Professional Development & Mentorship

Company: Target

Role: Sr. Manager of UX

In this example, I’ll be sharing some of my experience with mentorship and fostering professional development – highlighting my relationship with a mid-level designer over the course of a year at Target.

It was a time of transition on our team when this designer joined the cart & checkout team at Target. We had a new Product Owner (PO) and were in the pre-holiday madness. As I was helping them on-board to the team, I made a few observations:

  • Not confident defining their own work and design process

  • Little experience with our design system

  • Interpersonal communication opportunities

I coached and mentored them in these areas over their first year on the team.

 

Not confident in defining work & process

Opportunity: They didn't feel empowered to define their own work and design process — looking to our PO and myself to instruct on her next steps.

Solution: We found a work flow that allowed them to see how the timing of their work directly funneled into the work of the engineering team and I set up weekly syncs between Product and UX where we shared progress, current objectives, and opportunities in our space.

 

little experience with design systems

Opportunity: When it came to design, they were adept at recognizing and following established patterns, but had little experience using our design system or designing for native apps.

Solution: I kept an eye out for projects that would allow them to design across all three platforms so they could use those as an opportunity to learn the nuances between them and lean into the efficiencies of our design system.

 

Interpersonal communication

Opportunity: There were a few interpersonal opportunities that distracted from the work.
There is a balance that is struck in the product relationship between a PO and a designer. The key to this balance is for each party to feel confident in the bounds of their role, while influencing the work of the other. That balance was not struck at the outset of their relationship with our PO.

Solution: I helped them understand the expectations of the product/design relationship and coached them in self-advocacy and conflict resolution. That relationship saw huge improvements over the year and continued to improve even after I was no longer on the team.

We also had minor interpersonal issues from time to time, and through these I practiced Situation, Behavior, Impact feedback loops. In return I asked them to provide feedback to me on our working relationship. Through these conversations I was able to build a space of trust, respect, and candor that allowed them to feel comfortable giving me constructive feedback helping me grow as a mentor and coach.

 

Impact

Individual: Through my coaching and mentorship, they gained confidence, practiced new skills, and strengthen their design process.

Team: Their increased confidence allowed them to focus more on the nuanced details of the work – like interaction design, accounting for the underlying architecture, and collaborating with engineers earlier in the discovery & design process. They enjoyed the increased collaboration with engineers so much that they stood up a UX discovery series that brought UX & engineers together in a regular cadence to discuss work in progress, share user insights, and get technical input earlier in the design process.

Culture: Whether or not they knows, they made a lasting impact on me as well — our collaboration and relationship has helped us each grow and learn. Our success over that year helped establish a mentorship pattern that’s since been replicated elsewhere in Target’s design team – pairing different levels of designers together so each can level up skills through their collaborative partnership.

takeaways

This story of growth, is also a story of empathy — leaning in to understand the other person’s needs and goals, giving them the tools they need – to elevate the work, contribute to the team, & ultimately impact the culture.