance, engagement with work, and the overall pulse of the team.

It's also a way to gather feedback for leaders, assessing their ability to create an environment that allows everyone to bring their best and create impact for the company and customers.

For design leadership, the annual poll can be both an opportunity to reflect and a challenge to address team concerns.

The key I found to unlocking value for design leaders from their poll results is not to focus on single issues, but to identify structural issues that can help create a more effective team.

Below are some of the structural issues I've encountered in my design leadership career that have been design discipline specific, and there might be a broader discussion for our industry to address. Let's dive in:

1. Engagement

Historically, design teams have scored lower in engagement, meaning less engaged in their work for the company. This often translates to a lack of shared purpose or belief in the company's mission. Looking deeper into your poll results and following up with the team to gather more feedback, it's less about the mission and more about not being able to contribute to forming it. Often, design teams are less empowered to define the company mission or product direction, with design work tending to be top-down.

To address this lack of engagement, don't just react and create more team activities or vision projects. Find structural changes that will allow design, research, and related disciplines to be part of the conversation on future direction. Create space to allow contribution, and more importantly, show the team how their contributions have made it to customers.

2. Pay

This is always consistent feedback,? designers and researchers are not paid enough. Many design teams in Big Tech are part of engineering disciplines, and designers are on the same pay scale as software developers and engineers. At the same level, a designer will earn the same pay as other engineering disciplines, making design in Big Tech one of the better paying jobs in the industry. So why is there feedback on pay? It's often a case of relative competition, compared to other Big Tech companies and other levels.

For design leaders, it's challenging to address individual pay differences. Work with leadership to address pay relative to competition and gather data on where differences might be. Look at total rewards and compensation, not just salary. Create transparency and understanding within the team on how pay, rewards, and compensation work, and the system to achieve more equitable and competitive pay structures.

3. Advancement

Career advancement in design is a challenging topic, as the question often becomes, "How do I get promoted?".? As design leaders, we need to establish clarity and set the right expectations on career paths. Having a list of criteria for each stage of a design career is a good first step. Make sure to publish it company wide, not just for your design team. Then, it's important to use the criteria in evaluating a team member's readiness for promotion. Be consistent and don't promote based on popularity. Some teams lean on getting feedback and supporting statements from other teams and disciplines for promotion, though this can also lead to unexpected behaviors. I've found striking a balance between having clear criteria and ensuring all managers take time for career discussions with their team is key to creating a team that understands and appreciates career opportunities.

4. Work-Life Balance

Much has been discussed and written on this topic, and with the shift to hybrid work, this poll issue has been challenging to address. Perhaps it's about reframing work life balance to focus on wellness and mindfulness, having time to recharge and being able to bring your best self to your work and with your team. Create an environment that allows people to take the time they need, with the flexibility and culture that supports each other when life happens. That's the balance we often lose sight of.

These issues are likely relevant to your design team, plus other topics that are specific to your company or industry. The important thing with all polls and surveys is not to be reactive or jump to the conclusion that everything is broken. Take a design approach, bring empathy to your poll results and understand why the team is giving that feedback. Define the problem, shape the solution, prototype, and get feedback to see what's effective and if the solution addresses concerns.

It can be bruising for a design leader to see the challenges in poll results, yet like all design work, it's not about being popular or being right, it's about being effective. It's about how you will as a design leader create changes that will make your team better and allow everyone to be at their best.