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Navigating the complex terrain of contemporary team dynamics demands an in-depth understanding of leadership and management roles. With the entrance of Generation Z into the workforce, distinguishing between leadership and management has become increasingly crucial. This distinction goes beyond semantics; it's a vital component for achieving team success, fostering innovation, and enhancing overall performance.

The Essence of Leadership

Leadership ignites passion and aligns individual goals with collective visions, fostering an innovative environment. It's about grasping the motivational gears of individuals and steering them toward a unified vision. Leaders are tasked with cultivating an atmosphere where every team member feels recognized and empowered to bring forth innovative ideas. They stand as visionaries who champion both the objectives of the project and the collective well-being, transforming work from a sequence of tasks into a meaningful journey toward a grand ambition.

Management through a Different Lens

Management, while also essential for projects, operates on a distinct plane from leadership. Managers shine in structuring, strategizing, and implementing plans. They are instrumental in morphing visions into tangible actions. Yet, proficiency in these domains does not inherently bestow one with the qualities of a great leader. Management is more inclined towards processes and outcomes rather than the personal inspiration and development of the team.

Bridging the Gap

A common misconception is that managerial roles are synonymous with leadership qualities. Leadership, however, extends beyond mere supervision; it's about galvanizing a team. It's the creation of an environment where members are actively engaged, motivated, and committed to a collective vision. In today's workplace, where innovation and creativity are paramount, the demand for genuine leadership is unmistakable.

Cultivating Leadership for Today's Workplace

The call for leaders who can genuinely connect with their teams is on the rise, particularly as the younger workforce searches for roles that offer more than just financial compensation. They yearn to be part of endeavors that are both inspiring and impactful. Leaders capable of harnessing this aspiration, offering both direction and encouragement, are the ones poised for success in the contemporary business arena.

Wrapping Up

Navigating the complexities of modern team dynamics underscores the importance of distinguishing between leadership and management. Acknowledging that while both roles are vital, they fulfill different needs is crucial. Promoting a culture where leadership and management synergize, focusing equally on team inspiration and organization, is key to thriving in today's competitive and constantly changing environment.

Sources

• Abraham Zaleznik @Harvard Business Review
• Anna Wood @Startups Magazine

Luckily most companies in the tech industry nowadays know that it's crucial for their success to not only collect information on their (potential) users' needs but to deeply understand them.
On a macro there are just three ways to do this - some work better than others.
In this short article I'll dig a bit deeper into these three approaches.

Approach 1: Knowing better without actually knowing better

I'm sure that some of you guys out there have had experiences working with somebody who thinks he knows very well what the product should look like to be the perfect solution for the users without actually having any kind of evidence.
As design requires insight, not assumptions, this approach is the one with the most negative impact on your product.

Fortunately there are fewer and fewer people with that attitude, because more and more data-based and well-designed products are released, which are proven to be used more frequently and the companies behind them are thus more successful.

If you in fact ARE one of those guys then I would strongly recommend to try the next two approaches to be on the safe side!

Approach 2: Collecting data from actual users to get general ideas

It's no secret that websites and apps are tracking our behaviour and interaction. Nevertheless there is a transparent and an intransparent way of doing so.

Tracking simple data giving users the option to deactivate this via a (well-designed and easy-to-understand!) cookie prompt is a good example on how relevant data can be collected without being shady.
Another option would be to directly ask users while they actually use the product or even better: after they finished doing something on your website or app. For example asking users who bought something of your webshop how much they liked the buying process from 1 to 10 or if they found everything they needed. Giving a user options to give feedback without disturbing him is the key here.

Approach 3: Talking to actual users to get qualitative insights

The richest way is to actually ask your users or your target group what they want.

One important factor here is the number of people you ask. I've made the experience that there are companies that only ask a few people who are near their target group, sometimes even from within their company, and fully rely on those statements. This is definitely better than nothing but also not good enough. It is kind of like asking somebody who have been to a supermarket before what his feelings on the grocery shopping experience were and then to conclude from this to all others. Doesn't make sense, does it?

Another important aspect is HOW you ask. Users perfectly know what they want, but often are not able to articulate it precisely. So you shouldn’t take all of your users’ feedback literally. There is a fitting quote for this from Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, that says:

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

The only way to handle this is by asking specific and segregated questions. If you ask the right questions, you’ll get rich information that will help you get valuable insights on how to develop your product further.

Sources

• Antonio Rotolo @Ludwig

User Experience Design is a very new term in the job market. The job market is flooded with companies looking to hire UX Designers. Many people are assuming to be one.

But what exactly is the profession of a UX designer and what is the difference to a 'normal' designer?

