The Design Leader Dilemma

Many design leaders find themselves in an impossible situation. On one side, senior management have read articles trumpeting the incredible ROI of user experience design. McKinsey tells us that design-led companies achieve 56% higher returns to shareholders. Forrester reports that every dollar invested in UX brings 100 dollars in return.

Yet the reality I encounter when talking to design leaders is very different. Most are desperately under-resourced, with tiny teams expected to support hundreds of projects across their organizations. The result? We’re spread so thin that we can barely scratch the surface of what needs doing.

The problem isn’t just about resources. It’s about expectations and how we define our role. Too often, we position ourselves (or are positioned by others) as implementors — the people who do the user research, create the prototypes, and run the usability tests. But with the scale of digital touching every corner of our organizations, that’s simply not sustainable.

We need to stop trying to do everything ourselves and instead focus on empowering others across the organization to improve the user experience. In other words, we need to become true leaders rather than just practitioners.

This isn’t about giving up control or lowering standards. It’s about maximizing our impact by working through others. Think about it: would you rather be directly involved in 10% of projects or have some influence over 90% of them?

First, we need to shift our mindset from doing to enabling. This means:

• Offering targeted services rather than trying to be involved in everything;
• Providing coaching and mentoring to help others understand UX principles;
• Creating resources that empower others to make better UX decisions;
• Setting standards and guidelines that can scale across the organization.

Let’s break down each of these areas.

Targeted Services

Instead of trying to be involved in every project, focus on providing specific, high-value services that can make the biggest impact. This might include:

• Running discovery phases for major initiatives
  By strategically initiating discovery phases for critical projects, you ensure that they start with a strong, user-focused foundation. This can involve tools like the Strategic User-Driven Project Assessment (SUPA), which helps validate ideas by assessing audience value, user needs, feasibility, and risks before committing to major investments. SUPA ensures projects are not just built right but are the right ones to build.
• Project-Specific UX Guidance
  Regular feedback on design assets throughout a project keeps UX principles front and center. This can be achieved by offering UX audits, periodic check-ins to assess progress, or design reviews at key milestones.
• Facilitating workshops and problem-solving sessions
  Leading targeted workshops or brainstorming sessions empowers teams to overcome design challenges on their own with your guidance. These tailored sessions help teams understand how to make better user-centered decisions and solve issues themselves, spreading UX capabilities beyond your team.

The key is to be strategic about where you spend your time, focusing on activities that will have the greatest ripple effect across the organization.

Coaching And Mentoring

One of the most effective ways to scale your impact is through coaching. This could include:

• UX Office Hours
  Designate times where anyone in the organization can drop in to get quick UX advice. This informal setting can solve small issues before they snowball and helps stakeholders learn as they go.
• One-on-One or Group Coaching
  Scheduled check-ins with individuals or teams are great opportunities to address challenges directly, mentor those who need extra support, and ensure alignment with best practices. Regular 1:1 or group coaching keeps UX priorities on track and provides valuable guidance when and where it’s needed most.
• Tailored Problem-Solving Sessions
  Providing bespoke guidance for specific challenges that teams encounter empowers them to tackle design obstacles while internalizing the principles of good UX. These problem-solving sessions can be invaluable in ensuring teams can autonomously address future problems.

The goal isn’t to turn everyone into UX experts but to help them understand enough to make better decisions in their daily work.

It’s also important to recognize that others might not initially deliver work at the same level of quality that you would. This is okay. The primary goal is to get people engaged and excited about UX. If we criticize them every time they fall short of perfection, we risk undermining their enthusiasm. Instead, we need to foster a supportive environment where improvement happens over time.

Creating Resources

Develop tools and resources that help others apply UX principles independently. For example:

• Design Systems
  Create and maintain a comprehensive design system that integrates UX best practices into the UI across the organization. A well-crafted design system ensures that everyone, from developers to designers, aligns on consistent best practices, making it easier for teams to work independently while still maintaining high standards. This includes reusable code components, clear documentation, and alignment between design and development.
• UX Tool Suite
  Providing teams with pre-selected tools for user research, prototyping, and user testing helps maintain quality and saves time. With tools for everything from user research to usability testing, you provide the resources teams need to conduct UX activities on their own without extensive onboarding.
• Research Repository
  Maintain a centralized repository of user research findings that can be accessed by anyone across the organization. A well-organized research repository can reduce duplication of effort, provide insights across different initiatives, and allow teams to learn from each other’s findings. This promotes consistent application of user insights across projects.
• Supplier Lists
  Providing a vetted list of suppliers and external agencies helps ensure consistency when work is outsourced. It provides quick access to high-quality resources, mitigates risk, and builds trust with suppliers who understand your standards.
• Self-Service Training Resources
  Create a library of on-demand training materials that teams can access when needed. This should include video tutorials, interactive exercises, case studies, and step-by-step guides for common UX tasks like conducting user interviews, creating personas, or running usability tests. Unlike scheduled workshops, self-paced learning allows people to access knowledge exactly when they need it, leading to better retention and practical application.

These resources should be practical and accessible, making it easy for teams to do the right thing.

Setting Standards

Create a framework that guides UX decisions across the organization:

• Design Principles
  Establish core design principles that align with your organization’s values and user-centered goals. These principles help ensure consistency and clarity in decision-making. For example, define around six to ten principles that stakeholders across the organization have voted on and agreed upon, ensuring broader buy-in and consistent decision-making.
• Policies for UX
  Develop clear policies that standardize processes like work requests, user research and testing, and stakeholder involvement. These policies help set expectations, keep efforts aligned with organizational goals, and make it easier for non-UX professionals to understand and comply with best practices.
• Project Prioritization Policies
  Having clear guidelines on how projects are prioritized ensures that UX gets the attention it needs in the planning stages, preventing it from being overlooked or marginalized. Establish policies that align project value to user needs and organizational priorities.

The key is to make these standards helpful rather than bureaucratic — they should enable better work, not create unnecessary obstacles.

Bringing It All Together

All of these elements should come together in what I call a UX Playbook — a single source of truth that contains everything teams need to deliver better user experiences. This isn’t just another document to gather dust; it’s a living resource that demonstrates your value as a leader and helps others get started on their UX journey.

The shift from practitioner to leader isn’t easy. It requires letting go of some control and trusting others to carry forward UX principles. But it’s the only way to create lasting change at scale.

If you’re struggling with this transition, I am running a workshop on design leadership in February. I would love to discuss your situation there.