Leadership spotlight: Chelsea Larsson

When did you start thinking about yourself as a leader?

"When I was born." [Laughs]

This surprises me not at all.

“That sounds ridiculous, I know, but it always seems that I end up leading people, ideas, processes, and plans no matter where I am or what my title is. I'm a fairly focused person by nature and I'm passionate, and I think that does it. I end up moving people in a certain direction—toward a vision. When I started the content design team at Zendesk, I knew I wasn’t just becoming the first content designer. I knew I was becoming the first person in a larger content design practice that I would eventually lead. I always positioned myself and my work as ‘just a preview’ of what Zendesk would get when it invested more in content design. I was constantly talking about future plans, how this would grow, and what we were missing by not having more folks.”?

When I started the content design team at Zendesk, I knew I wasn’t just becoming the first content designer. I knew I was becoming the first person in a larger content design practice that I would eventually lead.

Did you ever have a time in which you weren’t sure about making an official move into leadership?

“Not really; for me, it was, ‘What’s the alternative?’ I had so many ideas and visions of what the team could be, and I knew if they brought in somebody else, that outcome might not happen. So there was never a moment of wondering if I should lead. But there are lots of moments—and I have them every day—where I wonder whether I’m leading in the right way to get us to that golden vision.”

What kinds of things do you wonder about?

“Am I building the right practice? Are we making Zendesk easier to use? Am I doing right by my people? Where is my own career going? I am the only person at Zendesk doing what I do, and I would love to have more in-office mentorship to supplement the peer mentorship I have outside of Zendesk. I look at folks like Amy Thibodeau, Elizabeth McGuane, and Alicia Dougherty-Wold—people I want to learn from—and that’s where I start thinking, ‘Oh man, if I could soak up all their brilliance, then I can be an even more impactful design leader. At Zendesk, I do look up to and learn from product & design leaders like Shawna Wolverton, Allison Shaw, and Mary Lukanuski.’”

Maybe as our business matures there will be more paths into design leadership, because I believe that content designers have the ability to shape the product and lead design teams.

Some of the people you mentioned moved from content design to the broader UX practice. Do you think you need to move outside of your discipline to do more?

“That’s the question I have right now. When I look at those three women, my role models, that’s what I’m seeing as the path forward. You don’t see many jobs at the VP level for content design. And that’s a shame because content designers hone key leadership skills all the time: telling product stories that resonate with customers, aligning teams around concepts, being economical about resource management, and optimizing products for ease of use, which has an impact on revenue growth. Maybe as our business matures there will be more paths into design leadership, because I believe that content designers have the ability to shape the product and lead design teams.”?

Why do you think it’s common to have other disciplines lead content design, but there are few instances in which content designers lead other disciplines?

“There’s still a perception problem. If the mental model is, ‘content designers are just words folks,’ then it could make sense that content designers can’t lead people who create interaction patterns and design end-to-end experiences. But that’s a misconception. When it’s understood that we drive product strategy, that we drive clarity, that we drive concept alignment, then the idea of content design leading becomes more acceptable. But it’s hard to drive that perception change. I look at companies like Shopify, Gusto, and Facebook and I’m a little envious of how they’ve been able to move that needle on perception because I’m still pushing it really hard at Zendesk.”

You were the first content designer at Zendesk, and now you have 12. How long did it take you to get to 12?

“It’s been three years and a few months. The first year was just me, then the second year was me and an awesome person named Christine Tancinco, and at the end of that year we got two more people, Sonia Mansfield and Vivek Sri. Then we had this massive hiring influx. The VP of Product Design at the time, Kim Lenox, really believed in content design, and was amazing at getting money for headcount. So I got six or seven more, and then two or three others. It was really all about the executive buy-in.”

What did that executive buy-in look like?

“Kim actually said, ‘We’re going to build out central design—design systems, user experience research, design ops, content design—to help them catch up to product design. And then we’ll start building equally. And that’s what she did, and it was a huge help and forward-thinking on her part.”?

Okay, that’s amazing. And you sit with central design, then?

“Technically, we are part of central design within product design. Content design is embedded in their product teams, but then we have a central community of practice. And this model works!”?

So it sounds like you’re advocating for more embedded work for your content designers.

“I do have those conversations. There are product areas with tons of designers, and when that happens, I avoid partnering a content designer with more than four product designers. That’s my cutoff. I’ll write up documentation and say, ‘Here are the four designers this content designer works with, and nobody else gets this content designer.’ For those who don’t have a content designer, here are the options: you can look at our standards, you can come to office hours, or you can bring your work to crit (‘critical review’). But that’s it. And even those four designers don’t have all of their work covered by the content designer, because of the size of the projects. So if you don’t have enough content designers, you need more headcount.”

How do you decide where to put your content designers?

“I align with business priorities and cross-reference those with areas of the product that are language critical. Onboarding, implementation flows, conversational UI are all parts of Zendesk that lean heavily on language. That’s where we need content design.”

I do think part of a team’s culture is worth formalizing, so your team shows up at the same quality level. And when we repeat things in a certain way, it drives the point home and helps people remember the content design brings high quality.

How do you empower your team to represent the content design point of view?

