Over the 5 years at IBM, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute and lead teams across the IBM Security portfolio. Whether I’m working with a small group of product designers in Austin, facilitating a remote workshop, or leading a cross-functional team spanning the globe, there are principles in how I’ve effectively approached leadership that apply regardless of the size or effort.

Caveat: You have to remember, IBM is a 109 year old company, and while design has been at its core during some aspects of that, design hasn’t always had a seat at the table. Even with the resurgence of design thinking and user centered design in 2011, changing ones perception or behavior towards design and the process isn’t going to happen overnight.

Build empathy for your users, but also for your team. Y’all, we are all human, and have different goals and needs.

Cross-disciplinary collaboration. Yes, you may be the subject matter expert, but by allowing counterparts the opportunity to collaborate on concepts, rather than merely deliver designs and experiences, inherently creates a better team dynamic of inclusivity.

Meeting your team, where they are. I’ve been able to win over skeptical engineers by providing code examples and decision tree IA diagrams to show that design is much more than the visual look of things.

Bridging the gap between the business and the experience. As a strong communicator, I’m able to facilitate a close working relationship and connection between product management and engineering, gaining alignment by breaking down technical and business jargon to articulate the effects on the intended experience. As storytellers, this is so important, we have such a unique opportunity to paint a figurative narrative to help others understand the bigger picture.

Stepping in and stepping up. Being aware of engineering time limitations, stepping up to take on development projects, leading engineers and individually contributing code to help our products and teams succeed. Providing coded prototypes, I’m able to understand and showcase technical feasibility to development teams, raising the rate of implementation.

It takes a strong leader to persevere and make change, and while there is still a long way to go, the change myself, and other leaders at IBM Security, have been able to influence has not only impacted our clients, but also formed allies in a growing organization.

Mentoring is a personal experience and big responsibility. Understanding and embracing one's needs and goals, sometimes that's directly related to the design process, other times it's how to navigate the business. There are so many aspects to what we do, and how we interact it's important to remember that it's not always process or craft related. Form healthy and strong relationships by putting others before yourself.

Mentoring has taught me a lot about myself and has uncovered parts of my own experiences and career that I’ve never reflected on.