Interpersonal relationships and team dynamics can be tricky. We often eschew the values of team work and working together, but balancing relationships when everyone has a good idea is tough. Jessica Hall shares some thoughts on how to navigate those tricky spots so your team can start communicating and get back to what they do best.
Topic: Career
The Imbalance of Culture Fit
Part of getting to a better place in the new year is recognizing where we have sway, and going past our own discomfort to create positive change in ourselves and in the world. Those of us who have a role in the hiring process can do better by thinking critically about culture fit. Matt Griffin challenges us to consider whether it actually creates the kind of team that’s the best for the enterprise, or mostly serves to make us comfortable by surrounding us with people largely like ourselves in ways that aren’t relevant to the business.
Demystifying Public Speaking
We’re an industry of ideas—ideas that feed our interests and enhance our work. Each perspective is a potential catalyst for growth. In this excerpt from Demystifying Public Speaking, Lara Hogan tells us why and how to give public speaking a try.
Managing Ego
Any of us can be that irrational colleague who makes for an interesting day at work. All it takes is low confidence and high anxiety—and that comes with the territory. Brandon Gregory shows us how we can bolster and validate our coworkers and strengthen our own emotional resilience so we can avoid unnecessary drama and produce happier relationships.
Network Access: Finding and Working with Creative Communities
Real creative change can happen. And is happening and thriving—just outside our usual circles. Senongo Akpem talks about how the design community has changed, and how venturing further afield can help us push the “Reset” button.
Why Aren’t You Asking Questions?
As a designer, your job is to understand your client’s needs. Listening to what they tell you is a good place to start, but it doesn’t end there. You gain much more insight by asking the right questions. Of course, it also helps to ask the right people and ask in the right way. Janice Gervais offers some tips to turn you into a better designer/detective.
Finding Opportunities in the Mistakes We Make
You flung yourself headlong into your career. Suddenly you realize you’re barely keeping your head above water and you’re not even sure where you’re going. Time to reflect, says Clarice Bouwer, and do some small experiments designed to find the course corrections that will get you back on solid ground.
Impulses and Outcomes
When a designer becomes known for a certain look or style, it could be a sign that they’re held in thrall by something in their own personality or individual life experience. Matt Griffin reminds us that design is a service intended to be tailored to the client. To best meet the project’s and the client’s needs, recognize when you’re hanging on to a limited selection of personal design tropes.
Defeating Workplace Drama with Emotional Intelligence
Workplace drama, coworker and client irrationality: these seem like forces of nature that we have no way to prevent or control. Brandon Gregory shows us the emotional calculus at the heart of the tempest. Try this formula on any behavior that makes no sense, and it will help you understand what’s going on and what you can do to help.
Understanding the Emotional Response
Validating emotions isn’t a glorified psychological process; part of our work is to hear our colleagues and clients out. Kelsey Lynn Lundberg shows us how we can identify the underlying needs—security, freedom, identity, worth—that drive emotional responses, and how to translate those needs into productive discussions to keep our teams moving forward.
