Back to All Events

Design Leadership Fundamentals


  • 564 Market St. #300 San Francisco, CA (map)
workshop-cover-blue.png

Making the transition into management can be challenging, especially for designers. We spend years developing our skills to craft quality products and brands on behalf of others. And when the opportunity comes to take on a leadership role, we may find ourselves facing a whole new set of unknowns, including how to lead a team and manage people.

If you’re lucky, you’ve worked with a great manager or an inspirational leader who has given you some guidance along the way. Even then, the resources, support and training needed to become a truly great design leader is often lacking, particularly in startups. This workshop will show you how to leverage your design skills for leadership success.

SOLD OUT

 

quotes_black.png
The Design Leadership Workshop isn’t just informational but also actionable. I can take what I learned and apply it to my job to create an immediate action plan as well as a long-term vision. I would highly recommend this to design managers, new and seasoned.
— Susan Payne, Pinterest Design Lead
 
quotes_black.png
Wherever you are in your design leadership career, this workshop will give you very practical, useful, and relevant practices to take your leadership to the next level.
— Workshop participant
 

What you'll learn

Thursday

  • Fundamentals of management success

  • Explore the three focus areas of design leadership and the skills you need to deliver successfully in each area

  • Consider strategies for growing a team and designing your organization, especially in startup and hyper-growth environments

  • Spend quality time with top design leaders in tech during a happy hour Q&A

Friday

  • Learn how to guide a team to deliver design excellence, from vision to process management

  • Lead an effective design critique

  • Learn how to deliver feedback to foster great team performance

  • Develop strategies for navigating tough conversations

  • Learn how to lead your team through times of change, an inevitable challenge of startups


Schedule overview

Thursday

9:00am
Breakfast and welcome

10:00am
Leadership as a creative practice

10:45am
Design Leadership Profiles

12:00pm
Lunch

1:00pm
Designing design teams

4:00pm
Happy Hour/Q&A with Design Leaders

6:00pm
Wrap up

Friday

9:00am
Breakfast and recap discussion

9:30am
Catalyzing performance

12:00pm
Lunch

1:00pm
Ensuring design excellence

4:00pm
Leadership through change

6:00pm
Wrap up

* Schedule may change


Session Details

Design Leadership Profiles
The Design Leadership Profile focuses on the three primary areas of responsibility in design leadership—vision, team and execution—and the critical skills necessary to successfully deliver within each area. Develop your personal profile to inform your own growth and your team’s development.

Designing design teams
Successful design teams are structured with intention. Great design leaders adapt industry best practices to architect organizations specific to their company and their needs. Learn how to recruit and grow a team that aligns with your purpose — one that delivers great experiences and helps you excel as a leader.

Catalyzing performance
Building high performance teams begins with catalyzing individuals to help them reach their potential. Learn how to accelerate your team’s progress and continued growth through connection, real-time feedback, and coaching.

Ensuring design excellence
High performance design teams focus on solving the right problems with the right guardrails and processes in place to build quality experiences rapidly. In this session, we focus on the fundamentals that ensure design excellence, from setting a vision to instilling quality execution.

Leadership through change
Graceful leadership through change can seem nearly impossible, but it’s an inevitable challenge hyper-growth companies face. Rapid and constant change is challenging for leaders, and often confusing or anxiety-inducing for our teams. Learn to show up authentically as a leader in challenging times and how to build resilience for yourself and your team.

 
Earlier Event: March 21
DesignBetter.co Design Leadership
Later Event: September 13
Design Leadership Fundamentals (SOLD OUT)