Have you interviewed folks who are brilliant at executing good flows, UX, UI and are seeking to step up to a Senior role: "Senior", "Manager", "AVP", "Director", "VP" but found that they didn't really have any usable experience of managing a team, hiring, or having hard conversations?

If you come to think about it, there are a lot of designers doing great work in their current role, but if they want to move on for a better opportunity, for a step-up purpose, they're not really trained for it. As interviewers, we are only left to evaluate based on "potential" and NOT actual experience.

A while ago, I was interviewing John (name changed) for the role of AVP, Design. John was a Senior UX Designer at his (then) organization and was the senior-most member of the design team of total 4. His boss and the HR team were working together to find more designers to join. He'd then go through the applications and help them filter it. It was during that period when he applied for this role I was interviewing for.‍

The interview was tricky. John did not have any hiring or extensive managerial experience - crucial for the role of AVP, Design. He had potential but no real experience.
I did not end up hiring John because he wasn't ready for the role. It'd have taken a few months to understand the dynamics of the team, find pain points required. Only then could he make hiring and process decisions.
Was it his fault? Not completely.

Here, I talk about one of such exercises we practice, with which you can start investing in your team members. This will empower them to become a great player in your team while giving them the confidence to grow anywhere.

We include younger members of the team in the essential stages of the hiring process. It is an excellent way of showing transparency in the group by taking their inputs on who joins next. Doing so also prepares them to be an interviewer in due course. They'd gain experience in 'hiring,' 'building a team,' and not just delivering projects and designs. We condition them for future success.