Managing Top Talent

July's #TeamTuesdays posts have been centered around what "top talent" means. We've learned through Iris Barrera, UXC 's story, Ariel Cole 's story, and Kelcey Little 's story that Verizon and Verizon Connect are open and curious about new ways to think about hiring. Maybe our candidates come from places and have backgrounds that are vastly different from what we might have expected, but when we meet someone spectacular, someone who can change the game for us, we are uniquely empowered to bring them onto our teams!

But what comes next?

I've been thinking about this a lot this week. At the moment, we are finalizing our mid-year conversations. This is a time in our work year when we pause to reflect on the progress we've made on our business, professional, and personal goals. It's also a moment for us to make note of how to chart the course in the second half of the year so that we can achieve those goals by year's end. This process helps us keep track of career progression, identify needed resources, and make the case for promotions or development plans.

But even more than that, this is a highly valuable time for us to check in with ourselves and really ask ourselves what we want. This period of time is rife with conversations about career paths, developmental milestones, and blue-sky achievements.

We don't always know what these things might look like, but the reflection itself is valuable.

And I myself don't know the specifics on what comes next as an associate director leading this team of incredible talent, but I find that writing about these themes and observations helps me process how to approach these next targets.

Here are some themes that have come up for me as I've reflected on Iris, Ariel, Kelcey, and our entire team's stories!

Strategic Visibility

The main aspect that I have been reflecting on, and now actively working on, is strategic visibility.

Places like Verizon are big. I'm talking truly massive. There are hundreds of departments, career paths, and areas of expertise that one can explore, and things are evolving and changing all the time. Our top talent comes from all over this Verizon planet, and they're hungry for more opportunities. But to get those opportunities, we need to be highly visible.

I often ask myself how I can really get our team's projects out into the major discussions behind had at Verizon. What channels do I have at my disposal? Who can I share this information with? Who would benefit from stories like these? One opportunity that came up was working with our Talent Acquisition team to help uncover stories like the ones we discussed in this month's #TeamTuesdays. Now, I am looking at ways to share these stories not just in my own personal sphere of influence (i.e., my LinkedIn, which I have direct access to) but in bigger, more impactful spheres (e.g., the Verizon employee network, the UX field as a whole).

Our team still working toward true strategic UX Research maturity within our organization, but we are admittedly and excitedly at a level that allows for an associate director role that focuses on the big picture. Most importantly, how can I showcase my team's strengths and growth? But also, what am I doing to show up? How can I document this progress for later reference, especially when discussing my own path through leadership roles? How can I share the thought process behind what it takes to do this work?

And, ultimately, how can I use this evidence to negotiate for resources and buy-in at the executive leadership team / ELT level?

To me, that is the true metric of success. That would mean that our ELT sees UX Research as a core channel through which we learn from our customers, and thus, a vital prong in roadmap decision-making.

I'm finding two specific aspects. The first is content creation, which consists mainly of the quality and applicability of our research methods and communications. But it also includes things like #TeamTuesdays. I need something to point to in order to show the intentionality with which we craft our content. It takes an entire Experience team to get to this level of sophistication when it comes to understanding our customers, and we're still on the path to organization-level recognition of that.

The other is getting the level of communication right. Who is our audience? Is it always the ELT? What catches their attention? What level of information is important to share? How do I prepare for follow-ups? How do I stay flexible as the landscape changes underneath me?

This is valuable feedback that our senior director April Durrett and director Alicia Nachman have shared with me. I borrow their vivid terminology when reflecting on this -- how do I get the aperture right? How do I focus that lens more strategically so that the messages land, and we accomplish our goals? I hadn't thought about that in my previous roles as much, and now, I find it to be the prompt for my next chapter.

Committed Follow-Through

The next major theme that I am hoping to get better at as a manager is committed follow-through on action items that may require collaboration with others in the company.

Our top talent shines when it comes to collaboration and execution at the project level. We've done hundreds if not thousands of vital user research projects throughout our 7+ year tenure. We've held a handful of very impactful events that have sparked ideas and discussions. How can I empower my team to be a part of and commit to action items that are measurable, trackable, and impactful?