There is a lot of talk with very little clarity on this - let's try to break it down a little bit.

Elaboration

As a first step let's start with the term design itself. Wikipedia gives the following definition for 'designer': A designer is a person who plans the look or workings of something prior to it being made, by preparing drawings or plans

Let's take this definition apart piece by piece to get more clarity from it.

[...] is a person [...]

This is mostly true for now, in the future there is a chance that AI will replace designers in many ways. So a designer is not necessarily a person.

[...] who plans [...]

Planning itself is a process which needs a goal. Without a goal it is simply not possible to plan something.

[...] the look or workings of something [...]

Nowadays is it very common that the goal of a design is user-centered, so something like: 'Potential buyers need to find their desired product asap to avoid frustration'. This is where User Experience comes into play. Every time a design has a human user as target group, it is showtime for UX designers. BUT the main goal of a design could also be - let's say - reshaping a sensor for it to fit into a new smartphone concept. This goal is not user-centered as there is no user included in this process in its purity.

[...] prior to it being made [...]

This is the timespot where design makes sense, any other time in the development process design is not effective and should be avoided. This is common sense I think.

[...] by preparing drawings or plans [...]

This is about the outcome of a designers work. Drawings can be wireframes, prototypes, technical drawings asf. In my opinion plans should always be included into any kind of design, a drawing is often not clear enough. So I would change this definition to 'by preparing drawings AND plans'. The outcome of a designers work should not leave any questions open for the development itself.

Summary

When speaking of design, people are often thinking about user-centered visual design. But even visuals need to be functional in some way. So any time you are looking for a designer nowadays, you are looking for a user experience designer. The trend term UX design therefore is just design according to today's standards.

Sources

• Wikipedia

As I've seen many approaches of people trying to pitch their products to potential partners or customers or just to present themselves or their products online I thought it is a great idea to nail down some tips on what to think of when it comes to presenting yourself and your products.

Patterns

When presenting keep in mind that even if there is no finelined pattern on your website, flyer or whatever medium you are using to present your product, the audience's brain will try to find one, visually and contentwise.

Brains can handle information only in blocks. Too much information coming in at once will be flushed out of the brain with ease. The magic number here is 4. That's why IBAN numbers, PIN Codes etc. are often shown in blocks of 4, to make them easier to be remembered.

Stories

To tweak your presentation try to either fit some stories into your presentation or your presentation into a story. Stories can get people to identify with your product more by activating their mirror neurons.

Mirror Neurons

I will put mirror neurons down very specific and easy for our purposes here. Because of mirror neurons we become sad if something sad happens on a tv show etc. - so basically emotions are getting mirrored. This works for actions too, for instance if somebody asks you how you are he expects you to ask back, if you don't he will be confused or rather having a negative emotion.

Taking this information to - let's say our webshop - it is very important for it to function properly. If a potential buyer clicks somewhere and thus expects a reaction but nothing happens, he will be confused.

This can lead the potential buyer to become a lost opportunity for you, maybe one of many. So be sure there are no deficiencies in your presentation - that means no technical leaks on your website, no typos in your menu, etc.

Choices

People like having a choice. Choices are giving us the feeling of being in control and nothing let's us be more positive then the feeling of being in control. Be sure give choices as often as possible, but not too many as it quickly gets overchallenging. The magic number 4 from above is a good amount here too.

flow state

We are in the flow state when an activity engages us so much that we lose track of time. Our immersion and focus level is so high that it seems like there is nothing else of relevance for us.

Nowadays we get into this state very often when using our smartphones, mainly because of the push messages we get. The constancy of the information flow connected to the excitement we feel when getting these gets us to spend way too many hours looking onto these screens.

If you want to raise your audiences engagement level give them constant feedback to trigger a flow state. Online you can achieve this for instance by adding a chatbot which sends messages to the user frequently. BUT! everything should happen without disturbing them while browsing your website. So do not use too many pop ups which are blocking their view or similar.

As you see it is mainly about invoking positive emotions when it comes to your presentation. Make sure to think through every step of it, build in one or more stories, give your audience choices and raise their engagement level by triggering a flow state.

Sources

• Kendra Cherry @yerywellmind
• Brandon Jones @webdesign.tutsplus.com
• Aaron Agius @business.com
• Flow (psychology) @Wikipedia

We all know the situation when we want to change something in our lives. It can be everything from learning an instrument, writing a book or even quitting our job or divorcing our partner. Very often we tell ourselves 'This is too hard' before we even make a step into realising. Instead of trying we throw in the sponge with ease.

We forget that everything is hard before it gets easy.

To learn = to lose at first

As a child you learned many different things. You learned to walk, to speak, to write and even to do math. These things were hard at first too, why is it that you did not give up back then?

