I’m a passionate football fan, specifically North London’s finest — Arsenal. As someone who’s spent countless hours on Championship/Football Manager unearthing South American wonderkids and leading teams to glory (big ups Damián Luna & Tó Madeira), I’ve realised that being a design leader is surprisingly similar to being a football manager. Both roles demand strategy, great team management, and long-term planning.

I can’t speak for other industries, but in my experience design leaders are not formally trained to be managers. The transition from an individual contributor to a leader can have mixed results. I’ve developed my management style from observing the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout my career, alongside insightful literature like ‘The Making of a Manager’ by Julie Zhou.

As weird as it sounds, I often find myself drawing parallels between design leadership and football management. It helps me to think about my role in a different way, reframing challenges by looking at a totally different sector. It’s how I solve creative briefs, so why not apply it to other aspects of my role?

If you’ve stuck with me this far, then maybe you’re willing to hear me out. Read on to see if I’m on to something — or just a delusional football fanatic (maybe both).

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Selecting which club to manage

Leading a team or department is a huge undertaking. If you want to succeed, be prepared to put in the hard yards and invest a lot of time and energy. You’ll only really make it if you believe in ‘the project,’ so choose your employer wisely. Find somewhere that aligns with your ambitions and offers a supportive environment to give you time and space to make your mark. How many times do you see great football managers crash and burn because they weren’t the right fit for the club?

Assessing the Squad

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your newly inherited team is one of the first and most important tasks that you’ll take on as a newly hired leader. What skill sets are available? Where are we missing something? What are the personalities like, and can we work well together?

The challenge is to build the right-sized squad for the company, one that can handle different challenges and busy periods. It shouldn’t be too top-heavy or too inexperienced, nor too bloated during quieter periods. Real Goldilocks stuff — we want it to be just right. If you’ve got three right-backs and no striker, it’s going to be a long season.

Cohesion

A strong, talented group of individuals is great, but if they can’t work as a team, it’s destined to fail. Like many of the expensively assembled PSG squads over the years, a design team that lacks cohesion is doomed to fail.

Building team culture is essential: Set standards, communicate values, and encourage collaboration through 1:1s, team workshops, and bonding opportunities.

We’ve all seen football teams with an amazing lineup on paper but zero connection on the field. It’s a recipe for disaster and makes the manager look incompetent.

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Setting Goals for the Season

Having a shared vision of success keeps teams aligned and working towards common goals. Some will be short-term and others will take a little longer to see through. Some goals you can achieve on your own, but most require the full backing of those around you.

Are you looking to win the league in your first season? Break into the top four? Do you need to slash the wage bill to keep the club afloat without sacrificing quality? As a design leader, set clear goals for your team, which might include:

Take small steps toward long-term goals while ticking off quick wins to build your business’s confidence in you and start demonstrating progress.

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The Transfer Market

No team is perfect (although one was Invincible). Even if your squad is performing well you may need to grow your headcount to meet new demands. Recruitment is arguably the single most important thing to get right as a manager. If you get it wrong, the cost can be significant, impacting the rest of the team and forcing you to a costly rehire down the line.

Unless you work at Manchester City or Chelsea you likely don’t have an unlimited budget, so invest wisely. Hiring people who can ‘play multiple positions’ is invaluable, allowing flexibility as workloads fluctuate. Be opportunistic; dip in to the Loan market with freelancers when more creative firepower is needed to get you over the line.

If you do have an endless budget, bringing in new skills, increasing your resource pool, and adding opinions to ideation sessions is amazing. But consider — will this upset team balance? Will the new hires block opportunities for Juniors? Will the team become bloated, leading to disengaged, bored or unhappy individuals? It’s a fine balance, especially in an agency environment.

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Using the Academy

There’s no greater feeling than seeing a homegrown talent grow into a star. It’s both rewarding and good business. For design leaders, working with Interns and Juniors is like using your Academy. You shape them to uphold your values and ‘play to your style,’ and as a bonus avoid the often high costs of recruitment fees.

There’s something special about seeing ‘one of your own’ succeed, offering deserved promotions, and supporting local talent from nearby universities and the region.

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Player Management: Praise & Discipline

Creatives, like football players, have unique personalities. Some need constant motivation, others require tough love, and many swing between imposter syndrome and overconfidence. Understanding how to manage different personalities is key to long-term success.

You’ll also need to maintain discipline. Make sure people meet deadlines, log their timesheets, and work well with others. Some respond to praise, others need a firmer approach. The ‘Fergie hairdryer treatment’ doesn’t work on everyone…

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End of Season Review

After a long year, it’s time to look back with the board. Did we meet our goals? If not, why not? What can we do to exceed expectations next time?

Your annual review is a chance to focus on managing budgets, rewarding the team, bringing in more resources, or investing in training.

At this time you might also discuss how to make the ‘brand’ attractive to better talent. Great work wins great clients, which attracts top tier talent. It’s a virtuous circle.

Judge your own performance as well as your team’s, and set ambitious goals for the next year. It’s what keeps us coming back season after season — the endless pursuit of greatness.

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In Summary

Leading a design team, like managing a football club, is a constant balancing act. Your role is to nurture talent, build cohesion, and steer the team toward success — season after season.

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