Restoring a Career

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Ruth Gets a PIP 👏

After ten years as a designer and design manager, Ruth changed jobs to become Director of Design at a tech company. Her track record up to this point was impeccable. The quality of her work, combined with her determination, got her promoted to design manager from designer.

The tech company she joined recognized her potential and assigned her to lead the design team working on one of the company’s hottest products.

Ruth put her heart and soul into running the design team. She held 1:1’s, set clear goals and expectations, led design reviews, gave feedback, did some design work, and drove the entire design process. Ruth excelled at being hands-on, earning her a promotion at her previous job. It was what she knew best; she felt efficient and effective, confident and in control.

The result was the opposite. Ruth ran into trouble by trying to make all the product design decisions without coordinating with her cross-functional engineering and product management partners. At first, they said nothing, but when their deadlines were in danger of being missed, the engineering and product management leaders complained that she didn’t have the knowledge or authority to do her job. A performance improvement plan (PIP) followed.

Ruth made a mistake in believing she would succeed in her new job by continuing to do what she used to do in her previous position. She squandered a significant opportunity to rise in the new organization and was devastated to be on a PIP. 🤦🏽‍♀️

What Could Ruth Have Done Differently? 

To be successful, Ruth needed to plant the seeds of cross-functional teamwork early on and nurture their growth. If she had spent less time micromanaging her team and instead building alliances with members of other groups from engineering, product management, and beyond, she would have created better results for herself and her team.

Get Support 👫

She hired a coach to help her to help her work with the cross-functional partners and get off the performance improvement plan. These are the actionable steps she took.

Make a List 📋

Firstly, she compiled a list of team leaders and influencers whose work intersected with her design team.

Prioritize the List 🔦

Next, she prioritized who to meet based on how frequently her team interacted with those functions. She asked her design team who they were coming into contact with from other groups the most.

Invite them to Meet 📥

Then, she invited each cross-functional leader to an informal 1:1 digital or actual coffee meeting, but the most challenging thing was writing the invitation!

Apologize 🙏

Her meeting invitation began with an apology for not reaching out sooner. It was a grave omission on her part. She asked if they would give her a second chance. She wished to understand their work and the nature of their work and accountability to growing the business. Would they be available on XYZ date for a coffee?

Seek to Understand👂

To effectively build rapport, Ruth learned how to understand her co-workers' situation before advocating her team's work, listing her needs, and asking how her co-workers can help her achieve them.

Be Genuinely Curious 👀

She genuinely wanted to know about each cross-functional leader—so she prepared questions she found most straightforward to ask that would stimulate a positive conversation.

• What led you to join this company?

• What would massive success look like for you and your team?

• What challenges are your team facing?

• What would you like to know about me and my team?

• How would you like me to communicate with you moving forward?

Pros of Building Rapport

After her initial meetings, her coach encouraged Ruth to keep the communication open and ongoing. She learned that a single conversation wasn’t going to generate lasting rapport. Her influence would wane, and she’d be back to square one unless she kept building rapport.

She made it a point to interact with other department leaders weekly or bi-weekly. She nurtured it further by tasking certain team members responsible for checking in on their peers in other teams. Teaching her newly acquired rapport-building skills, her team has helped them grow their leadership skills.

To ensure the lines of communication remained open, she involved members of other teams in collaborative goal-setting, effectively interlocking the different groups through defined objectives.

Ruth's actions built a sound ecosystem based on respect and trust and helped her to get off the PIP. Notably, she made relationships outside her design team that she maintains perpetually.

The Short Of It Is

Proactively reaching out and getting to know your peers and leaders across the company positively contributes to a healthier and more productive work environment. Your peers will see that you value them for who they are, not what they can do for you.

When you build allies, people who will speak up for you if you are outside the room, it is harder for you and your team to be marginalized, under-resourced, or have decisions handed down that you have no say in taking.

Gaining clarity about how other groups collaborate and influence each other gives you exposure to how others lead so you can be a better leader for your team.

And lastly, by listening to other leaders, you will learn the language of the company, making you a more influential leader by working in the same ‘currency.’

That’s it for this week!

Any topics you’d like to see me cover in the future? Just shoot me a DM or an email.

With ❤️ from Sally

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