On the Ask Us Anything podcast, editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen taps former Trade Tales guests to answer real, confidential designer questions, offering a safe space to discuss business challenges. Have a question of your own to ask? Send an email to start the conversation.

This week, Noz Nozawa joins the show to answer a question from a designer who’s finding it difficult to expand her staff. She knows exactly what she wants her dream team to look like—a passionate group that comes together in person to bring each project to life—but in practice, assembling the right players has sometimes been a challenge.

Nozawa, whose eponymous design firm is based in San Francisco, shares advice on the value of investing in a professional recruiter to find top talent, how to gauge a candidate’s design passion at the interview stage, and why it’s essential as principal to set the standards for boundaries and communication.

Crucial insight: For Nozawa, developing a workplace where employees are eager to work together starts with setting the tone for the rest of her team. “For me, a big part of it is modeling: I’m always here if you want to riff with me; I don’t require a very formal design charette,” she says. “I don’t need the team to be really ready to get my feedback on something—they can show me something partway through, something that they’re still ideating on. I feel like that engenders a very conversational approach to design collaboration in the office.”

Key quote: “One of the things that I evaluate during the interview process is, ‘Is this person a hard worker? Do they care about their work? Do they take pride in their work?’ That [means they’re] motivated, [if] they’re inherently driven by things that I understand and relate to and agree with.”

This episode was sponsored by Four Hands and Crypton. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.