In our ongoing sequence, “What My Mentor Taught Me,” we discover the transformative energy of mentorship, this time with Egle Beliunaite, the Head of Product Design. Egle’s distinctive journey, formed by her Lithuanian roots, training within the UK, and a profession path that led her to Berlin, Germany, reveals the profound influence of mentorship on her function and management fashion.
Egle’s present place is a testomony to her dedication to fostering an enriched atmosphere for product design. Her every day duties resonate with design operations, nurturing relationships, and cultivating collaborative teamwork. On this installment of “What My Mentor Taught Me,” we unravel Egle’s insights into her mentors’ roles and their contributions to her improvement as a communicator and chief.
Inform us concerning the mentors you’ve got had and the way they’ve helped you enhance as a communicator and chief.
The mentors who’ve made probably the most profound influence on my profession weren’t from the product design realm. Whereas this may seem unconventional, it had a big impact on broadening my perspective on how product design is perceived by others over the previous decade.
Being guided by colleaguees from numerous disciplines, somewhat than sticking solely to the product design circle, uncovered me to a various vary of duties and duties {that a} typical designer may by no means encounter.
This unconventional path has supplied me with invaluable insights into how design can and may combine into non-design elements earlier than crafting an answer. It has been a journey of serious studying, difficult conventional boundaries, and embracing the concept design is not confined to a silo however can permeate each aspect of our work.
How has your mentor’s supportive perspective helped you overcome work challenges?
Help at work could be refreshingly simple—communication and belief are the core components. I have been lucky to expertise this simplicity all through my profession journey. Within the early days, self-doubt typically crept in, making each step really feel unsure. However what made an actual distinction was having a supervisor and mentor who not solely listened but in addition inspired me to talk my thoughts.
One of the enlightening classes from my mentor was the thought of taking the initiative—no want to attend for another person to come back to you; go forward and seize the second. Through the years, I’ve confronted conditions the place I felt not sure or dissatisfied and waited for readability. Nevertheless, my mentor’s assist was totally different; they positioned belief in my judgment and actions, whatever the circumstances. Even in moments of failure, they let me study from my very own errors, at all times reassuring me of their ongoing assist.
How did your mentor encourage you to go above and past?
Let me take you into the guts of what I name the “go-get-it” mindset. Once I noticed my mentor brainstorming revolutionary methods to create new alternatives for his or her groups, I initially considered it as simply one other PowerPoint presentation or an extra duty I needed to shoulder. Nevertheless, over time, it dawned on me that each occasion the place I used to be nudged out of my consolation zone was really a chance to harness my strengths in numerous methods.
Reflecting on numerous moments of frustration in my profession, I now see them in a brand new gentle. It is develop into evident that problem-solving is my true ardour, no matter whether or not it pertains to product design, working with product groups, fostering collaboration, or managing common operations. The power to really feel relaxed whereas embracing new encounters, collaborating with contemporary groups, crafting environment friendly processes, and unraveling complicated challenges is an exhilarating journey I would not commerce for something.
How a lot of your success would you attribute to the mentorship program you took half in?
My mentorship considerably got here naturally at a really defining second in my profession. Or possibly I ought to say it the opposite method round—my mentorship performed a profoundly defining function in shaping the particular person I’m at the moment.
An enormous thanks to Egle for taking the time to debate mentoring for ladies in tech. Their insights on collaboration, nurturing relationships, and communication have broadened our horizons. When you’re desperate to delve deeper into the experiences of our unimaginable staff members, make sure to take a look at our careers weblog for extra enriching tales.
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