How To Best Manage Your Direct Report

Today, we're going to have a little crash course in creative direction. After you've been designing for a while, you may find yourself in charge of another person on your team, whether it's another designer, or a programmer, a copywriter, or other professional. There's just one problem: you've never been in charge of a team member before, and you have no idea what to do. Today, I'm going to dispense some vital information on having a direct report that I wish someone had told me my first time in the director's seat.

Be Consistent With Meetings

You want to communicate to your report that you value his or her contribution to the project. The best way to do this is to make an effort to brief them regularly one-on-one and update them on the status of your project. If you just send your report an email when you need them to do something, this sends the message that you don't really care about them as a worker. A lack of communication from you tells them they are simply a means to an end, and this attitude can kill morale faster than the time it takes to press 'send.' You also want to establish good habits for communicating in general, whether to your team members or your clients. Everyone appreciates being included in the development of a project, and you want to make sure you don't lag behind on your updates.

Analyze, Then Create Your Blueprint

The easiest way to have a happy employee is to be genuinely curious about what their needs and desires are. During your one-on-one meetings, ask them questions, not only about what they need to do, the task currently in front of them, but also about what they want out of their career. This may seem frivolous, but I promise you it isn't. You can get a lot o [...]