“We have a really strong team mindest just because we meet often as a team; we have two crits a week, and we have social meetups twice a week as well. We’re constantly sharing our thoughts and approaches with each other. When the team was really young we had this whole manifesto about how we showed up and who we are and what we believe. [Laughs] I think only the first four content designers saw it, and now it’s buried in Google somewhere. I do think part of a team’s culture is worth formalizing, so your team shows up at the same quality level. And when we repeat things in a certain way, it drives the point home and helps people remember the content design brings high quality.”?

What are some of the tools and resources your team uses?

“We’re creating a tools and templates library right now. I started seeing things like, ‘Oh, this content designer has a really rad template for how to name something,’ and, ‘This content designer has a light-weight and effective Miro workshop or a template they always use,’ and I thought, ‘We should reuse each other’s methods and tools.’ So we’re creating that now and the team is super excited. From a tactical standpoint—to get back to your question about how the team shows up—I’m definitely empowering them to show up in the same way with their tools.”?

How do you know when to give your team room to experiment and when they should use the tools you’ve established?

“I tried to get everyone to create content docs in the same way, so we all delivered content consistently, but that was a failed experiment. Some people just like having everything in Figma, some people like to write strings in Google. I just gave up. But for things like office hours, I make sure everyone does them the same way, and we send the rules ahead of time. For instance: no follow-ups and no homework. And these consistencies aren't just for the content designers, but also for the people who come to office hours so they know what to expect.”?

Have you ever made a call to have the team do things in the way you think is best, but they don’t agree?

“Yeah. I don’t like when that happens. It definitely drives a wedge between you and the team, and I really try to listen to the reasons the team has for wanting to do something a certain way. They have a fresh perspective that is valuable. But then, if I really know it’s not going to work,? I also remind them of my tenure at Zendesk and that I’ve usually seen something like this situation before, which is why I’m making that particular recommendation. And it’s tough.’”?

I’m strategic about who I hire. I look at the needs of the product team they’re joining and the needs of our team. I look at the growth opportunities available, and whether or not this person has room to grow. I invest in the people a lot.

Getting back to the idea of how you approach leadership, I’ve heard leaders focus on people, product, or process. What do you focus on first?

“You have to focus on all three to be effective, but my first thought was definitely people. I’m strategic about who I hire. I look at the needs of the product team they’re joining and the needs of our team. I look at the growth opportunities available, and whether or not this person has room to grow. I invest in the people a lot. But right on the heels of that is process. I’m constantly evaluating our processes and tools so the team can do better work. Hence, the tools library. And then I push those talented folks to move the product forward by continually measuring their work against the Zendesk product strategy, goals, and story. None of that could happen without the smart folks on the team. So, in the end, it all goes back to the people.”

Support is my number-one leadership skill in every sense of the word. I support them in the ability to have tough conversations with their partners or in their careers, I remove obstacles, or I help them get clarity on the product goals.

Have you thought about your values as a leader?

“Support is my number-one leadership skill in every sense of the word. I support them in the ability to have tough conversations with their partners or in their careers, I remove obstacles, or I help them get clarity on the product goals. I think that’s why people really enjoy being on our team; I’ve heard from them that they do feel supported.?

Another of my values is transparency—I’m fairly transparent with my people. Not with anything that might burden them, but giving them the information I think they need to be successful. On the flip side of transparency is discretion, so if there’s a fire I’m dealing with I’m not going to turn around and be like, ‘I have a fire! You need to help me right now!’ I’m going to say very calmly, ‘Hey, there’s a situation and I need your help on this particular part of it.’ So it’s responsible transparency; I’m not funneling the emotion, I’m just funneling the facts.”?

I love the idea of “responsible transparency.” And it’s interesting you brought up emotion. I’m seeing a lot of articles about bringing emotion into the workplace. What are your thoughts on that?

“When leaders show emotion, it holds a lot of gravity with their teams. Bringing a negative emotion to your team is a choice. You need to do that intentionally for a specific goal. In my experience, shaming is not motivating. Piling on and complaining is not motivating. And burdening your team with internal politics is not motivating. So, we have to be careful when we voice negativity and do it in a way that motivates action.?

All in all, I try to leave negative reactions at the door when I speak with my team. And I’m not talking about personal things, like if you’re having a bad day—for instance, a couple of months ago, I had some really rough personal stuff going on and I cried in one of my crits when I shared it with the team. And that’s okay. You have to bring your whole self to work. I’m talking about gossiping, venting, and reacting in a negative way about things your team can’t do anything about. I don’t think it’s fair to burden them. That’s OK to do with peers, and OK for your directs to do with you, but if you vent back down to them, it can be heavy. And they don’t need that, they have enough stress.”?

Think about all the ways you’re already leading.

What advice would you give someone who’s thinking about moving into leadership?

“Think about all the ways you’re already leading. Are you the one bringing up ideas in meetings? Are you the one who has plans for the future? Are you the one who’s connecting two teams that weren’t connecting? Those are all leadership moves. And if you’re already in a? leadership position, that’s also a great way to identify the leaders on your team.”

This has been fascinating—thanks so much for your time today.

“You too! Take care.”?