In August 2008, we conducted a workshop at Adaptive Path’s UX Week in which participants formed teams to solve key problems faced by UX team managers. Following is a rough summary of the output of one of these teams.  

Manager? Leader? Which am I?
However can
I succeed as both

How do we go from being just a manager to being an inspiring leader?  Here’s a quick summary of what this team came up with:
* You don’t have to be a manager to be an inspiring leader
* Model good behavior
* Craft a vision with and for your team
* Value your team as resources and as people

Raw notes

Discussion
How to inspire at the onset?
How to sustain inspiration?
Tools to inspire?
Create a timeframe/structure to implement
Roadblocks: no vision, no confidence, no authority
You don’t have to be a manager
“Influencer”, “Persuader”
Big picture thinker
Don’t sweat small stuff
Setting a good example
Empowers others to do the details

Best Practices:

1. Articulate and communicate the vision – craft a vision statement to from abstract to tangible

2. Cultivate your “emotional ntelligence”
Create transparanecy & trust
Respect for individuals – feel valued

3. Define success critera – lay the path
Create a “success agreement”
Alignment

4. Think big picture
Assess what you really “need” to do
Empower others

5. Motivate others – incentivize others; tools to manage over time

6. Identify and manage expectations
Define job responsibilities to individuals and entire team
Clarify how each person fits into big picture