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How to tap into safety and courage to build relationships as a designer
What relationships in your life are most important to you? Many people I’ve coached cite their partner, kids, parents, and friends on the personal side and managers as well as key partners on the professional side.
An empowered relationship is one of mutual respect and growth, where both sides gain more from the partnership.
Some relationships feel inherently unequal due to the power dynamics built in. Examples include teacher/student, parent/child, and the traditional manager/individual contributor relationship. Yet every relationship can become more empowered. Either person in the relationship can take the first step. And it enables even more trust for the person in the high power role to take the first step.
So you want to have better relationships in your life? The top way to create this empowered relationship is with safety and courage — and especially the dance between those two themes.
Safety
In our first 1–1, the best manager I’ve ever had, sat down with me over breakfast and told me that he unconditionally has my back, already thinks I’m awesome (we had previously had a mentor relationship), and that he will now start earning my trust by…
