You’ve tried the usual techniques to make meetings better; you have added agendas, you have canceled unneeded meetings, and you’ve diligently written down and tracked action items. What next? Try these creative facilitation techniques!

The adage of putting on your oxygen mask first applies when it comes to leadership in turbulent times. If you are not healthy, happy, or centered, your team will be able to see it.

The Art of Feminine Negotiation opened my eyes to the fact that women are often socialized to be passive and agreeable, which can make us less likely to negotiate for what we want. We're taught to be nice, to not make waves, and to put the needs of others before our own.

Elise, my hair stylist, is well known for her skill with vivid colors. There are a ton of people who want to learn from her, and she usually has a different assistant every time I go in. Since I am in that chair for a good 4–6 hours, we end up talking about all sorts of things when I am there. One of those topics I brought up was her new assistant, let’s call them T. I could tell Elise really liked them, and I wanted to hear more. Elise told me she instantly knew T was going to be a good fit, and this story is why.

So you just started leading a team, maybe you were promoted to the position. Or maybe you were hired to take on leadership of a brand new team. A leader’s job is to focus on the 4 categories of Product Strategy, Execution, Operations, and Team culture. Let’s focus on team culture for this post.

Tired of t-shirts/patagonia vests/hoodies? Here are some ideas for my favorite swag I have given or received over the years. I gathered ideas across different price ranges so you can pick based on your budget, event , and number of recipients.

This is a collection of tips for new managers put together by me. I did not invent any of this. All the good ideas you see here are things I have learned from great leaders and managers who have mentored me. All the bad ideas you see here are mine. Please feel free to leave any feedback or comments.

I scroll, and scroll. I Like a lot, I like some. I bookmark, and comment, and post and repost, and DM and share via DM and Story and reshare a Story and do all the things a good citizen would do. But mostly, I judge. And then I turn around and post novel, inventive, and never seen before groundbreaking content. I post videos of perfection in the form of dance. Down to their powder pink boots, blush sports bra, and red booty shorts completely co-ordinated with the fuchsia lights in our studio.

Rituals are an important part of any team. They build predictability, helps bring the team members together, and set clear expectations for how we treat each other. Done right, rituals can add to the psychological safety on a team. Here are some rituals I have implemented on teams I have managed over the years:

Every seat in the house is occupied. The man who’s been my neighbor to my left for the last 7 hours yawns and stretches. He seems to make a deal with himself, or perhaps with god, as he shakes himself awake. He settles on the edge of his seat with his hands folded in a silent prayer. My friend on my right is not so silent with her prayer. I can feel her tapping her foot, muttering something that makes no sense to me but sounds like a distant prayer from a land now distant for all of us. The mass of green being projected on the big screen is reflected in her eyes. I look around and see it reflected on the hundreds of faces around us.

Everyone is busy, and I am sure so are you. As UX Managers, how could we ensure that we are focused on the critical tasks even if they are not urgent? I use this framework for thinking about my various responsibilities. I look at them weekly, quarterly, and annually.

I have a career conversation with new hires on my team pretty soon after they first start on the team. The objective of this career conversation is for me to get to know them, what drives them, what can be demotivating etc. This is a template I developed and refined over the last few years.

This post was originally published on the Invision blog. Saving it here for keepsakes.

I started leading UX for the Google Support team the day we went into mandatory WFH. The team was trying to learn how to WFH, how to deal with a pandemic, and how to work with a new lead. I ensured that third one needed the least effort.