Becoming a team leader in UX design is not only a big responsibility but also a great opportunity to develop your leadership skills and contribute to the success of your team and company.
Today, I decided to list eight essential steps to help you achieve this goal. 
Step 1: Develop your professional skills
To become a team leader, you need to go from a beginner to a pro yourself and have deep knowledge and experience in UX design.
Improve your skills constantly, learn new methodologies and tools, and keep up with the latest trends and innovations in UX design.
Step 2: Gain experience in teamwork
Working in a team requires the ability to interact effectively with colleagues. Learn to listen and understand others, share your knowledge and experience, and help solve problems. This will help you gain the trust and respect of your colleagues.
Step 3: Develop leadership skills
Leadership includes the ability to inspire and motivate a team, make informed decisions, and take responsibility for their consequences. Read books on leadership and attend trainings and seminars to develop your leadership skills.
For example, take the UX Leader: Essential Skills for Any UX Practitioner course.
Being a UX Leader | NN/g Training Course
Step 4: Learn to manage projects
Project management is an essential part of being a team leader. Master the basics of planning, task allocation, deadlines and resource control.
Knowledge of Agile and Scrum methodologies will be a great advantage. If you are not familiar with them, you can take special courses. One of them is “Agile Methods for UX Design”. The instructor for this course is product management and user experience design expert Laura Klein. You may know of her if you’ve read the books “Build Better Products” and “UX for Lean Startups” or listen to the podcast “What is Wrong with UX?”.
Agile Methods UX Design Course
Step 5: Develop communication skills
Effective communication is critical to successfully leading a team. Learn to articulate your thoughts clearly and concisely, give constructive feedback and resolve conflicts. It is essential to be able to listen and understand the needs of the team and the customer.
A leader must be able to articulate design solutions effectively and present them to clients. Tom Greever’s book “Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience” will help you understand this issue in more detail.
Communication is a big part of a team leader’s time. How communication is structured in both directions (within the team and with customers) determines the result.
Step 6: Build relationships inside and outside the team
A successful team leader must be able to build and maintain good relationships within the team, with other departments of the company, and with clients. This will help create a harmonious working environment and support your initiatives.
Step 7: Be proactive
Don’t wait to be asked to take responsibility. Take the initiative to generate new ideas and solutions that can improve the team and the company as a whole. Being proactive demonstrates your readiness to lead.
If you have never been a team leader, try at a hackathon.
Where to find hackathons for designers:
TopCoderHackerEarthHackathon.comUltraHackDevpost Hackathon
Step 8: Mentorship and training
Help your colleagues develop professionally. Share your knowledge, hold masterclasses and training sessions, and support newcomers. This will strengthen team spirit and allow you to become a role model.
Mentorship in UX design: my experience
Becoming a team leader in UX design is a challenging but exciting task. The key to success is constant development, both professional and personal. So, if you are on this path, write in the comments what seminars, masterclasses or courses you attend. Share your experience.
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8 Steps to Become a Team Leader in UX Design was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
