I'd like to expand on the "speaking at a conference" idea. Attending conferences gives you the feeling you are not alone, so it does build internal esteem for your vocation.

Personally I get the most out of BARcamp-like events - even internal ones - where everyone does a presentation of a method or problem that they get a lot of use and benefit from.

This forces me to do a deeper evaluation of my everyday work and because I have to present it visually to others, I also need to work harder on communicating my ideas and I also need to be able to communicate clear reasons for the decisions I make. I'll admit that this last item has caused me pain in the past as sometimes when I go with the gut I have trouble knowing later why something just worked!

This form of presentation builds empathy within a team and allows others in the team see how your design processes work and how you convert ideas into code or design solutions.

One rule I sometimes use when setting these up is that it also must be PowerPoint-free. Real-time sketching and white-board listing of ideas also forces the presenter to fly a little blind, but also builds confidence for the times that they need to put their points across in a meeting or hack session.