Stepping into a new design leadership role can be both exciting and nerve-racking. You've inherited a team—maybe one that's thriving, maybe one that's struggling—but either way, your job is to understand the current state of the team and chart a path forward. It's easy to jump straight into fixing things based on your past experiences. But before making any big changes, you need a clear picture of the business and the team, how things got to be the way things are, and the expectations of your role.
Here's how I would systematically assess a design team so you can lead with clarity and confidence and smash your goals.
Understand the Business and Team Goals
Before you evaluate the team, it's crucial to understand what they're working towards. Teams don’t exist without having specific business goals. What are the company's short and long-term objectives? How does the design function contribute to those goals? If design isn't seen as a strategic player, why not? If design isn't a competitive advantage, why not? Understanding this will help you make informed decisions and effectively lead your team.
Spend time with product, engineering, and business stakeholders to get the big picture. Dig in to understand how design is measured, if at all. If it isn't, start defining what success should look like. A design team without a clear purpose will struggle to have an impact—your first job is ensuring alignment on why the team exists.
Define Expectations—of You & Your Team
A common mistake new leaders make is assuming they already know what's expected of them. Maybe you were hired to scale the team, build a design culture, or drive measurable improvements in product experience. However, expectations vary widely between companies and even between leaders within the same company.
Ask the hard questions:
What does success in this role look like after six months? A year?
Are there specific metrics?
What did my predecessor do well? Where did they struggle?
What gaps or weaknesses does leadership believe exist in the design team today?
What questions do I need to answer?
At the same time, clarify what's expected of your team. Are they seen as execution partners, strategic thinkers, or somewhere in between? Understanding this will help you assess whether the team's current skill sets match the expectations placed on them.
Talk to Key Leaders & Stakeholders
You don't want to build a team in a silo. Strong design teams operate at the intersection of product, engineering, marketing, and business strategy—so their success is directly tied to how well they’re involved and collaborate with others.
Set up 1:1s with leaders across the organization. The goal isn't just to hear what they want from design but to understand where friction exists:
Do they feel like design is a trusted partner or an afterthought?
What's working well in the current collaboration model? What isn't?
How do they see design's role evolving in the company?
Patterns will emerge quickly. If multiple leaders express frustration with slow design cycles or misalignment with product strategy, those are signals to pay attention to.
Map Skills for Team’s Success
Once you have clarity on business needs and stakeholder expectations, it's time to evaluate your team's capabilities. A great design team isn't just a collection of talented individuals—it's a balanced system of complementary skills.
Start by listing out the critical skills your team needs to be successful. These might include:
Product Thinking: Do designers deeply understand user needs and business impact?
Visual & Interaction Design: Is the craft strong across all touchpoints?
UX Research & Data Literacy: Are insights driving decisions, or is design operating on assumptions?
Collaboration & Influence: Can the team work effectively across functions?
Execution & Delivery: Are designs making it into production efficiently? Or at all?
Review Past Work
A team's past work tells you a lot about their strengths, weaknesses, and where they've been focusing their energy. Look at:
Recent product launches and their impact
Design artifacts like UX flows, prototypes, and research reports
How design decisions were made and documented
Pay attention to patterns. If the team produces beautiful UI but lacks user insights, research might be an area to strengthen. If work is strategic but slow to ship, process and collaboration could need attention.
Get to Know the Team—Individually & Collectively
Beyond the work itself, you need to understand the people behind it. Set up 1:1s with every designer, researcher, content strategist, etc. The goal is to learn what motivates them, where they thrive, and what's been frustrating them. This open communication will build ongoing trust and help build a positive team culture. If you build the relationship now, it'll help the team accept and understand any future changes.
Some good questions to ask:
What do you love most about your work here?
What's the biggest challenge you face day to day?
Where do you want to grow in the next year?
What's one thing you'd change about how this team works?
You'll start seeing gaps—some might feel stuck in execution mode; others might be hungry for leadership opportunities. This insight will help you shape a team culture where people can do their best work.
Map Skills and Passions to Team's Needs
After your 1:1s, take your skills map and start mapping individuals onto it. Who's already strong in key areas? Who has potential but needs mentorship? Where do you have glaring gaps?
This is where passion comes into play. Just because someone is skilled in an area doesn't mean that person wants to focus on it long-term. Ideally, people's strengths and interests align with what the team needs—but when they don't, you'll need a plan to either develop new skills internally or hire for them.
Identify Gaps & Build a Plan
Now that you've got the whole picture, it's time to act. Are there missing skill sets that require hiring? Are certain processes slowing the team down? Are there cultural or structural issues holding people back?
Your next steps might include:
Hiring to fill skill gaps
Mentoring team members to step into new roles
Changing collaboration models to work better with product and engineering
Introducing better design systems, workflows, or research practices
But don’t forget your stakeholders. Check-in with them to ensure your observation and plans make sense. Sometimes the path forward is bumpy, and they need to be sold on the journey as well as the final destination.
Final Thoughts
Assessing a design team isn't about judging individual performance—it's about understanding the system as a whole. Your job as a leader is to set the team up for success by aligning their skills, motivations, and workflows with the needs of the business.
It's tempting to make big changes right away. Instead, take the time to listen, observe, and map out a thoughtful approach. Once you have a clear picture, you can make informed decisions that strengthen the team rather than disrupt it.
So before you start changing things, start learning. The best way to lead a design team is to understand it first.