This is something that I'm personally really great at, but I struggle when it comes to scoping this up for teams. I'm really great at the ideation phase, but I still feel like I'm navigating a labyrinth when it comes to making those ideas a reality. I've had huge wins this year when it comes to finding ways to bring our UX Research Team together, but I want to expand that process to initiatives that grow past our team. After all, the customer experience that we provide is championed by all of our departments, and I want to foster an inclusive and diverse environment.

Part of the issue that I face is that there is no template for me to look at, per se. I often wonder what this follow-through really looks like. Is it similar to how we measure our customer experience? Is it something else entirely? And even when I nail those metrics down, how do I keep after those success metrics? How can I get resources that our collective teams need? How do I team up with my fellow ADs to create collaborative presentations of the work that we're all doing together? Most importantly, how can I explain to my teams how to have that follow-through for themselves, as they champion larger and more strategic initiatives of their own?

Continued Exploration

The last aspect that I'm reflecting on is continued exploration. Our team is full of top talent, and they're evolving consistently. Mid-year discussions are really challenging me to remember and accept that goals can (and should!) change. Though UX Research requires a baseline level of curiosity, I have found that holding space for these conversations has really shown me the power of a discovery mindset.

The goals that my team has are constantly shifting and changing.

This is great! It means they're taking in new information and processing that in context, allowing it to inform their approaches to the work!

But it also means staying flexible.

We are in a world where resources are tabulated months or years in advance, where budgets are tight and within specific line items, and where UX Research is still making its way to the decision-making table. Projects and resources can get cut or moved around. That can impact our goals significantly. So, how do we create goals that are defined enough to prompt clear action, but open enough that we can still see forward progress?

For instance, how else might we define "impact" in a way that isn't beholden to one metric, one project, or even one initiative? I could see this as being an expansion of operationally defining variables when it comes to research design. And given my role and scope, how might we adjust the way that our team is structured, or how our team works, in order to account for those expansions and evolutions?

I'm also asking myself this question for my own progress.

The goals that I had at the beginning of the year aren't all the same as the goals that I have now. And my motivations and core reasons have changed, too. So, how do I define "top talent" for myself? What might I see myself leading? How else can I carry the banner of UX Research? What spaces might I want to move into? Who else do I want to work with? How do I go about defining that?

Most of all, how do I continue to explore without burning myself out?

How do I stay flexible without breaking?

The best aspect of this chapter of my career is that I have an unlimited expanse in front of me. However, the most concerning aspect is having the resilience and endurance to keep chugging, let alone growing and expanding.

It's particularly interesting at the AD level, when compared to IC roles. It can feel really lonely. We may have team counterparts, but because we're often dividing and conquering, we can sometimes feel spread thin. We are also at that level where we play a pivotal role in bringing people together and managing larger initiatives, but we don't have ultimate decision-making power.

I came across Gary Covert 's article on middle management here and found myself nodding along to a lot of it, plus finding a lot of his strategies to be helpful! Also, check out Fast Company's article on how best to resource for middle management , and Forbes' article on what can support middle managers as they lead their teams.

I particularly appreciate the time spent in these articles on talking about resources. I feel our team personally does a great job at communication and providing context. And we're making great strides in working together on our strategic vision. But the issue of resources is the number one thing that comes up for our team. The nature of those resources can range from time in our schedules to focus on innovation, all the way up to finding ways to test our hardware in our customers' context.

One way that I think really helps us buffer against that burnout is holding open and flexible dialogues with the team! Being able to share our thoughts and feelings as we're progressing has truly fostered an empathetic and present atmosphere to share some of those challenging moments. And I think it has also contributed to the quality of the work that we do, too. It helps us understand how to communicate through change, how to voice our needs, and how to model collaboration that has kindness and integrity deeply embedded within. That makes communicating customer pain points, customer needs, and customer feedback so much easier!

Summary

I began this month's #TeamTuesdays posts with the goal of contributing to a very specific Verizon initiative, and to tell V Teamer stories that showcase how top talent can come from anywhere. I'm ending this series with some serious reflection about who we are / where we're going as a team, and who I am / where I'm going as a leader. Knowing others' motivations for growth has inspired us to help each other find exciting opportunities. So, as I keep growing, I'll keep sharing, and I'll keep uplifting our team as they write incredible stories of their own!

How about you and your team? If you're in a management position, do these ideas resonate with you? Share your thoughts here, and as always, tune in every #TeamTuesdays to learn more about what's going on with our UX Research Team at Verizon Connect !