CHRIS JACKSON - DESIGN LEADERSHIP ADVISORY
Design Leadership Advisory
A strategic thinking partner for design leaders navigating change, complexity and what comes next.
THE PROBLEM
Leading a design organisation is not just about managing people or delivering good work.
The hardest decisions are often the ambiguous ones:
How should your design function evolve?
How do you create greater strategic impact?
What capabilities will your team need next?
How do you respond when the organisation around you is changing?
I work with Heads of Design and senior design leaders as an experienced advisor, helping them make sense of complex situations, explore options and make better strategic decisions.
WHAT THIS IS
This advisory is for design leaders who are:
Leading through change
Your organisation, team or mandate has changed, and you need to rethink how design operates.
Building the next stage of your design function
Your team has grown, matured or taken on new responsibilities.
Navigating difficult decisions
You need an experienced person to challenge assumptions, explore options and think things through.
Increasing strategic influence
You want design to have a stronger role in organisational decision-making.
The challenge
Most design leaders are surrounded by people who need something from them.
Their team needs leadership.
Executives need answers.
Stakeholders need alignment.
The organisation needs change.
But few leaders have someone they can think alongside.
Someone who understands:
design practice
organisational systems
leadership complexity
strategic decision-making
emerging change
That is the role I play.
What is design leadership advisory?
Advisory is not coaching.
I am not there to give you generic leadership advice or a predetermined framework.
I bring experience, perspective and challenge.
Together we work through:
what is happening
what patterns are emerging
what options exist
what decisions matter
what actions will create movement
Think of it as having an experienced strategic partner you can use as a sounding board when the answer is not obvious.
Areas of support
Strategic direction
Questions such as:
What should your design function become?
Where should you focus?
How should design create more organisational value?
Team evolution
Questions such as:
Are your ways of working fit for purpose?
What capabilities will your team need?
How should your operating model evolve?
Organisational navigation
Questions such as:
How do you influence senior stakeholders?
How do you position design internally?
How do you navigate competing priorities?
Future readiness
This is where your futures work comes in.
Questions such as:
What changes are emerging that will affect design?
Which assumptions about design may no longer hold?
What is your organisation becoming?
A different perspective on design leadership
My approach combines three perspectives:
Design leadership
I have spent more than 20 years working in design, innovation and service transformation.
Systems thinking
I help leaders see the organisational systems influencing their team's success.
Futures-informed sensemaking
I help leaders understand the patterns of change already emerging, and what those changes might mean for their future.
Why work with me?
I have experienced many of the situations design leaders face today:
building and leading design teams
embedding design into complex organisations
navigating organisational change
creating strategic design practices
exploring how design evolves over time
I've worked with organisations including ASB, Kiwibank, Meridian Energy, Red Cross NZ, Serato, Optimal, Z Energy, The Guardian, the V&A, MIT, and TU Dublin.
WHAT CLIENTS SAY
Trusted by design leaders navigating change
“I could participate instead of facilitate.”
“He left us with the mindset, tools and frameworks to drive the change we need within ourselves.”
FORMAT
Ways we can work together
Strategic Advisory Relationship
For leaders who want an ongoing thinking partner.
Includes:
regular strategic conversations
decision support
review of challenges and opportunities
ongoing perspective on organisational change
Typically monthly.
Focused Advisory Engagement
For a specific challenge.
Examples:
evolving a design function
developing strategy
navigating organisational change
preparing for future shifts
Typically 4–12 weeks.
A note from me.
“Design leadership is one of the most complex positions in any organisation, and one of the least supported.
You’re expected to lead creative people, navigate political complexity, demonstrate strategic value, and develop the next generation of designers. All while delivering work to deadlines and managing up, down, and sideways simultaneously.
Most organisations don’t have the support infrastructure for design leaders that they have for other senior roles. No peer cohort. No dedicated mentorship. No built-in space to think.
That’s what I’m here to provide. Not answers, but a structured space to find your own, with someone who has navigated similar territory and understands the specific pressures of leading design inside organisations.
For some design leaders, this work naturally surfaces what their team needs next. When that happens, we can talk about what that looks like.”
Start with a conversation
If you are navigating a significant decision, change or transition in your design organisation, let's talk.
We'll explore:
what is happening
what challenges you are facing
whether advisory support would be useful
Book a 30-minute conversation