2021 reflection: Building confidence as a service designer
Moving into a new design role can be challenging. 2021 has resulted in me taking on a lot more responsibility as a design leader across different client projects as well as serving the start-up, social innovation and design community.??
Reflection on this year, one of the bigger challenges I had to overcome was that person staring back at me in the mirror. Pushing past my own imposter syndrome has led to me accomplishing some amazing things that I once thought was impossible.
Confronting imposter syndrome?
?Just so we are on the same page imposter syndrome is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills.”
?Does any of the following sound familiar:
If the answer is yes to any of the following above you might have been impacted by imposter syndrome in the past. And yes it is normal!?
70% of working professionals face imposter syndrome at least one point in their career according to The Times. Most people who are reading this blog have heard an inner voice tell them that they are not good enough as you enter a new job or try something new.?This can be harder for designers that can be a perfectionist or any other profession that is a high achiever.
Overcoming these inner demons?
All of these negative thoughts can take up a lot of mental energy. That is taking away from helping you to become the best version of yourself.?If you are allowing these feelings to fester they will stop you from delivering work and only fuel any negativity you had.?
A lot of people believe that confident people are naturally-born. I can tell you from experience it takes a lot of courage to go in a (virtual) room and convince people that have twice as much experience as you. That they are wrong or need to change their approach.?
What has helped me overcome any issues with owning the room is understanding what value my role as a service designer brings to the project/ organisation. And the impact that can be created if the people in the room believe in the bigger picture of any new approach.?
Leading with a process that values asking questions rather than having all the answers can be a lot more powerful than focusing on just a solution. There needs to be more consideration around the problem space.????
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Something as simple as asking questions when you are new can be the most valuable to put into a room of people that are experts. By breaking assumptions and challenging the norms can result in novel ways of looking at problems.
Not getting buy-in
Self-doubt and not believing in yourself can be a dangerous path.
Many service designers including myself still faced times of self-doubt. Service design is still an emerging discipline for many organisations and individuals. This means that there are still a lot of people trying to figure it out. As you develop and grow within your role it is important to keep composed, building confidence and getting past imposter syndrome can be key when getting stakeholder buy-in.?
We often want to achieve a deliverable that communicates information across organisations and help stakeholders move towards evidence-based design that has a consistent experience over time. Often one of the biggest challenges to communicating our value as service designers involves getting past our inner voice stopping us.?
There have been points across my career when I did not think my work was making a difference. This type of mindset can keep you stuck and impact your ability to perform on a project.??
Coming into a room and feeling that you are expected to have all the answers can be a trap in itself. A lot of these feelings comes from the perspective we have of ourselves. It is critical to not just believe in our work but also know that most people around us what to help us grow and succeed.?
Final thoughts: Building confidence takes time
It is ok that you do not know everything. Understanding and accepting that you do not have all the answers at the beginning is part of the process. If a client or colleague expects you to prepare a full-service blueprint from day one it can be easy to have self-doubt around your ability to deliver.
In some cases, these negative feelings are normal, healthy and not always bad for us to succeed in our roles as service designers. Imposter syndrome can be a great way to ensure that we are not overconfident with our egos as designers and not able to deliver on what we have set out on.
On many occasions, this has meant that I have double and triple check any artefacts or deliverables and sought out information from experts in my team and the project. This has resulted in me becoming a better service designer that is more humble, grounded and collaborative when trying to solve problems. In a holistic way by looking for evidence when designing new services, products or propositions can often lead to having more belief in yourself.???
We all struggle with doubt now and then. The question is are you going to let it hold you back, are you going to identify with that doubt in your head or are you going to push past those feelings that could stop you from being your best? Confidence is knowing things will work out when you have never tried it before and you can find a way.??
Start by being bad, then good to be great. This is an important life lesson, all things take time. Giving yourself the space to fail and learn as an service designer is critical as no project, especially when it comes to a service design project that has complexity and uncertainty from every stage of the process. Over time as you build new skills, gain experience across different industries and craft a portfolio your belief in yourself will grow.?