Open to advise
I want to try something new this year: offer my perspective to any design practitioner or manager interested in leveraging my experience.
As a design leader, I spend a great deal of time developing my team. For me, that means creating a trusted space for honest conversations about career aspirations, growth paths, strengths, and opportunities.
Over the years, I’ve realized a couple of things that may seem basic but are worth acknowledging:
- Most people need help clarifying their career aspirations, charting their growth paths, identifying let alone developing their strengths, and pursuing opportunities. Many have not yet formed a clear line of sight.
- Managers are continually learning how to do things that are far from straightforward, like how to develop a trusted space, be honest in the right way, ask questions that help clarify career aspirations, chart growth paths so they lead to promotions, assess strengths, and prioritize the opportunities that matter. As managers, we utilize an entirely different set of skills than the people we manage.
(It seems ironic that oftentimes new managers are given junior practitioners to manage when both are learning the ropes, but that’s for another post.)
I believe there’s real benefit, especially for people on smaller teams, to give to and learn from the design community in more tactical ways.
By opening myself up, I hope to learn, too. I’m curious about what people are curious about. I want to think about what I haven’t thought about. I want to know what I don’t know but should. I want to try something new.
Is this mentorship? Sure, but it doesn’t have to be. Maybe you just want to ask a tactical question, like “How do performance reviews work?” I won’t know how your company works, but I can demystify the process as I’ve experienced it over the years as both a designer and a manager.
Will I give you a job? Probably not. I have intentional strategies around hiring and developing my team. If you want to join my team, applying is the best route. That said, I hope my perspective can help you land the right job.
You can find me on LinkedIn if you’re interested in connecting.
