Improv to improve: Design leadership

“This is fine.” Ever feel like you’re the character in that meme, pretending to sip coffee while everything burns around you?

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As the pace of change accelerates, designers are asked to juggle shifting project priorities, conflicting stakeholder requests, and team reorganisations. Stepping into a leadership role adds another layer: you’re not only responsible for the work, but for direction, clarity, and alignment.

We cannot stop the chaos, but we can train how we react to it.

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In this workshop, we borrow from the world of improv theatre to practice leading design in challenging times. Through quick-fire scenarios in a safe space, we’ll experiment with asserting your perspective, identifying risky situations, and navigating conflict with confidence – and hopefully with plenty of laughter too.

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This session is for you if you’ve ever walked into a project where developers reshaped your prototypes, stakeholders wanted to copy the latest trendy app, and your Product Owner ran user tests without you. Being a great designer is not enough to successfully lead a project. Knowing how to assert your perspective, recognise tension early, and understand the real nature of conflicts is rarely taught in design school. It’s time to build those skills and take the lead.