Tips for Cultivating Career Paths and Nurturing In-House Design Teams

How Does Your Creative TalentGrow?

IntroductionWant stellar work from your creative team? Show them the future, and invest in their skills. In our fourth annual survey of in-house design award winners,* six in 10 respondents said they would find better opportunities for professional growth outside their current companies. While this doesn’t mean employees will start jumping ship, it’s something managers should keep in mind as the economy improves and job-hopping becomes more prevalent.

The good news is you don’t need a big budget to earn the long-term support of your team. Our survey results show designers are increasingly concerned about staying challenged and engaged on the job, and having the support of their managers to fulfill their career goals. In fact, many of the in-house designers who responded to our survey, conducted in partnership with Graphic Design USA, expressed a strong desire for training, mentoring and some frank talk about how they might reach the next rung on the corporate ladder.

These investments in your team’s long-term career growth may not require much capital, but they do demand your time and attention, which can easily be consumed by other activities, particularly when workloads rise. This guide provides some strategies for bringing to the forefront the important task of growing your creative talent and making the practice part of your regular work routine.

Introduction

*The American Inhouse Design Awards is the original and premier showcase for outstanding work by in-house designers. It is a unique opportunity for in-house design, marketing and communications departments to be recognized for their talent, the special challenges they face, and their contributions to their businesses and institutions. The survey was sent to the 2009 and 2010 American Inhouse Design Awards winners.

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Planting Seeds

Planting Seeds: Defining and Supporting Career PathsIn this year’s survey, many in-house designers expressed frustration about a perceived lack of career opportunities. But whose responsibility is it to define their path? “It’s really about having employees take ownership for their own individual development,” says Christine Mau, brand design director at Kimberly-Clark. “We can outline what they need to get there and open those doors, but it’s always up to the employees to step through them.”

To facilitate this process, Mau sits down with each of her team members individually and asks where they want their careers to go, instead of assuming she knows the answer. Then, she outlines the skill sets and leadership qualities they need in order to reach those goals – whether it’s to be a manager or a director. To keep this process on track, Mau schedules quarterly meetings to discuss progress with each of her employees.

“I hire people when I know there’s a professional path in place, meaning I can help develop a plan for professional advancement. People get bored. It’s human nature.”

– Joe Benarroch, vice president, Global Corporate Affairs, Mediabrands

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“Do you know what your next career step will be within your organization?”

No 72%

Yes 28%Source: Survey of 190 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Awards winners

Following are some simple things you can do to help your employees realize their career goals:

• Initiatetheconversation.Show your staff you’re invested in their futures by asking about each person’s long-term goals during your next one-on-one meeting. Explain what you’re willing to do to help them get there and what you expect from them. Be honest about where you see them going, set measurable goals and create a written plan.

• Provideregularfeedback.Nearly half (45 percent) of in-house designers surveyed said the only time they discuss their career path with their managers is during an annual review. Scheduling quarterly check-ins will make it easier to track progress and help employees stay motivated to take the next step or adjust their direction as necessary.

• Digintodetails.Give employees several specific things they can do to get closer to a career goal. “I think telling somebody they need an attitude adjustment is good, but how?” says Joe Benarroch, vice president of Global Corporate Affairs at Mediabrands. “What does that mean? I need you to start communicating with your team on a more frequent basis. I need to start seeing e-mails celebrating people’s successes.”

• Setdeadlinesandtimeframes.If a team member wants to move from senior designer to art director, give a realistic time frame for when that promotion might happen. Six months? Two years? Set interim deadlines for each action item you need the person to accomplish before moving up.

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Planting Seeds

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The Guru Path Not every designer wants to be a manager or has the chops to succeed as a team leader. So, how do you give these individuals opportunities to advance? Work with human resources to create “The Guru Path,” suggests Andy Epstein, creative director at Designer Greetings, head of AIGA In-house Design and author of The Corporate Creative. If a talented packaging designer can’t advance without becoming a manager, try creating a senior packaging designer position. This new role might include mentoring fellow designers but not formal management duties such as conducting performance reviews. “Some creatives just aren’t cut out for the management path, yet they should be advanced because of what they contribute to the group creatively,” Epstein says.

71: Percentage of in-house designers who said their company does not offer professional growth opportunities that don’t involve managing people.Source: Survey of 190 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Awards winners

Planting Seeds

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Nurturing Talent

Consulting with mentors, formally or informally, is a critical part of nearly every professional’s development. Think back to the early days of your own career. Who helped you figure out how to navigate office politics, or provided ideas for raising your visibility around the office in a professional way? How did they do it? Even now, you probably have a handful of trusted people you turn to for advice.

Your employees need these same opportunities to reach their potential. Without them, junior designers struggle to become senior designers and the best and brightest might not make the leap into management.

What’s the key to successful mentoring? “It’s all about partnerships and relationships,” says Mediabrands’ Benarroch. “Relationships need to be nurtured. They need to be understood. They need to be handled delicately in some aspects. There’s no one-size-fits-all conversation.”

In other words, give as much effort toward developing relationships with your direct reports as you do with your boss. Eventually, this investment will pay off, as your team becomes more talented – and, likely, more loyal to you and the company.

