When you’re leading a design team, it’s easy to get caught up in deadlines, features, and deliverables. I’ve been there-focused on velocity while overlooking the undercurrent of how people were actually feeling. At first, everything looked fine on the surface. Work was getting done, meetings were happening, and projects shipped. But slowly, I began to notice cracks: disengaged faces in reviews, fewer ideas being shared, and a drop in energy that no roadmap adjustment could fix.

The truth is, emotions drive the way teams work. Ignore them, and you pay for it in hidden ways-lower morale, missed creativity, and quiet disengagement. Teams might not say it out loud, but when they don’t feel understood, they stop bringing their best selves to the table. In product design, where collaboration and trust matter so much, ignoring emotions is a cost you can’t afford.

What I learned over time is that emotional awareness isn’t about being soft-it’s about being effective. A leader who pays attention to emotions can spot issues before they grow, and build the kind of trust where people feel safe to take risks and share ideas. Without that, your team may hit deadlines, but the work will lack the spark that comes from real collaboration.

Here are a few ways to lead with emotional awareness:

• Notice signals – pay attention to nonverbal cues in meetings, like silence or hesitation, that hint at unspoken concerns.
• Ask openly – check in with individuals, not just about tasks, but about how they’re feeling about the work and pace.
• Create space – build time for conversations where emotions and frustrations can surface without judgment.
• Respond with care – when emotions do come up, acknowledge them instead of brushing them aside.

If you want your team to do meaningful work, you need to see them as people first. Emotions aren’t a distraction from the work-they shape the work itself. When you pay attention to them, you don’t just prevent burnout or disengagement-you unlock the energy, trust, and creativity that make design teams thrive. Leading with empathy costs nothing, but ignoring emotions costs everything.