Making Awesomeness at Center Centre
I still have the t-shirt I wore when I was offered and accepted my role at Center Centre. It's funny because I wasn’t expecting a job offer that day. Had I known, I might not have worn that particular shirt, which featured a cartoon zombie pinup girl.
Thankfully, the shirt didn’t scare away the wonderful Dr. Leslie Jesnsen-Inman and Jared Spool from asking me to join the then UIE team and their new adventure opening Center Centre.
I’ve been fortunate to see Center Centre evolve over the years and work with some of the most talented people. My career highlights have been centered around the serious awesomeness we’ve made as a team.
I was there when the team opened the in-person User Experience Design School. I saw our class of students get incredible jobs. I’ve been in the room with 300+ UX professionals, being inspired at the successful conferences we hosted. I led the efforts to restructure our online efforts for working professionals after the pandemic forced us to change everything.
I’ve learned more from this company and team than this post can contain, but I’ll still try to pull out the greatest hits on what I’ve learned anyway…
What I Learned About Leadership
Between Jared, who has over 30 years of experience leading companies in designing great experiences, and Leslie, who has an actual doctorate in Leadership, I can honestly say, I’ve learned from the best.
Leslie has engulfed me in the power of Servant Leadership: the idea that you best lead a cause by helping and prioritizing the needs of others. This has been a defining idea that has stuck with me. How can I help my organization by helping my team members?
Leslie always said that to be a leader, you just need to lead. Then, when one person follows, you’re officially a leader. It’s that simple. And as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man knows, with great power comes great responsibility. So always lead with respect for yourself and those who choose to follow you.
Leslie and Jared both instilled in me the idea of Yes and. One of the best ways I’ve found to channel my love of new challenges. When there is something I don’t know of yet or disagree with, never answer with no. Instead, try Yes and. Yes, I could do that, and I need to do X, Y, and X to figure it out first. Or yes, that could work, and if we try X, Y, and Z steps, we could get there faster. Yes, and is a powerful statement.
Jared has further set me up for stakeholder success by always asking me to think like an executive. When I go into any project, I ask myself what the needs of a project’s stakeholders are. And that sometimes stakeholders will stick beans up their noses (that last one makes more sense after you read about it).
I learned a Master’s degree worth of high-level leadership and business knowledge. I now have effective methods to facilitate conversations, not disagreements, on the ways we lead teams to deliver our best products and services.
What I Learned About Managing
I’ve really come to love management. I know lots of people are not excited about the idea of being a manager, but what can I say? I love people. :)
I’ve managed dozens of team members from our web-development and marketing fellowship. I start every first meeting with my directs by saying, “My job is to give you the resources and guidance you need to succeed.”
Management is like servant leadership, you should focus on what you can do for your direct first, and what your direct can do for you second.
Manager Tools played a huge role in the resources I used to manage and be managed at Center Centre. We put our own UX lens on these tools, and it's become a staple in building a foundation for successful working relationships.
Weekly one-on-ones: DO NOT SKIP. Seriously, it can be so easy to do these left often by giving your directs a chance to come to you with anything they need once a week. It’s an important time to communicate and connect with your team. Don’t skip. Don’t do it.
Positive and Reaffirming Feedback: There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone grow their skills. If you have a direct report who will take feedback well then give them feedback often! Positive feedback is great and reaffirming or correcting feedback helps people grow.
DisC: I’m huge on behavior or personality assessment but I like DiSC because it focuses on patterns of behavior. In a professional environment how does someone behave and interact with others? What are responses to those behaviors that could work great for them?
Assuming Positive Intent: This is a BIG one. It’s easy to see the dark or negative side of a situation. It’s harder to assume there is a non-negative reason for something you don’t know of yet.
For example, I once had a direct who was constantly late for a regular meeting. Instead of assuming a negative reason why they were late, I kept my mind open and asked them what was going on. It turns out our meeting was at the same time as when their kids got home from school, and they often go straight to mom. Ahhhh got it. That totally makes sense. Let’s just move the meeting up or back 30 minutes to accommodate you, done. From then on meetings started on time, and they got the time they needed to help their family.
What I Learned About Design
Oh wow, a lot. Here are some quick pointers…
When you want to add emphasis to wording, choose only one way to do so and make it count. Change the color, character style, size, or size. Choose one design change and go all in. One change done right is all you need.
Overall, keep font/character/color/size differences to a max of 3-5 styles. Again, less is more.
Simple design done well is best and always hardest.
Don’t be afraid of color.
If you’re on the fence about a design element, either go all in on it or take it away.
Always side on more whitespace
Always start big and then work your way back. Before you’re done with a design, look for one element that you can lose. Coco Chanel once said, 'Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.'
Forget the rules.
And design is more than just creating graphics and pushing pixels. Design is all about setting and meeting expectations. I found joy in the strategic side of design work, and I'm thankful I've been able to grow my design skills into a mighty high-level thinking superpower.
What I Learned About Communication
I’d rather be part of a team that overcommunicates than undercommunicates. We have a team doctorate of no surprises. If something affects the team, tell them, don’t surprise them. Something isn’t completed until you tell someone it's done. No one likes an open loop.
People don’t want to guess when you’re out for the day, when you’ve scheduled an important marketing campaign, or when you've finished a project, tell people. Overcommunication avoids surprises and misunderstandings. Give important feedback in meetings, don’t be afraid to speak up; your work is essential.
Speaking of meetings.
Every meeting needs an agenda, and if we realize at any time that we don’t need to meet or that you need to be somewhere else more important, that’s fine. Meetings shouldn’t bog down your life; they should act as a tool to get everyone on the same page.
In fact, I love a good working meeting. Let’s jump on a call and work on something together. Think pair programming, but we’re programming strategy and design intentions.
Oh, and on writing…
Great writing is also really hard. Improving my writing skills is one of the skills I’m most proud of improving.
Everyone should read Everyone Writes.
I’ve made the habit of reading everything I write out loud, like I would to a friend sitting next to me. If it sounds awkward and not conversational, then rewrite it.
Always make your audience the center of the story.
I think, I suppose, I want to, I feel like, are written like umms and ahhs. They’re fillers. It’s ok to get to the point. “I don’t need extra words.” is stronger than “I think I don’t need extra words.”
You don’t have to accept every AI grammar suggestion. Writing should be your voice, not a generic AI voice. You don’t have to accept a suggestion if it takes out your voice and meaning.
But do grammar check spelling on everything… and I mean everything.
What I Learned About Family
There really is such a thing as chosen family.
Leslie is like the sister I never had. She is one of my dearest friends. We still meet for sushi lunches and dream of building our own neighborhood/community where our kiddos can grow up together.
Jared has been the funny guy on the computer for my entire kiddos’ lives. I can’t wait for when they finally get to meet him in person and see his delightful magic tricks up close. I’m going to miss the magic he’s brought to my life, working with him almost every day.
My kids have also grown up with Jess and her daughter, spending birthdays and swim days together. Amy has been a delightful person to work and laugh with for me and my husband.
I know these lovely people will always be a part of my extended chosen family.
What’s Next…
In my closet, next to my cartoon zombie shirt, is a little collection of colorful work jackets I’ve grown over the years. I’m genuinely excited to wear each one.
As I start my new role with a great new group of people to learn from, I’ll bring the incredible skills I’ve gained from Center Centre to create new awesomeness.