The big idea: Human-centered leaders treat change as a design problem: they see the system from the balcony, name what is adaptive, fill the team roles that are missing and let people test the change before they commit to it.
In 60 seconds
- Treat change as a design problem: step onto the balcony and see the whole system.
- Name what is technical and what is adaptive, because adaptive challenges need people to learn and change.
- Fill open team roles on purpose, and settle disagreements with a quick test, not a debate.
Do this: map your team’s roles, run a daily balcony check and show in your final presentation who must change for your idea to work.
How leading through design works
Human-centered leadership points the design process at people and teams. You learn what people need before you push, you test change in small pieces, and you help people do the hard work of changing instead of doing it for them.
Empathy and compassion at the center
In this course, empathy means caring deeply about the lives of the people you design for. Compassion is empathy in action: a willingness to do something about it. A human-centered leader does both, for users and for teammates.
Technical problem or adaptive challenge?
Ronald Heifetz and colleagues at the Harvard Kennedy School draw a line that changes how you lead. Your design challenge in this course is adaptive on purpose: there is no simple answer.
Technical problem
- The fix is known. An expert or a procedure can solve it.
- Authority works. Someone decides and it gets done.
- People stay the same. No one has to change values, habits or loyalties.
- Example: a clinic installs a reminder system that texts patients the day before.
Adaptive challenge
- The fix is not known yet. People have to learn their way to it.
- Authority is not enough. Orders produce compliance, not change.
- People must change. Habits, roles or beliefs shift, and someone feels a loss.
- Example: getting front-desk staff, nurses and patients to rethink why appointments get missed.
The most common leadership mistake is treating an adaptive challenge like a technical problem: buying a tool or issuing a rule when people need to learn and change.
Leading change through design
Get on the balcony
Step out of the action to see the whole system and the patterns in it.
Ask: what is really going on here?
Name the challenge
Say what is technical and what is adaptive, and who will feel a loss.
Ask: who has to change, and what do they give up?
Design with them
Bring the people who must change into empathy, ideation and testing.
Ask: who is missing from the room?
Prototype the change
Try the new way small, safe and reversible before asking for a big commitment.
Ask: what is the smallest real test?
Pilot and spread
Define success, run a pilot, share the story and keep iterating.
Ask: how will we know it worked?
Leadership moves for design teams
The first four come from adaptive leadership (Heifetz and colleagues). The last two come from design practice.
Regulate the heat
Keep stress high enough that people engage and low enough that they do not shut down.
On a team: after hard feedback, slow down, then run “I like, I wish, what if.”
Give the work back
Do not solve it for people. Help them take on the problem that is theirs.
On a team: the strongest member coaches instead of doing every task.
Protect other voices
Make room for the people who see the problem differently, especially those with less power.
On a team: ask the quietest person first.
Keep attention on the hard part
Notice when the group drifts into easy busywork and steer it back.
On a team: “Polishing slides will not fix the test that failed.”
Test, do not debate
When smart people disagree, a quick prototype settles more than an argument.
On a team: build both versions and let users choose.
Tell the user’s story
People change for a reason they care about. A real user story gives them one.
On a team: open each work session with one quote from fieldwork.
Team roles: the Ten Faces on your teamLearning, organizing and building roles, and the in-class version
Tom Kelley’s Ten Faces of Innovation (introduced on the Ideation page) work as team roles, not fixed types. Kelley groups them into learning roles (Anthropologist, Experimenter, Cross-Pollinator), organizing roles (Hurdler, Collaborator, Director) and building roles (Experience Architect, Set Designer, Caregiver, Storyteller).
In class, the “What type of Human Centered Leader are you?” exercise sorts the same roles by the experience they shape:
Customer experience
Caregiver, Experimenter, Set Designer, Experience Architect
Employee experience
Cross-Pollinator, Anthropologist, Collaborator
Organizational experience
Hurdler, Director, Storyteller
A strong team covers all three. When a role is open, someone steps into it on purpose.
Leading a team you are also onPeer leadership in a short, intense course
- Use the class ground rules on your team. Defer judgment, build on others’ ideas, one conversation at a time.
- Name the pattern, not the person. “We keep skipping users” lands better than “you never want to interview.”
- Remember the feedback lesson from the syllabus. Watch for imposter syndrome (doubting work that is good) and overconfidence (bristling at honest feedback). Both get in the way of growth.
After the idea: implementationHow a design becomes a change people keep
A tested prototype is not a change yet. To make it last, a team plans who does what, what it needs (people, partners, money), how it will run a pilot, and how it will define success before the pilot starts. Then it keeps iterating. You will build these out with a real client in BUAD 497: see Implementation Roadmap and Pilot and Define Success.
Try it: Team Role and Leadership Move Planner
Tool · IB 407
Team Role and Leadership Move Planner
Map your team’s roles, then get the leadership move that fits what is happening right now.
