Actionable Insights: 10 Ways to Leverage Your Creative Skills to Become a Great Leader
Mia Blume provides valuable leadership training for those in the creative community. Image c/o Mia Blume.
Creators spend years developing the skills to craft quality products and brands for others. As they transition from maker to manager, they’re expected to have immediate impact but have very little support. That’s a lot to carry when you’re still learning how to lead a team and manage people. This is something Mia Blume experienced while leading teams at Square, IDEO, and, Pinterest, and she has turned her learnings and insights) into a coaching practice to help others build their creative leadership skills.
Through her company Design Dept., Blume led personalized training programs and workshops for the industry's top creative and digital teams, including Adobe, Airbnb, Dropbox, Salesforce, Nike, and more.
Experimentation and adaptation has been deeply embedded in Design Dept.'s DNA from the get-go — with this philosophy becoming even more crucial when the field of design underwent a significant transformation with the emergence of generative AI tools in 2022. So Mia founded Designing with AI — a community of over 2,000 industry leaders who want to come together, explore, and support each other as they navigate emerging technologies, like AI. No hype, just practical applications.
From the art of critique and organizational design to building cross-functional relationships and navigating difficult conversations, Blume shares 10 principles below to help newly minted mangers — or even seasoned ones in need of a refresh — leverage their creative skills and become great leaders.
1. Design, or be designed
The most crucial lesson I've learned about leadership is that the environment, tools, and norms will inevitably shape your leadership style. However, those influencers may not align with our definition of "good" leadership. That's why intentional leadership is crucial. It involves understanding how we want to present ourselves as leaders and cultivating the mindsets and behaviors that enable us to embody that approach. And all the shifts our industry is experiencing, like AI, is exactly why intentional leadership is crucial. It involves understanding how we want to cultivate the mindsets and behaviors that enable us to embody that approach and to help lead our teams into the future.
2. Effective leaders are also business leaders
Effective leaders are not just leaders within their own area of expertise. It's common for us to become engrossed in leading our craft, especially since that's where many of us began. However, as we assume more responsibility, leadership becomes about much more than managing individuals and projects. It becomes about shaping the business itself — defining what it is and how it operates.
“Choose coaching over mentorship.”
3. Feedback is not a gift, it’s our responsibility.
There is a lot of “thought leadership” on the concept of feedback being seen as a "gift." While I appreciate the generosity of sharing feedback to foster growth, I believe this notion diminishes the accountability of leaders. It is our responsibility to provide effective feedback to our teams and peers. When we label it as a "gift," it becomes all too simple to minimize our own obligation in doing so.
4. Choose coaching over mentorship
Mentorship is undeniably valuable, but it does come with its limitations. Since most mentors offer advice based on their own experiences, they unintentionally infuse their perspective, privilege, and biases into their recommendations. Coaching, on the other hand, eliminates our personal experiences from the interaction and enables us to solely concentrate on the mentees' needs, perspective, and personal experience.
“It’s not your job to be a sh*t umbrella.”
5. Make the invisible visible. As we transition from being makers to managers, it's important not to forget that our "work product" often remains unseen - things like relationships, conversations, and agreements. By making our work visible, we help our team understand our focus and intended impact, ensuring alignment with the most important people around us.
I don't think managers need to quantify their work, but making their impact visible is key. A good way to do this is in any update you provide on team impact. Managers are part of the team, but they often forget to include their work so it becomes increasingly invisible. For instance, in a weekly update to your manager and peers (done asynchronously, not during one-on-ones), managers should include the key challenges and impact based on their work (e.g. "developed new strategy for project A with cross-functional team").
6. It’s not your job to be a sh*it umbrella
This commonly used phrase often allows us, as leaders, to avoid complex emotional responsibilities. While it may seem empathetic to "protect" our teams from difficult situations like feedback from executives or impending changes, it can actually hinder meaningful conversations and growth. It’s not your job to shield others from negativity. It is important to maintain focus, but that doesn't mean withholding challenging information from our teams. They are capable adults who can handle tough news and realities alongside you. Be a filter for focus, but remember to trust in their ability to navigate difficult situations.
7. Incorporate resilience practices into routine
Our daily norms rarely promote individual resilience. As a leader, it's crucial not only to prioritize your own well-being but also to cultivate a system that enables your team to develop resilient practices. Rather than expecting individuals to be resilient in an unsupportive environment, focus on building a system that fosters resilience for the entire team.
Introverts make for great leaders, too!
8. Introverted leaders play a crucial role in redefining stereotypical leadership
Unfortunately, many corporate cultures tend to celebrate a specific type of outgoing leadership (e.g. highly vocal in meetings), which narrows people's perceptions of what is considered acceptable in management and leadership roles. However, by recognizing and embracing different methods and approaches, you can demonstrate to your team that leadership can be held by a diverse range of individuals. This not only enables introverted leaders to thrive but also expands the understanding of effective leadership within your team.
9. Culture is a systems design challenge
Many leaders attempt to transform team culture by providing a list of values or catchy statements, but they overlook the crucial task of redefining the system that influences mindset and behavior. Once you've determined the desired direction, carefully examine the various elements within your organization — such as roles, relationships, incentives, tools, and processes that contribute to producing outcomes. Organizational design holds the key to driving cultural shifts.
10. Keep your eyes on the horizon
One of the most challenging things for creative leaders is that we must stay grounded in the present while also looking towards the future. It is our role to guide our teams through the unknowns and changes that arise, and to do so, we need to recognize the opportunities that lie ahead. This is an important mindset shift. As a maker, you were often heads down focused on the present. Understandably so. But now is the time to look three, six, even 12 months into the future to help your team —and your field — navigate what is about to come next.
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