With the speed and volume of information a person consumes every day, it takes a lot to make a product or service stand out in someone’s mind. To create a stellar product for your audience, you’ve got to have a lot of tools in your toolbox. And, no matter what your specialty, you can’t do it alone.

Collaboration across disciplines is no longer just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity.

Mentoring and coaching can help people trying to make that giant leap into their first UX position. It allows you to lift up others and impart the historical knowledge you have from working in the field, and to leverage your network on their behalf as they work to make their own connections.

From a team perspective, mentoring and coaching grows current employees’ skillsets and creates a team with deeper expertise. It’s a win-win for everyone. Read on to learn how you can be an effective mentor.

Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings another person is having, to offer them compassion and “step into their shoes”.

As UX professionals, it is our duty to advocate for the users and audiences that we represent. While we may need to prioritize the bottom line when working with key stakeholders, we need to remember to keep users at the core of what we do. Learn more about how cultivating empathy can benefit your research work.