As we get older it seems that we become more and more resitant to the learning process, which requires willpower, motivation, desire and the joy of losing. We are always looking for things that do not require a lot of work or any radical change in our routine. It is very hard for most of us to change something even if it's essential for us to be happy.

Enjoying to lose is a very rare skill nowadays. Without the joy of losing it's not possible to learn something new or to surpass oneself. So do not get tired to lose and do not be afraid of it. Take yourself as a child as your role model when it comes to try something new. When we were trying to walk we stood up and fell many times before it finally worked. The first time we rode a bike we risked falling and hurting ourselves but still most of us are able to ride a bike today.

We forget that it's normal for a new thing to be hard before it gets easy.

Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

If you can change something that makes you unhappy to something that makes you happy, do it!

Sources

• Gary Vee @YouTube

This quote by business consultant Simon Sinek might sound a bit weird at first, as it does not make sense perfectly from a structural perspective.
Let me explain a bit more as diving deeper into this will pay off in many ways for people who are building their own business or planning to do so.

The Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is the visual of Sinek's 'Why, How, What'-model. Here is a short wrap up of how Sinek describes these three questions from an organization's point of view:

What?

Every organization knows what they do. They know what products or services they are offering, basically for what they get profit for. The 'what' is what many companies live and die by.

How?

Only a few companies know their 'how'. They may know their USP (unique selling proposition) by doing research and finding the best way to bring their products/services to their customers.

Why?

Very few organizations know their 'why'. By 'why' Sinek does not mean 'to make profit', this is something Sinek defines as a result. A real 'why' would be the purpose, cause or belief of the organization.

The way humans tend to think is from the clearest thing to the most indistinct thing. So when we want to found a company, we normally start thinking about the 'what' as it is the most tangible thing to think about, then about the 'how'. After communicating the 'what' and 'how' we expect people to react accordingly. Often the marketing of regular companies work the same way, they are trying to convince potential buyers by listing the hard facts of the product's or service's benefits:

WHAT -> HOW: 'We make great computers. They are beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. Wanna buy one?'

The approach of inspired organizations and leaders is to think, act and communicate from the inside out. Apple for instance communicates like this:

WHY -> HOW -> WHAT: 'Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we are challenging the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happened to make great computers. Wanna buy one?'

The latter works way better as potential buyers get the intention they are supporting something great. By handing them the why, the fuzziest and most complex question is answered, we are impressed, relieved and want to support the belief of the company.
So find your 'why' and start from there!

Sources

• Simon Sinek @TED
• Babak Mohammadi @LinkedIn
• Tejas Kinger @freshworks.com

Space

1. Proximity relationships

Elements which are closer to each other than to other elements are perceived as being more related.
For example: There should be more space between different paragraphs than between the lines inside a paragraph.

2. Negative Space

Try to use as much negative space as you can in your designs.
Negative space clears out your design and makes it more intuitive.
Putting too many elements into limited space is like trying to listen to several people at once, it will be really hard to follow.

3. Order

Things that are more important either have to use more space in your design or be positioned on top of the less important elements.

Consistency

Similar elements should be displayed in similar ways.
This way you make sure that people are not distracted by things changing all the time, it is way easier for them to focus on the important parts of your design.
What is more, the usage of consistency is crucial when it comes to making things look actually designed.
Things to stick to once set:

• Font
• Transitions on hover, on focus etc.
• style of common elements like buttons, links, etc.
• positions (for example if a save button on a subpage is on the bottom, do not put it on top in another subpage)
  
  

Visual Noise

Be economical with the number of elements you use in your design. The fewer the better.
The human brain tends to get an cognitive overload when it needs to process too much information at once.
If something can be achieved with 2 elements do not use 3.
Design minimalistic!

Contrast

Make sure there is enough contrast between all elements.
Elements of your design should be either exactly the same, or significantly different.
Common design aspects where to consider checking contrast:

1. Color

Use dark on light colors and vice versa.

2. Style

For example: Do not use different italic font styles next to each other unless they are considerably different.

3. Size

For example: Be sure that adjacent elements have either the same size or considerably different ones.

4. Weight

Adjacent elements should have either exactly the same weight or are considerably different.

Color

1. Color Set

Do not use more than 2-3 different colors in your palette - different shades are ok.

2. Saturation

Do not use too much saturation. Start with less than you think, then adjust to taste.

3. Contrast

Be sure that the colors in your set have enough contrast.
To make sure the colors contrasts are fine turn your view to black and white and have a look at them there.

Sources

• Bethany Loginow @brownboxbranding.com
• Matan Naveh @elementor