I wanted to help creative professionals who are so passionate about the work they do, but are not always prepared for the leadership role that they find themselves in. I created this deck which outline my research findings on what qualities teams wish their creative leaders had. The aim was to create guidelines for those who transition from managing their own work to leading teams. The good thing is that we can learn the qualities of an awesome creative leader, and the framework in this deck can guide individuals on how they need to adapt their behaviour. These slides were shared with the audience during the Service Design Global Conference in Dublin.

1. www.service-design-network.org/sdgc/2018#SDGC18 @SDGC2018 @SDNetwork
Creative leadership:
The qualities that foster awesome creative teams
Lina Nilsson | Designit

2. Designers are so
passionate about the
work they do, but are
not always prepared
for the leadership
role that they find
themselves in.

3. I wanted
to help

4. 4
40+
Designit & Wipro
10+
Nationalities

5. 5
02
Demonstrate Expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failures
07
Embrace diversity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team
01 Efficient communication
Qualities
10
Qualities

6. Creative
leadership
as a service
6
02
Demonstrate Expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failures
07
Embrace diversity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team
01 Efficient communication
Vision Qualities
10
Qualities

7. Thought
leaders have
spoken about
this before
Good leaders must first become good
servants
Robert K. Greenleaf, was the founder of the
modern Servant leadership movement
The responsibility of leadership is not to
come up with all the ideas but to create an
environment in which great ideas can thrive.”
Simon Sinek
Ask not what your country can do for you; ask
what you can do for your country
John F.Kennedy 1961

8. Creative
leadership
as a service
02
Demonstrate expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failures
07
Embrace diversity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team
01
Efficient communication
Vision Qualities

9. 9

10. 02
Demonstrate Expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failures
07
Embrace diversity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team
01
Efficient communicationThe foundation
To get followers
To create the optimal
environment for
innovation
To drive
productivity

11. The
foundation
01 Efficient communication

12. Quality 01
Efficient communication
to enable change
Persuasion
skills
Build relationships
with stakeholders
Proactive
communicator
Behaviour tips

13. The
foundation
01 Efficient communication

14. To get
followers
02
Demonstrate expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude

15. Quality 02
Demonstrate expertise
to build trust
Behaviour tips
Understand the
creative process
Show work
examples
Fight for the
process and
methods

16. Quality 03
Be visionary
to inspire your followers
Behaviour tips
Have points
of view
Stay on to of
trends and share
inspiration
Set directions

17. Quality 04
Have a positive attitude
to see opportunities in
what we do
Behaviour tips
Be positive because it
is contagious
Reframe to find
the positive angle
Be authentic

18. To get
followers
02
Demonstrate expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude

19. To create the optimal
environment for
innovation
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failure
07
Embrace diversity

20. Quality 05
Set clear expectations
to create autonomy
Set clear roles and
let them take
ownership
Lead by exampleSet clear goals
and constraints
Behaviour tips

21. Quality 06
Embrace failure
to enable experimentation
& push boundaries
Share mistakes
and what you
learnt
Share and build on
each others ideas
Pick your battles
Behaviour tips

22. Quality 07
Embrace diversity
to create something better
together
Diversify the team Facilitate collaboration
Behaviour tips

23. To create the optimal
environment for
innovation
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failure
07
Embrace diversity

24. To drive
productivity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team

25. Quality 08
Be humble
to build relationships with
your team
Be an active
listener
Demonstrate
respect
Have a learner
mindset
Behaviour tips

26. Quality 09
Support your team
to do their work
Zoom in and out Stay calm and
remove obstacles
Check-in
Behaviour tips

27. Quality 10
Coach your team
to create a well functioning
team and enable growth
Learn to give
constructive
feedback
Recognise effort
and push
boundaries
Emotional
intelligence
Behaviour tips

28. To drive
productivity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team

29. Creative
leadership
as a service
29
Vision Qualities
02
Demonstrate Expertise
03
Be visionary
04
Have a positive attitude
05
Set clear expectations
06
Embrace failures
07
Embrace diversity
08
Be humble
09
Support your team
10
Coach your team
01
Efficient communication

30. Even famous
leaders were
not perfect
Ramon Henson, Instructor, Management & Global Business KAIHAN KRIPPENDORFF, FAST COMPA NY Wouter Boon, Defining creativity
“I have not failed. I’ve
just found 10,000 ways
that won’t work.”
Thomas Edison

31. Most leaders are
made, not born.

32. www.service-design-network.org/sdgc/2018#SDGC18 @SDGC2018 @SDNetwork
Lina Nilsson
Senior Service Designer
Linkedin - linanilssondesign
Lina Nilsson
Senior service Designer
Designit