Undoing the unhealthy
UX design leads and managers are tired. They’re burnt out. The hiring landscape for these roles is a mess. Hiring companies don’t know what they want - whether it’s to join as a people middle manager, director, lead individual contributor, or somewhere in between. Usually this is direct result of the hiring leader not knowing how to best bring these talented folks onboard, often with them lacking direct experience in a healthy human-centered design practice. And often related to lacking true understanding of the difference between the skill sets required for people managing and super senior individual contributors.
My team is relatively new, many having joined my team in the last 5-8 months. Having never been given the opportunity to thrive in prior roles, it’s clear that these past experiences have a negative affect on their ability to lead with confidence, and allow their teams to learn along with them. I spend a lot of time undoing some unfortunately learned fears and showing them what’s possible both for their careers and their life balance.