Solid: Content designers are comfortable working within the design process, have confidence in their UX instincts and are sought out as important contributors to product flows and experiences. They are comfortable collaborating with designers and recognize that sometimes the best content solution is visual, not verbal.
Advanced: Content designers may be experienced designers who can drive projects with minimal or no design support.
Solid: Content designers are considered key stakeholders in major cross-functional decisions and recognized as leaders within the CD team and across others. They contribute to the impact of the entire team through interviewing, onboarding, driving content standards or coaching others through difficult situations. They are viewed as a leader in their product area as well as on the CD team.
Reached out to Jackie — Reaches out to content designers working on similar issues, products or constraints. Lets people know when decisions they make in one product area will affect work in other areas.
COLLABORATION Our company culture embraces collaboration because we have to work with many different teams across the company to get our work done. A content designer who is a strong collaborator:
Consistently seeks the input and expertise of other content designers and cross-functional peers.
Shows respect for other practices and individuals, treating everyone as a valued partner, whether they work directly with them or not.
Is approachable, open and efficient to work with, both in every day work as well as at times of peak activity or stress.
Builds cohesion within a group with supportive comments, constructive ideas, proactive problem solving and open communication.
Extends the benefit of the doubt to others and asks questions before making assumptions.
Frequently checks for understanding and alignment to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Solid: Content designers at this stage are proactive in thinking about how to strengthen teams and successful at implementing their ideas. They are empathetic to how others on the team feel and put in effort to do things for the benefit of others (ex: suggesting or planning events, giving props to others, mentoring or spending time to help someone else, investing in team-wide initiatives like recruiting or teaching, volunteering resources or pitching in to solve a problem). They are thoughtful about when to be flexible and when to hold firm.
SELF-AWARENESS
This describes a content designer’s capacity and willingness to continually learn and grow while also having a balanced, objective view of their strengths and weaknesses. A content designer who is self-aware:
Knows their individual strengths, as well as what types of work are strengthening, and seeks out projects and teams that play to those strengths.
Recognizes the impact their actions have on other individuals and groups and are able to learn and develop from these experiences.
Is self-reflective and regularly seeks feedback from others, using it to learn and grow.
Understands and acknowledges what's weakening or demotivating and adapts their working environment to focus on strengths.
Understands the specific roles they play in product teams, the broader content design team and the company as a whole.
Maintains a learner's mindset and constantly seeks opportunities to grow.
Has a sense of their growth trajectory (ex: where they'd like to be in 3 years and what it takes to get there). This may be framed around being interested in specific accomplishments or a desire to develop and learn new skills.
Sets and accomplishes personal goals on a regular basis.
Solid: Content designers have a great sense of what is strengthening and weakening for them. They look for ways to play to their strengths, and they know how to mitigate weakening situations. They own and acknowledge their own role in difficult dynamics and are willing to have hard conversations in the interest of making things better. They actively seek out feedback from peers, managers and partners and integrate what they learn. They take the lead in informing their manager about where they want to develop and actively seek opportunities to grow.