https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/the-designers-list-of-leadership-skills-8ff64cdd2ab2
The 6 Leadership Skills that every designer needs to have
Leadership Skills (Cover)
Leadership skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that help people to reach a shared goal, motivate people to work together or generally guide others towards success. These skills compliment UX Disciplines and Human Skills.
Each Leadership Skill should be present at certain levels, though continued refinement and maturity in these particular areas is expected.
Required at Level 2 (3–5 years of experience)
How can you create products and services that accomplishes your users’ goals if you do not understand their needs, motivations, and challenges? To be a successful designer, it is paramount that you put yourself in your users’ shoes so that you understand their needs.
“People ignore design that ignores people”. -Frank Chimero
You must be able to design and solve for various types of users. Learning to empathize with your users is a skill that will develop more deeply overtime. You must feel what your users feel to shed light on what will be most beneficial for them.
One of the best ways to do this is to talk to your users — whether it’s through surveys, user interviews, or usability tests. The core of a usability test is not about understanding your product, it is about understanding how your users use your product. What is the path they take to get from A to B? What frustrates them the most? What makes them happy?
Another great technique forgetting to know your users is through observation. Immerse yourself in their environment. It is our responsibility as designers to be empathetic toward users of the product and make certain that their needs are met, pains are relieved, and gains are created. This is a big reason behind a key objective I put into every job description for people on my team; “Observe people using what we have designed or what a competitor has designed for at least two hours every six weeks.”
Required at Level 3 (5–10 years of experience)
Strategic Thinking starts with strategy, which is simply a plan for how to keep a user’s experience — service level, product level, service area, or touch-point — with a brand in line with the overall goals and objectives of the company. Strategic Thinking can help ensure an organization’s vision of what they want their customers to experience can become a reality while staying within predetermined company guidelines.
To engage in strategy means to go beyond only executing the “how” and being able to articulate the “what” and “why” for products and services. To conduct strategy, you must make clear tradeoffs and positioning within business, technical and customer contexts. Michael Porter defines strategy as “deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value”. This applies to many different scopes and spaces. Strategy can be applied to the overall business, sales and marketing, technology, products and services or overall experience.
The scope of one’s execution of Strategic Thinking depends on their level of mastery and level within the team. Every designer should engage in strategic thinking at the appropriate level of scope for their role.
In short strategic thinking focuses on: