The success of designers relies on cross-functional collaboration and understanding. Prevent an us-versus-them dynamic that traditionally occurs between designers and the organisation.

The tools

Explore various ideas to encourage a cross-functional culture. During recruitment, ensure that designers have the skill and desire to integrate with others. Train designers on business skills.

The goals

Focus on integrating and supporting your top design talent as they can deliver tenfold the business value of an average colleague. Understand what motivates them and help them thrive.

It takes many functions to bring a product or service to market. You will need to influence the other functions daily to ensure that they work harmoniously. From the start, form alliances with colleagues across the organisation. Offer your guidance and reassurance for working with design teams.

The tools

Create a shared language to help in new ways of working together and reduce the risk and cost of the project.

The goals

Fostering frequent iteration across functions will enable timely user-led products and services. Focusing on strategic relationships will help ease potential obstacles.

A chief design officer used to focus only on physical hardware design. However, the customer's expectations show the need to understand the entire customer journey.

The tools

Map your customer's end-to-end journeys and identify any pain points. You may need to consult your company's marketing and other teams to consolidate the information. Then, for each customer pain point, challenge the organisation to create one physical, one digital, and one service solution.

The goals

The chief design officer has a unique position to challenge the organisation to solve the user's needs.