Lead With Purpose
Summary
Recent market reports make the business case for design. Yet, each falls short in defining the steps required to scale design for maximum impact within organizations. Demystifying how to scale the impact of design was the intent behind a recently completed user research initiative, called “Pathways.” This research sponsored by the IIT Institute of Design and in partnership with Capital One, Ford, Google, Phillips Healthcare, Salesforce, and VMLY&R establishes how to scale design operations within organizations and how future roles of design, inclusive of user research, will need to evolve to yield maximum impact.
Key Insights
-
•
The Flywheel of Design framework includes four components: design leadership, problem-driven pathway, generalized design competency, and specialized design competency.
-
•
Optimal design leadership requires CEO support, a chief design officer with direct CEO access, and funding tied to business units for accountability.
-
•
Many organizations remain solution-focused, often locking in decisions before research can reshape the problem space.
-
•
A problem-driven organization clearly defines customer problems first without predetermined solutions, enabling research to guide innovation.
-
•
Building generalized design competency involves immersing non-designers in tangible, relevant design experiences focused on problems they care about.
-
•
Specialized design competency involves mastering storytelling, prototyping, foresight, facilitation, collaboration, and systems thinking.
-
•
Designers and researchers must upskill in business acumen and technical or specialty disciplines to increase their organizational value.
-
•
Researchers can influence design appropriation by surfacing strategic insights and connecting research outcomes to organizational priorities.
-
•
Becoming indispensable to business partners requires consistently delivering valuable insights that influence strategic decisions.
-
•
Operationalizing and scaling design impact requires collective organizational effort, with researchers playing a key role in advancing the Flywheel of Design.
Notable Quotes
"I work in an organization where its leaders don’t understand design and don’t value it. It just doesn’t get resourced."
"We confuse that solution with what our clients have actually asked for or wanted or need. We need to allow for design to do what it does best, which is understanding problems and people."
"If you’re a designer or researcher, you have a responsibility to inspire your organization to lead with greater purpose."
"Optimal design leadership looked like a CEO who promoted design as strategy and a chief design officer with the ear of the CEO."
"Funding structures for design tied specifically to business units bring accountability and early surfacing of value breaks."
"You have to become seen as an indispensable resource to your business partners by constantly asking what value you bring."
"A problem-driven organization says this is the problem to solve, not the solution we think we want."
"People really don’t get what we do until they can experience design in a tangible way around something they care about."
"Great designers and researchers must embody storytelling, prototyping, foresight, facilitation, collaboration, and systems thinking."
"To elevate design, you have to upskill in business acumen and one or more technical or specialty disciplines."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Diverse teams help you ask better questions about who might be missing from the table or the project."
Joi FreemanA New Vantage Point: Building a Pipeline for Multifaceted Research(ers)
March 30, 2020
"Design influence is messy and requires clear articulation of how we serve business and customer success."
Jack MoffettUX Metrics That Matter and The Future of our Design at Scale Conference: A Community Conversation
September 22, 2022
"Storytelling helps gain people’s attention, build empathy, and improve understanding and recall of key points."
Sara LogelYour Colleagues are Your Users Too
March 29, 2023
"Experts develop insights by isolating patterns and data; as designers, we already do this daily."
Theresa NeilDesigning for Wellness: Specializing in Healthcare
May 22, 2024
"If you don’t understand the financial flow in an organization, you’re financially illiterate and you’re on top."
Christian MadsbjergInfluencing Strategy
March 31, 2020
"Remote work can uplift psychological safety through flexibility, or erode it if in-person connection is lost."
Alla WeinbergDesign Teams Need Psychological Safety: Here’s How to Create It
September 8, 2022
"I often feel trapped inside someone else’s imagination and I must engage my own imagination to break free."
Amahra SpenceDesigning for Liberation, Rehearsing Freedom
November 18, 2022
"Characters live at the extreme of radically adaptive AI—they react in the moment and follow the user’s lead."
Josh Clark Veronika KindredSentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)
January 29, 2025
"It’s not all sunshine and rainbows; being new and working in a fast-moving startup means our process needs to stay flexible and adaptable."
Anna Nguyen Emily BroganWhy Our Voice of the Customer is Better Than Yours
March 10, 2022
