Lessons learned from the first cohort of Staff Designer

Teaching can be an energizing act of service when you’re sharing something you’re passionate about. With over 50 public speaking engagements and 80 design mentees, it’s clear that navigating the world of digital design is something I’m passionate about. Maven, a professional education platform, caught wind of my work and asked if I wanted to set up a course about the individual contributor design leadership path.

I’ve written about design leadership in the past and am quite confident in my own career path. But I still felt terrified by the idea of teaching other people about the subject. And that’s exactly why I decided to do it!

Before publishing anything serious, I put out a short survey to see what topics resonated with others. Over 200 people responded, and the results were resounding! They validated my concept: other designers were as overwhelmed and frustrated as I was seven years ago when I began to transition from Senior to Staff Designer.

The survey responses helped me hone my own message. The landing page transformed from a passive voice into a clear and confident call to action. Then I put on my best faux confidence, got really vulnerable, and announced the course.

Over the weeks that followed, I built out the course content along with a robust communications campaign. 42 seasoned designers participated in the first cohort and rated it an average of 4.8 out of 5 stars. Here are a few of the lessons learned that I’m pulling into the second cohort later this month.

The struggle is universal

Many designers get to a point in their career where they aren’t sure what to do next. Unfortunately, there isn’t much information out there to help. For several years, I relied on staff.design (created by Campsite founder Brian Lovin) and a couple of leadership books such as Radical Candor and The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. People who signed up for my course all reported feelings of uncertainty and a dearth of the information necessary to help overcome those feelings.

It’s unfortunate that so many people are forced to navigate this ambiguity alone. In the first cohort, someone would often share a question or reflection that resonated with others in the live sessions. These moments helped people feel as though they were encountering natural growing pains instead of a career mismatch.

I’m not sure how many of the folks in this cohort will continue along the Staff Designer path. I am, however, confident that they now know the expectations of the role and are fully equipped to make informed choices that best suit their needs. I hope many of them do decide to keep going!

Technical skills are easier to grow

There’s a saying: “what got you here won’t get you there”. That’s definitely true in this case. While I do touch on craft expectations of the Staff Designer role, most of the course is about communication, boundaries, time management, and collaboration. The only pixels I discussed were examples from my past work.

As I formed the lesson content and projects, I initially felt like an imposter because none of the coursework would directly improve folks’ hands-on design skills. Am I really a designer if I’m talking about communication skills? I reminded myself that a key differentiator between Senior and Staff Designers is the mushy stuff, like executive presence. And in my research, great options already exist for individuals who wish to build their visual design skills — Elizabeth Lin runs one of the best, for example.

Reaffirming my goal of helping seasoned designers get to the next level helped me develop confidence in my decision. I pushed the self-doubt aside and kept going. From this experience, I realized that if you are walking down uncharted territory, you will likely feel terrified. Acknowledge the discomfort and push through.

Connection is key

The skills you need to level up are hard to build in a vacuum. Books can help you identify gaps in your skillset that might be holding you back. But the process can be quite slow because you are going on the journey alone. 1:1 coaching through programs like Active Voice can help you at pivotal moments, but you’re getting a filtered view of the broader industry rather than hearing directly from many other designers.

When you connect with a group of people who are going through similar challenges in a facilitated space, you grow exponentially. Talking shop and strategizing with many others at or near the same point in your career will show you many different perspectives at once. I formed this thesis based on my own career struggles a few years before creating the course, and it was proven true by many of the conversations I had with participants in the first cohort.

Consider the factors that generate connection and include them in a code of conduct. This ensures everyone upholds the safety of the communal discussion space. For example, confidentiality is important to ensure cohort participants feel safe enough to share their experiences. Maven’s platform helps facilitate this by generating separate spaces for each cohort, ensuring information stays private within each group.

Vulnerability is scary but worth it

Finally, this experience once again reminded me that vulnerability can be good. It can be a sign of strength and determination. When you fight that inner critic and put ideas into the world, you can resonate with other people and create something impactful. I’m grateful to every member of the first cohort for going on this journey with me.

The next cohort of Staff Designer is currently open now and will begin on October 28, 2024. Staff and Senior Designers looking to build confidence in their leadership skills as individual contributors are invited join us for the second-ever cohort. We’ve already got 16 participants from companies like Meta, Mercury, and Atlassian—it’s going to be a blast!