Leading Through Transition: Building Resilient Design Teams

TL;DR

When our Head of Design stepped away mid-reorg, the team faced mounting uncertainty: unclear roles, cross-brand confusion, and emotional fatigue. I stepped in as acting co-lead, created an interim structure, mentored junior managers, and rebuilt the team’s operating model. The result: 100% retention, 137% boost in role clarity, and measurable gains in delivery, collaboration, and team confidence.

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The Calm in the Storm: Why Transitional Leadership Matters

During a company-wide reorganization, our Head of Design departed. At the same time, the design team was split across multiple brands and time zones. Ownership was unclear. Priorities were clashing. And team morale was under pressure due to regional stressors.

The biggest risk wasn’t delivery delay - it was attrition and burnout.

Taking the Wheel: Defining Interim Leadership

We implemented a stable, short-term leadership structure:

• Mapped ownership zones by stream (UX, visual, motion, brand)

• Held weekly department syncs for visibility and alignment

• Ran 1:1 mentoring sessions with junior managers to support decisions and leadership growth

• Took ownership of hiring and onboarding to maintain team momentum

This gave the team confidence and clarity, without relying on top-down micromanagement.

Rebuilding the Operating Model

With day-to-day stability in place, I led a department-wide redesign of how we worked:

• Defined roles and responsibilities across every stream

• Balanced brand-specific execution with shared cross-brand initiatives

• Used visual diagrams and documentation to align teams on ownership and decision-making

• Aligned design work with product and marketing to reduce redundancy and improve throughput

The structure gave managers autonomy while reducing friction across teams.

Making It Stick: Communication & Consistency

We embedded the changes into daily workflows to avoid slipping back into ambiguity:

• Created and rolled out updated job scopes with HR and team leads

• Embedded all new documentation into Confluence and updated onboarding materials

• Aligned career pathing and hiring plans with the updated structure

• Kept ICs informed through department-wide updates and async documentation

What Changed: Success Metrics

• Team role clarity:Improved from 40% to 95% (+137%) - less confusion, faster execution.

• Manager confidence in resourcing & scope: Increased from 45% to 88% - junior managers grew into leadership roles.

• Employee satisfaction (eNPS): Increased by 30% - stability and structure improved team morale.

• Team retention:100% retention maintained during a high-risk transition period.

• Cross-discipline collaboration rating: Improved by 43% - better ownership reduced back-and-forth.