What makes a design team (appear) strong?

"Adit, your team is not very strong."

Hearing this from a leader a few weeks back hit me HARD. As an extremely proud manager, my instinct was to defend my team fiercely. But being defensive and argumentative with someone influential giving you their perspective isn't the smartest move. 

So, I've been contemplating what could be going wrong here.

What makes a design team "appear" strong? 

What makes a designer competent and "leave a good impression"?

In my opinion, it starts with aligning specific work to specific people and setting the right expectations. Design isn't a one-size-fits-all discipline, and the notion of the "unicorn designer" is a myth. Hear me out, here…

\If a fantastic visual designer presents a prototype proudly but struggles to articulate a data-backed business context when questioned, it forms an impression that the designer "is not strong enough.”

If a solid interaction designer receives comments about incoherent wording on the interface, leading to confusing workflows, it forms an impression that the designer "lacks attention to detail”

If a designer competently solves functional and usable needs but fails to package the concept into something delightful, it forms an impression that the designer "lacks flair and creativity."

BUT, these impressions are bound to happen!

User researchers and Product Managers have both the competency and time to arm the designer with data-backed insights

Most designers aren't good at copy and will struggle when tasked with using words to communicate with users

A LOT goes behind making software more than mere functional and usable that our users do not just tolerate but love. From a lovely animated emoji, silky smooth micro interactions, or a quirky piece of messaging and more!

It's our job as design managers to advocate with executive stakeholders to unlock investments in building a strong team. 

A team that then is empowered at the SAME level as product and engineering.