Nurturing Talent: The Importance of Mentors

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Many companies offer formal mentoring programs, but if your newest hire on the design team is matched up with someone from accounting, it might not be the most productive arrangement for either professional. Try these alternatives:

1.Activelycoachemployeesduringthedailygrind.“Bend down, look at what’s on the monitor, and comment on a design issue that person is working on,” suggests creative director Andy Epstein. Another idea: If you notice a team member isn’t communicating effectively via e-mail, reply to him or her privately with a few quick tips for improvement.

2.Identifygrowthopportunities.Look for ways to stretch each team member’s skill set. Kimberly-Clark’s Mau regularly lets her designers take the lead presenting at internal meetings, with the reassurance that she’s available as backup. Then, they’ll chat postgame about what went well and how to improve next time.

3.Mentorattherightmoment. If you’re having an employee participate in or present at an important meeting, be sure to schedule a “meeting before the meeting” so you can provide tips that will help the individual shine.

4.Encouragepeer-to-peermentoring. Invite senior team members to mentor younger peers – and watch them learn from each other. Jeff Brouwer, marketing creative manager at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, encouraged art directors at his last job to review younger designers’ work, and then sit down and work through any problems together. “Whether it’s problem-solving in design or on one of the programs, you can’t teach that,” he says. “You kind of have to see how other people do it.”

5.Investinexternalrelationships.The more your designers know about the industry, the more value they will bring to your team. Consider purchasing memberships in relevant organizations – like AIGA, Color Marketing Group, the American Advertising Federation and the American Marketing Association – to encourage outside relationships and broaden your team’s perspective.

Mentoring can be as simple as pointing out people in the company who’ve mastered a skill one of your team members needs or wants to develop. “We give them people to watch,” says Mau. “We’ll say, ‘You know that person you work with in marketing? He’s at the same level as you. When he comes into a meeting, this is the behavior I see from him.’” Explain exactly what the successful person does right and how it advances his or her career.

5 Smart Mentoring Strategies

Watch and Learn

Nurturing Talent

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In a competitive job market, designers – both those currently employed and those seeking work – see training as a way to keep themselves marketable and move ahead in their careers. But carefully chosen training adds to managers’ score sheets, too. Improved skills make your team more efficient and effective and can even boost morale and loyalty.

Making the Budget Case

Although designers are clearly hungry for training, a number of in-house designers said their companies provide little or no support for ongoing training. Budget and time constraints are likely the limiting factors, so it’s important to make a strong case regarding your team’s training needs. Specifically, you’ll need to outline the bottom-line benefits training will bring back to the company.

Here’s a good example: Creative director Andy Epstein worked on a team that had to manage and design projects, despite a lack of any formal project management training. He documented how long it took the team to complete projects due to this skill gap, and then pointed out how training could increase efficiency, enable the department to take on more projects and, ultimately, save the company money.

“How concerned are you about keeping your skills marketable/up-to-date as you advance in your career?”

Very concerned 52%Somewhat concerned 35%Not very concerned 13%

Source: Survey of 190 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Awards winners

Encouraging Growth: How to Support Meaningful Training

Encouraging Growth

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“In what ways does your company encourage staff to participate in training/professional development?” Top responses included:

Allows employees to attend training during business hours

Provides design magazines, books and other publications

Subsidizes external training

Offers free in-house training

Source: Survey of 190 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Awards winners. Multiple responses permitted.

Choosing the Right Training

There’s no shortage of training opportunities for designers, but figuring out where to invest your resources can be challenging. One way to solve the problem, according to Epstein, is to conduct an audit of your team and look for skills gaps on a group and individual level. He recommends asking yourself the following questions:

• Are there skills most of your team struggles with, like presenting?

• Do you see things that are slowing your team down? For instance, perhaps your current approval process is too time-consuming.

• Are there skills certain members of your team would like or need to develop in order to work more productively or deliver better results? One of your junior designers, for example, could be interested in learning more about branding or need to brush up on her concepting skills.

If you’re still unsure about which areas some team members need to develop, you might consider a technique called 360-degree feedback. At Kimberly-Clark, Mau undertakes this process each year. Employees anonymously submit the names of six people they’d like feedback from – ranging from clients to peers – and those individuals write out answers to a set of questions about that person’s job performance. “When you collect this information, you can quickly see what areas certain employees need to develop that you might not be aware of,” she says.

Encouraging Growth

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74%65%55%36%

In-house designers were asked which one area they would most like their firm to help them develop. Their top responses:

1. Management/leadership

2. Creativity/innovation

3. Technical/software

4. Business skills

5. Social media

Source: Survey of 190 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Awards winners

Following are some low- or no-cost ways to help satisfy your team’s thirst for knowledge:

• Takeyourteamonatourofalocalprintingfacility,papermillorartexhibitonemorning or afternoon.

• Gatherthegrouptolistentoawebinaronahottopicorspecificsoftware;youcaneven poll the group to see which topics interest them most. Check out online training vendors, such as lynda.com, for additional ideas.