- 1Set roles
- 2Pick situations
- 3Share
Your leadership move
All checks
Role coverage
Why these moves
Put it to work: leading your team in London
Leadership shows up in three places in IB 407. Group Teamwork/Contribution (50 points, from peer contributions and your self-assessment) and Individual Participation (50 points) reward how you lead and support your team. Your final presentation shows how you would mobilize others to move the idea forward.
Build it in five steps
Map roles on day one
Use the planner to give every teammate a primary role and spot the open ones.
Your deliverable: a team role map in your notebook, with who covers each open role.
Agree how you will work
Decide how you make decisions, split tasks and handle someone falling behind.
Your deliverable: three to five team agreements everyone signs off on.
Run a daily balcony check
Five minutes at the end of each day: what is working, what is stuck, technical or adaptive, which move next.
Your deliverable: a dated line in your notebook for each day, with the move you chose.
Plan the change, not just the idea
Name who must change for your idea to work, what they lose, and how you would involve them and pilot it.
Your deliverable: the “how we would make this real” part of your final presentation.
Reflect with evidence
Before the peer contribution and self-assessment, look at your notes. Which roles did you play? Which move did you lead?
Your deliverable: a self-assessment that cites specific moments, not adjectives.
What the peer contribution rubric rewardsThe top level in plain words
At the top level (50 points), a teammate regularly offers useful ideas, always does their assigned roles well, consistently listens to and supports others with respect, stays focused on the goal, finishes tasks on time, is self-directed, goes beyond to help others, and is a leader within the group. Peer and self-assessments advise the instructors. They do not set your grade on their own.
The syllabus is clear that GLS is an honors program, so “exceeds expectations” is the assumed norm.
Examples: technical or adaptive?Six quick cases from different fields
A warehouse adds a second loading dock
Mostly technical. Known fix, clear owner.
Two merged finance teams close the books differently
Adaptive. Each side has habits and pride in its way.
A hospital updates its discharge software
Technical, until nurses and doctors must change how they talk to patients. Then adaptive.
A city wants more residents to use its 311 app
Adaptive. Trust in city services matters more than the app.
A student team misses a deadline
Technical if it is planning. Adaptive if it keeps happening.
A nonprofit’s volunteers stop showing up
Adaptive. Find out what volunteering means to them first.
These are made-up examples for practice.
Do this, not thatHabits of human-centered team leaders
Do this
- Fill open roles on purpose.
- Ask whether a problem is technical or adaptive.
- Settle disagreements with a quick test.
- Give work back instead of taking it over.
- Ask the quietest teammate first.
- Bring the people who must change into the design.
Not that
- One person as permanent leader and doer.
- Solving every problem with a new rule or tool.
- Arguing for an hour about two ideas.
- Quietly redoing a teammate’s work.
- Mistaking fast agreement for alignment.
- Announcing the change and expecting people to follow.
Before you submitCheck these before the self-assessment and the final presentation
- [ ] Every teammate has a primary role, and open roles have a named backup.
- [ ] Our team agreements are written down and everyone agreed to them.
- [ ] My notebook has a daily balcony check with the move we chose.
- [ ] Our presentation says who must change for the idea to work and how we would involve them.
- [ ] We named at least one adaptive challenge in our client’s system, not only technical fixes.
- [ ] My self-assessment cites specific moments when I led, supported or stepped into an open role.
Go deeper
In-class team activity · 25 min
Balcony and Dance Floor
By the end: An honest map of the roles your team actually plays, your top stuck point sorted as technical or adaptive, and one leadership move with an owner for tomorrow. Your instructor will give you the password in class.
Part of the Smith GLS human-centered leadership sequence: IB 407, BUAD 317 and BUAD 497, toward the Human Centered Consulting Certificate.
Frequently asked questions
What is human-centered leadership?
Human-centered leadership points the design process at people and teams. Leaders learn what people need before they push, test change in small pieces and help people do the hard work of changing instead of doing it for them. It rests on empathy, caring deeply about people, and compassion, which is empathy in action.
What is the difference between a technical problem and an adaptive challenge?
A technical problem has a known fix that an expert or procedure can apply, and people do not have to change. An adaptive challenge has no known fix yet, so people must learn, shift habits or beliefs, and someone feels a loss. The distinction comes from Ronald Heifetz and colleagues at the Harvard Kennedy School.
How do you lead change using design thinking?
Move through five steps: get on the balcony to see the whole system, name what is technical and what is adaptive, design with the people who must change, prototype the change small and reversible, then pilot and spread it. Each step asks a question, such as who is missing from the room or what the smallest real test is.
What is the most common leadership mistake with adaptive challenges?
The most common mistake is treating an adaptive challenge like a technical problem: buying a tool or issuing a rule when people need to learn and change. Orders produce compliance, not change. Other traps include one person acting as permanent leader and doer, arguing for an hour about two ideas and announcing a change while expecting people to follow.
How are the Ten Faces of Innovation used as team roles?
Tom Kelley's Ten Faces of Innovation work as team roles, not fixed types. Kelley groups them into learning roles, organizing roles and building roles. The IB 407 class exercise sorts them by the experience they shape: customer, employee and organizational. A strong team covers all three, and when a role is open, someone steps into it on purpose.