Your goal as a design manager should be to create a healthy and happy environment for your designers, where they’re consistently shipping high quality work on time.

You do this by building trust.

 You do this by being kind, treating people fairly. And not having ulterior motives.

 You do this by advocating for the needs of your designers.

You do this by being open, honest, and transparent with your team.

You do this by cleaning the dishes. By working in the metaphorical field. Even when it’s hot. Even when you’re tired and especially when it’s not required of you.

You do this by communicating clearly what expectations are for each year designers and then holding them accountable to them.

You do this by letting go of as much control as possible. And giving as much autonomy. And trust to your designers as possible.

You do this by acting more like a coach than a manager.

You’ve got to help unblock your designers when they get stuck.

You also need to help them see a vision for the things that you’re building. So that they clearly understand the why.

 Finally. You need to be on the lookout for fear, drama, or politics. And see if you can stamp them out as quickly as possible.