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.

Good things take time. A tree only becomes more strong and beautiful over time.

I’m glad to hear that. It’s been a bit of a struggle for me so it’s good to hear it can work out.

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.

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.

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.

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 ↓

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.

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.

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.

Not the perspective you're asking for since I've never been a designer in that position, but the constant pursuit of 'more' is exhausting. I think we could all (myself including) exercise being content with what we currently have, financially and professionally

A few years ago I made it all the way to (interim) CEO at the place where I was working, pretty fast and also somewhat unplanned, and it made me realise how much I enjoyed actually being an IC 🤍

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.

'...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.”'

This is such a recurrent theme, it's even harder to approach and deal with when you're in LATAM like I am, with all of its realities.

But my take on your original point/question/thought: while levelling up is great, I definitely think that no matter your “talent” or skills, there’s one type of skill that only comes with experience and just… doing the work for a long time.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

That’s not done to game the system on your/the business’ behalf. It’s done to manage expectations.

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…”

I figured that out as I hit send. Durp on my part.

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.

I share a similar experience, I've been relishing my experience as an IC in recent years 😮‍💨

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.

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).

It's much appreciated, thanks for sharing. I 100% agree, I've also been guilty of this in the past but it's just become so exhausting as you well put it.

I worry that I experience the opposite. 🙃 I went to quickly into lead and manager type stuff and regret not having more time to develop my skills as an IC.

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.

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?

And also, remember that you can’t solve every problem or objection so just do your best.