Growing Leaders

My role: UX Manager, Creative Director

The challenge

As the BBC Studios Product portfolio expanded, I faced a scaling problem that many UX managers know well. The team was covering more products than I could personally support, but without budget for additional managers, hiring my way out of it wasn't an option. I needed to develop my senior designers into strategy-minded leaders who could work independently — effectively multiplying my capacity without multiplying headcount.

The Approach

Rather than micromanaging or trying to be everywhere at once, I reframed my role from hands-on manager to coach and mentor. I created a structured framework to develop leadership capabilities involving the following:

Peer-led problem solving sessions:

When team members encountered new challenges, I set up forums led by senior UXers where they could work through problems together. I deliberately didn't attend these sessions to encourage knowledge sharing and help them develop confidence in asking for help from each other.

Braintrust work shares

Borrowed from Pixar's model, these sessions focused on sharing work-in-progress to get early input. The team was encouraged to give feedback and ask questions. I held back from leading the conversation, instead asking strategic questions to help open up discussion and guide their thinking.