I'm currently working on a talk about growing and developing as a designer in an in-house team. One of several themes I'm focusing on is 'the urge to grow' — I'd love Posts Peeps POV on this but it doesn't fit in one post, so find more details in the reply below ↓
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Re: 'the urge to grow' — I've seen designers focused on reaching the highest level possible at an org as fast as possible, mostly motivated by financial reasons, but without understanding the exponential rise in responsibilities that come with that chase.
And in most case when designers don't get promoted because their leads feel its too soon for it, IC's can feel distressed and inclined to leave. Is this something you've ever managed/worked on? What advice would you give designers with this constant pursuit for promotion?
It comes up in all of my 1:1s with early-career designers (1-5ish years). To “counter” it or steal the conversation, I focus my conversations around a career framework.
The framework consists of 11 skill sets, role responsibilities, and the focus of your growth, broken up across 8 levels. So: a PD1 has clarity and expectations on each of those items. The PD2 has slightly more complex requirements of all of those, PD3, etc.
In my experience, the speed running of career growth is due to a lack of clarity on what is realistically expected of a design at each stage of their career.
There is some greed associated with the desire to grow quickly, but it’s not really out of line considering what some designers make at larger companies. “Designer X at FAANG makes $200k, so should I.”
Explaining the realities of how businesses are run is a touchy subject to tackle, but it’s part of the overall cohesive conversation you’ll have to have as part of the entire growth and career conversations you’ll be having.
I’ve also found that having career conversations on a regular basis makes the overall experience more productive. I do every 3 months for early careers, and 3-6 months for much more senior designers (10+ years).
Waiting too long between conversations exacerbates the desire to move too quickly. You’ll hear “it’s been a year why can’t I promo?” much more often than “it’s been 3 months…”
That’s not done to game the system on your/the business’ behalf. It’s done to manage expectations.
On top of all that, you’ll need to make sure you explain that promotions happen when you and the business are ready. If there isn’t budget or an opening for a promo, it just may not happen, regardless of their skills or abilities.
Even with all the work in the world, these conversations will fail if your directs don’t think you’re on their side. So, be honest and realistic without sacrificing your support and stewardship of their careers.
While ultimately their career is their responsibility, you play a huge role in enabling their growth so make sure they know you’re a true servant leader.
My convos (maybe for me and not everyone) always include vocalized support of them as people should they choose it’s time to move on. If the business doesn’t have the ability to match their desire to promo, I’m there to help them find the next fulfilling challenge.
I could keep going because I love helping designers grow, but I’ll chill for now.
Final thought: I tell designers that my favorite moments now as a lead is seeing work they do and thinking “fuck, I wish I’d thought of that, that’s great”. Get them to trust that you mean that and they’ll trust you with career advise and guidance.
This is great Aaron, I appreciate this a ton. I agree that helping designers grow is an amazing feat and its amazing to witness said growth.
In those instances I tend have to have pointed conversations about the business and what that means as far as trade offs in working where you’re at.
So what are the pros of working at your current gig vs. leaving for a more high-paying job? Have that conversation with your direct report and then find ways to over index on those pros so they can find fulfillment in their current situation.
It’s about finding out how a specific individual feels appreciated and then targeting those ways of showing it as a manager and a company.
And also, remember that you can’t solve every problem or objection so just do your best.