• Organizemonthlymeetingsorbrownbag“lunchandlearn”sessions,whereteammembers can take turns presenting on a strong suit, such as Photoshop tricks or green design trends.

• Hostashow-and-tell.Kimberly-Clark’sMauonceaskedteammemberstobringtoa staff meeting something that excited them – a pattern or interesting package, for example – and talk about why they chose it. “They really, really appreciated seeing what everybody brought forward. It was like a mini inspiration day,” she says.

• Buildonsuccessesforvaluableon-the-jobtraining.Ifadesignerproveshisvalueassisting with photo shoots, give him the opportunity to take the lead by art directing the next one.

Top 5 Training Needs

Training on a Shoestring

Encouraging Growth

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Ultimately, investing in your team’s professional development means you’re helping to create your company’s next generation of leaders. But how proactive should you be about talking with your most promising employees?

Mediabrands’ Benarroch sets high expectations from the get-go, telling all new hires what he sees in them. “You’ve joined my team because I think that you’re a pretty amazing star and I’m going to keep you there,” he says. “So, don’t let it flicker, keep it going.” Taking this approach lets employees know you recognize their talents from the start.

But equally important is sharing with your most promising talent how you envision their careers with the company. By explaining how you see them climbing the ranks in the coming years, whether to a management position or more senior role, you give them incentive to stay at the company. The conversation also allows you to discuss business and individual priorities, as well as steps you can take to reach an outcome that satisfies all parties.

Looking Ahead: Developing the Next Generation of Creative Leaders

“People are less concerned about their salary and more concerned about whether they are making a contribution to the company. So, it’s important to acknowledge that, especially with someone who you feel is going to be able to take on a leadership role.”

− Andy Epstein, creative director, Designer Greetings, and author of The Corporate Creative

Looking Ahead

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Looking Ahead

Advocating for Your Team

It’s one thing to support the professional development of individual members of your team. But it’s another to actually help set them on the fast track to success. The fact is you’ll have a tough time getting anyone promoted unless you’re effectively working the right channels within your company. Here are a few action steps you can take to help turn the spotlight on top players:

• Expose designers to upper management. When executives can place a face with a name, they may be more willing – and even excited – to sign off on a promotion. One way to help make this connection is to invite key team members to present at company meetings and invite designers to attend other activities where the higher-ups will be.

• Sing your team’s praises. Send out e-mails celebrating your department’s successes and the challenges they’ve overcome, copying your boss and the person above him or her. Do this more often than not, recommends Kimberly-Clark’s Mau, “So at the end of the year when I’m thinking to myself that Julie should be promoted, I have set the stage to get support for advancement if management already knows who she is and what she’s done.”

• Pave the way. Kevin Diegel, packaging graphics art director for Costco Wholesale Corporation, recently worked with the company’s vice presidents of marketing to develop two new senior designer positions, and ultimately, a hierarchy and bridge to management. They made the case by explaining how this arrangement would allow for Diegel to have a backup in place to keep projects moving in her absence, thereby helping the organization maintain productivity.

Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of in-house designers aspire to management roles within or outside their company.Source: Survey of 190 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Awards winners

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Conclusion

While there is plenty of room for improvement in creating clearer and more varied career paths for in-house designers, there are some things to celebrate, too. The survey results suggest today’s in-house designers are generally happy with their careers and devoted to working in the creative industry: Nearly eight in 10 respondents are very or somewhat satisfied with their current work situations. Further, nine in 10 described their careers as very or somewhat promising. And more than eight in 10 respondents said they expect to stay in the design profession until they retire.

Whether they choose to continue their careers at your company or somewhere else is a more complicated question, however: More than half (54 percent) of in-house designers said they are likely to change employers once the economy rebounds. To help prevent a creative “brain drain,” talk about the opportunities available to your employees and show a genuine interest in their career goals. Following through on your promises and providing the necessary tools and resources they need to realize their dreams is what will win their long-term commitment. So, go ahead. Plant a few seeds and watch your creative talent grow.

Thanks to the Experts

The Creative Group wishes to thank the following people who contributed to How Does Your Creative Talent Grow?:

• Joe Benarroch, Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, Mediabrands

• Jeff Brouwer, Marketing Creative Manager, Valeant Pharmaceuticals

• Kevin Diegel, Packaging Graphics Art Director, Costco Wholesale Corporation

• Andy Epstein, Creative Director, Designer Greetings, and author of The Corporate Creative

• Gordon Kaye, Publisher, Graphic Design USA

• Christine Mau, Brand Design Director, Kimberly-Clark

Conclusion

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About The Creative Group

About The Creative Group

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The Creative Group specializes in placing highly skilled interactive, design and marketing professionals. We represent a wide range of social media and interactive strategists, Flash and InDesign experts, brand managers, multimedia specialists, communications professionals, and more. The professionals we place are evaluated using TalentMatch®, our proprietary evaluation process that includes a personal interview and skills testing. Firms appreciate that our staffing managers typically have prior experience working within the creative industry, which helps them better understand their clients’ needs and their freelancers’ unique talents. For more information, please call 1.888.846.1668 or visit creativegroup.com.

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