Your career problem may have the “wrong” name

For the last 3 years, I’ve been answering hundreds of career questions by experienced designers and design leaders.

Questions such as:

• “I got good feedback from my manager, why did they not promote me?”

• “Everybody agrees with me but nothing happens.”

• “Word on the street says there might be layoffs. How can I figure out whether I am at risk?”

With 300+ newsletter issues under my belt, I figured out that naming the problem is usually the most difficult part before getting the answer.

Since the problem presented to you is almost never the real problem you should solve.

1. “I need a strong case for my promotion.”

Probably.

But there’s always a possibility that the leadership knows how good you are and decided that promoting you would create a bigger problem than leaving you where you are.

No matter how good your accomplishment list looks.

You need to change the cost-benefit equation for promoting you.

2. “I need to become more persuasive.”

Perhaps.

But it’s very unlikely that lack of agreement and action is a problem with your presentation skills.

It could mean that the decision was made elsewhere, nobody in the room is responsible for the outcome, or taking your side would be too costly for them.

No matter how polished your deck looks.

3. “I need to become indispensable.”

This option can backfire when the reorg is in the works.

Being indispensable for the current work can save you.

But it can also pin you to the work which is not needed by the company anymore.

The critical question here is whether you are connected to a person, a project, or a priority which the organization still plans to support.

4. “I need more visibility.”

Visibility helps only when the right people are able to connect your work to their priorities.

Visibility of doing something that other people can easily replace does nothing but solidifies your current positioning.

That is why searching for “promotion,” “stakeholder management,” or “visibility” advice usually leads you astray.

The label describes how the situation makes you feel.

It tells nothing about what really happens within the organization.

That is why I created a free tool to help you to discover the problem beneath the problem.

It’s called Answer Finder.

All you do is answer 4 questions, and it will provide you with—

• A sense of what may be going on inside your organization

• Next step worth taking

• Specific UX Mentor Diaries issue or template to help

You don’t need to read 300+ issues hoping one sounds familiar.

Start with the situation you’re actually in.

Because the right advice applied to the wrong diagnosis is still the wrong move.

Talk soon!

— Marina Krutchinsky, ex-JPMorgan VP teaching designers how power actually works

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