CHRIS JACKSON—DESIGN LEADERSHIP, STRATEGY & ADVISORY
Your design team is changing. Is the way it works changing with it?
Restructures, new technology, shifting priorities and changing expectations can leave even strong design teams working against outdated assumptions, unclear direction or ways of working that no longer fit.
I help design leaders make sense of what’s changing, clarify what their team needs to become, and build a strategy for getting there.
THE PROBLEM
Most design team challenges aren't visible as problems. They show up as patterns.
Misalignment. Overload. Constant reprioritisation. Difficulty explaining design's impact. Decisions being made elsewhere that the team is then expected to respond to.
Your team is capable, but the context around it is changing. The organisation doesn't always see that capability clearly, and the way the team works may no longer fit what the organisation needs from design.
And responsibility for making sense of that usually sits with you.
The daily reality can look different depending on the day:
You're in another priority meeting where design is the last to know about the change.
You're being asked what design has delivered this quarter, and the honest answer is hard to say out loud.
Your team is busy, but you're increasingly unsure whether you're working on the things that matter most.
The organisation has changed, but the assumptions, capabilities and ways of working around design haven't caught up.
These aren't simply delivery problems. They sit in the space between strategy, culture, capability and organisational decision-making.
And they rarely resolve themselves through another initiative, framework or restructure.
They require a clearer understanding of what is happening, what needs to change, and what your design organisation needs to become next.
THE DESIGN TEAM STRATEGY
Understand what's changing. Decide what your design team needs to become.
A structured strategy engagement for design leaders who need to clarify their team's role, priorities, capabilities and ways of working in the context of a changing organisation.
It starts with a focused workshop to understand the current situation and identify where the biggest strategic questions lie. From there, we work together to develop the direction, priorities and practical changes your team needs, with advisory support where deeper work is required.
Major NZ bank · Strategy Realignment
Culture reset and redirection for a design team of 40
Following significant organisational change, worked with leadership to realign priorities, strengthen shared direction and reduce friction across the design function.
Regional Council · Capability Building
Building a service design team from the ground up
Built a service design capability from inception to organisation-wide delivery maturity over three years, developing the team, operating model and organisational relationships required to sustain it.
ABOUT ME
I work at the intersection of design, strategy, and organisational change.
For more than 20 years, I've worked with organisations across government, financial services, energy and technology, helping build design capabilities, shape strategy and navigate periods of significant change.
I've led design teams, built service design capabilities from the ground up, worked through restructures and cultural change, and helped design leaders make sense of complex organisational problems.
I've also spent more than 15 years practising strategic foresight. I use futures thinking not as prediction, but as a way of understanding emerging change, challenging assumptions and helping organisations think about what they are becoming.
Along the way, I've won 23 design awards, spoken internationally, and created the Futures of Design 2045 Scenarios, which have been downloaded by more than 500 designers, leaders and educators.
Today I work with design leaders through strategy, workshops and advisory, helping them understand what's changing, clarify what their teams need to become, and decide what to do next.
LET’S CONNECT
Not sure what your design team needs next?
You don't need to have the problem figured out before we talk.
If something has changed around your team — a restructure, new strategy, shifting expectations, new technology, capability challenges or simply a sense that the current way of working no longer fits — let's start by understanding what's actually happening.
From there, the right starting point might be a Design Team Health Check, a deeper Strategy engagement, or ongoing Design Leadership Advisory.
The first step is simply a conversation.
Not ready to talk yet?
What is your design organisation becoming
Four futures for design — and what they might mean for teams like yours.
The Futures of Design 2045 Scenarios explore four plausible ways the role of design could evolve over the next two decades, and what those futures might mean for how design teams operate today.
Use them to step back from delivery, challenge assumptions, and ask a more useful question:
What is already changing around your team, and what might it need to become as a result?
Field Notes on Design Leadership
Occasional notes on design leadership, organisational change, strategy and the forces shaping what design teams become.
No fixed schedule. No content funnel. Just useful observations from the work.