This is part one of an open series which will ultimately end up with me sharing a card catalog of competencies, with guides, playbooks and resources for growing in them. The original intended user lives in the world of Design doing or Design managing. That’s still the case, but if you don’t live in that world, you might keep scrolling and see if this might serve your needs, too.
For close to a decade, I've pursued creating a comprehensive skills matrix with clear definitions and guidance for team members to improve in each area defined. Why? Because promotions shouldn't depend on which manager speaks loudest or who's most visible to leadership. These matrices serve both equity and development, helping team members chart clear paths forward with their managers.
I've developed three versions for different contexts: one for a digital agency and two for design/tech consultancies, mapping from intern through executive levels. The first two templates are available on my Notion page, designed to help leaders focus on growing their people without drowning in spreadsheets.
Each of the matrices began from JDs that got dissected, compared, finagled, and then designed into growth mapping tools. The root of the competencies are the same across all of them, with variations in terminology and framing. In my playbook, technical skills make up 20% of expectations, the other 80% focuses on servant leadership and craft excellence.
(Note: You could also use the word "consulting" in place of “servant leadership” if that's a less controversial term — but there is a big difference, which IYKYK.)
I'm sharing these competencies and definitions to help you stand up, clear up, and/or soup up your existing frameworks without endless research or AI prompt trials.
Hopefully, you can use these tools to give your team clear visibility into opportunities and unified guidance for growth. Whether for promotions, reviews, cross-functional alignment, development planning and resourcing, I hope the meanings you find below can help you align your teams and empower your people to succeed in their roles and goals.
I also did a whole lot of research on proficiency levels, and here’s my hot take on how we can frame them. This is useful if you are talking about the competencies in the frame of levels/titles/seniority/etc.