Scott Berkun

When your VP doesn’t understand your job

A common problem experts, like user experience designers, have is working for an executive who has no idea what they do.

The trap is often the expert, in this case, a designer, is hired by the VP, but no one anticipates how many things need to change in the organization for the designer to be of use.  So the designer sits on the sidelines, frustrated, while the VP is happy since now s/he can say “We have a design expert on staff” even if that expert isn’t contributing much.

This situation is common, but it’s not a disaster. It just means you have to be your own advocate in making your contributions visible. Here’s a battle plan:

• Make small wins. Pick a few well chosen areas and people to work with, and make simple but clearly visible improvements to the work around you.  This will force responses from your peers and give you a sense of who is excited about what you can do, and who doesn’t care.
• Get a supporter. Of the people interested in your work, who has the best combination of influence and interest in your work? They are your ally and you need to cultivate their support. Start with sharing your goals and asking their advice. “I’d like to be involved earlier in the decision making process. How do you suggest I make this happen here?”  As a political outsider, you need insider support to have any chance of growing political capital.
• Find something small and specific to ask for. Anyone who does not know what you do has no reason to invest in you. Your relationship with them begins with you asking for something small and reasonable, and using it for the benefit of the entire team. Ask for a small amount of money, ask for a small amount of time from programmers, but ask. Offer something in return: higher quality, greater efficiency, higher profits. Something. When you get what you ask for, hit it out of the park – do an amazing job. You may only get one shot so make it good. Show the results and if everyone is positive ask for something a little bigger. Repeat.
• Use their language, not yours.  Stop using your domain language, and translate into the language of the people in power. This may mean learning about P&Ls, marketing plans, test regressions, or other terms, but speak their language and offer your value in their language. You are on their turf and should act accordingly. Think of yourself as a political Marine, adapting to the terrain you land in. If you can’t translate your work into terms they understand you will fail for that reason alone.
• Show an example from a company/team they admire.  If there is another project in your company where you role is well understood, use them as an example. Show how your counterparts in that organization interact, and how they benefit from it. If you can’t find an example in your company, look to other companies your VP admires.
• Worry about your peers first.  It’s hard to score points up the food chain without a good reputation at your own place in the org chart. It’s daft to take on the VP when the middle level managers don’t know who you are either, or worse, think of you as someone who complains all the time but adds no value. You might have a local manager who is well connected up the food chain:  if you can get a small amount of support from them, it will open doors you can not open yourself.
• Maybe the VP doesn’t need to know. VPs often have less power or influence than you think. There may be a team lead or group manager who is the true power source for your project. Think carefully about what power you need to be successful and who can grant it to you.  It’s likely someone more within reach in the org chart than the VP.  And of course, consider this: the best way to be introduced into the VPs power circle is by invitation. If your reputation for making big contributions precedes you, they may in fact seek you out, and not the other way around.

Also check out my free webcast this Thursday, March 19th, 10 am PST,  How Progress happens, which offers more tactics and inspiration on making change happen.

• Posted Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 11:08 am


• in Design, Management, creative thinking | 4 Comments » |