Mid-career can be a strange time: sometimes comfortable, sometimes frustrating. But if your current position is not resulting in the rewards or satisfaction you seek, no matter how good you are at your job, it is time to instigate change.
In his recent book, Adapt As An Architect – A Mid-Career Companion, architect and academic Randy Deutsch offers advice to those architects “who remain in the profession never reaching their potential, who subsist instead of persist, and who may have found a niche but one that no longer resembles the path they once pursued.”
The importance of self-reflection
Philip Twiss, Senior Associate and Design Director at Gensler, is one of many architects who contributed to Deutsch’s book. For Twiss, regular self-reflection is crucial in assessing where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there. This involves unflinchingly examining your strengths and weaknesses, and being honest about what you are most interested in.
“What are you strongest at?” he suggests you ask yourself. “Can you align that with your passions? And if you know you have certain weaknesses, how can you strengthen them? Are there gaps in your expertise that can be filled by training; ways your practice can help you to improve?”
You will know if your practice has a nurturing culture by their enthusiasm to help you develop.
Twiss himself acknowledges, by way of example, that organisational rigour has been a weakness of his in the past: something self-reflection has prompted him to acknowledge. He has found that, perhaps counter-intuitively, hybrid working has helped him improve his organisational skills.
Randy Deutsch echoes Twiss’ point on self-reflection and analysis. Appreciative of the fact that today’s architects are likely to be working for a long time, he emphasises that without motivation – a love of what you are doing – you cannot function at your best.
“Passion is what sustains a career,” Deutsch counsels. “While you may not be able to exclusively pursue that passion alone, you need to be at least close.”
Remain focused on your ambitions, he urges. Be mindful: keep a journal to record your progress.
“In the Adapt as an Architect book, there is a Venn diagram. Its circles are: what you love to do; what you are good at; and what the world is willing to pay for. Find that sweet spot.”
Do you feel you are being passed over or ignored?
“To precipitate change, do not be afraid to ask for a one on one conversation,” urges Deutsch. “Something more than the just the annual review. You might be able to ask, point blank, what is the impediment to your career progression?”
He emphasises that this need not be a formal meeting: it could be over lunch, and certainly does not have to be legalistic. The point is to discern what senior management perceive in you that does not signal leadership.
“Perhaps it is something fairly obvious that you are unaware of. It could be the way you present yourself to clients. Perhaps you talk too much about yourself, or the technical details of your work: a lack of client focus.”
Such things may be relatively easy to improve upon. Deutsch gives an example from his own professional life: in mid-career, he went back into academia to study communication, but without leaving architecture. A career improving move need not involve sacrificing your role at a practice.
Assert yourself in productive ways
Philip Twiss points out that, if you feel you have little influence at your practice, then you need to assert yourself. And the best way to assert yourself is to ask if people need any help.
“Look for opportunities where people need support,” he recommends. “Your peers, line managers and senior managers will all need help, whether in the studio or on a project. You need to raise your profile to shape your culture.”
His message here is to get involved: it is no use complaining about being stuck if you stand on the sidelines.
“If you believe something is not working, lobby to change it,” he suggests. “Tell people why and ask ‘have you thought of doing it this way?’, whether it is a project or overall practice processes.”
If the response is that they have already tried your suggestion, you have lost nothing. Are there useful tweaks that might solve the problem?
“Your practice has to have a relationship of professional trust with you: it should be listening.”
Could it be time to leave?
“If you are really unhappy, then you need to decide whether you ultimately do not fit with that practice’s culture,” Twiss points out.
“Abandoning a comfortable position can be a scary prospect. But you need to question exactly what you’re doing there. Moving to a different practice can give you a different perspective of design.”
While Twiss would certainly not advise practice hopping every few years – he himself has learned and contributed much from long, committed roles at practices – he does believe that working for different practices can broaden your horizons.
Randy Deutsch concludes with an observation that sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side.
“I have known professional colleagues who were frustrated at being unable to break the ceiling and get to a leadership role where they were,” he recalls. “After leaving, within as little as a year they became leader of the organisation they had joined.”
Adapt as an Architect by Randy Deutsch can be purchased from RIBA Books. It is also available as an audiobook. Listen to a preview.
Thanks to Randy Deutsch, University of Illinois; and Philip Twiss, Design Director and Senior Associate, Gensler.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
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