A Seat at the Table — What Designers Really Mean

If you’ve worked as a design leader for long enough, you’ve probably heard someone on your team say, “We need a seat at the table.”

It’s a familiar refrain in design circles — but what does it really mean? And why have I heard it numerous times in the beginning of different roles over the last decade?

In my experience, this statement often reflects a deeper frustration — one rooted in how design teams are positioned and perceived within their organisations. It typically has a slightly different flavour between each company, but here are some of the most common underlying reasons I've come across:

Treated Like Short-Order Cooks

Many design teams find themselves in a constant state of reaction — responding to urgent requests instead of proactively shaping outcomes. The work becomes task-driven, not purpose-driven, and deadlines are often tight.

When this happens, design shifts from being a strategic function to an executional one. Teams are briefed very late in the process, often after key decisions have already been made, leaving them to “make it look good” or “add the UX layer” rather than contribute to defining what should be built and why. Over time, this reactive pattern erodes both creativity and morale — designers stop challenging assumptions and start optimising for speed over quality, simply trying to keep up with the pace of delivery.

This dynamic rarely comes from bad intent. Believe me, have faith that everyone is always trying to do the best job they can, based on how they know to work. In fast-moving software organisations, delivery pressure is real — teams are shipping, iterating, and firefighting constantly. When design isn’t embedded early enough in discovery or planning, it naturally becomes a service provider instead of a strategic partner. The result is a design team that feels more like a support function than an equal voice at the table. At this stage they are also seen often as blockers, just slowing down the process.

The consequences go beyond burnout or frustration. Without the space to think ahead, design loses its ability to connect user insights to product vision. Teams spend so much time reacting to immediate needs that they rarely get to zoom out and influence broader experience strategy. And ironically, this reactive mode often creates more inefficiency — because design decisions made in haste tend to resurface later as rework, inconsistencies, or usability issues that slow delivery down in the long run.

To shift this dynamic, design leaders need to create both permission and process for designers to engage upstream and early in the discovery process — to participate in framing the problem, not just solving it. That means advocating for discovery time, aligning with product and engineering early, and demonstrating how design thinking can actually accelerate, not slow down, product delivery when done right. Sometimes the work we need to do isn’t directly within our teams, but the supporting elements around them.

Misunderstood or Misinterpreted

The objectives, impact, and value of design are not always clear to others in the organisation. When people misunderstand what designers do — or hold varying interpretations of their role — it leads to misalignment and missed opportunities. Sometimes it just doesn’t hurt to educate product engineering marketing and sales teams on the role of a user experience designer. The criticality of our early involvement.

This often happens when design operates in isolation or communicates in ways that feel abstract to non-designers. Stakeholders might see design purely as aesthetics, UI polish, or a usability check, rather than a discipline that shapes strategy and outcomes. Without a shared understanding of design’s role, it becomes difficult to gain traction in discussions that influence direction, scope, or investment.

The key is visibility and translation — helping others see how design contributes to solving business problems, reducing risk, and improving customer experience. When design teams consistently connect their work to outcomes that matter to the organisation, they move from being a service provider to a strategic partner.

Lack of Impact and Influence

Designers want to help guide the product and business, not just make things look good. Yet many teams struggle to influence strategic decisions. This is especially common when a team’s maturity outpaces its perceived role in the organisation.

As design capabilities grow, the need for stronger leadership and a seat in strategic discussions becomes critical. But without clear representation at that level, design often remains confined to execution — shaping interfaces rather than direction. The result is frustration on both sides: designers feel unheard, and stakeholders miss out on valuable insights that could de-risk or strengthen decisions early on.

Building influence takes time and intentionality. It comes from demonstrating consistent value — showing how design thinking helps align teams, uncover opportunities, and translate customer needs into business outcomes. Influence isn’t granted; it’s earned through clarity, consistency, and impact.

Even the best ideas are only as powerful as the way they’re communicated. Great design doesn’t speak for itself — designers do. Ive also found this is a common issue when you have teams that are big enough to have a dedicated research team. Far too often have I seen great research and insight never properly see the light of day.

It’s worth regularly asking yourself:

• How is my work being interpreted by others?

• Am I clearly communicating the “why” behind my design decisions, not just the “what”?

• Am I meeting my audience where they are — in their language, not just mine?

In many organisations, communication is the invisible skill that separates competent designers from influential ones. You might have exceptional ideas and a solid rationale behind them, but if those ideas aren’t translated into a narrative that others can follow — product managers, engineers, executives, or marketing peers — they’ll be misunderstood, undervalued, or ignored.

Good communication in design isn’t about flashy slides or perfectly polished visuals.

It’s about clarity, context, and for me, mainly empathy — making your thinking visible, not just your outcomes. That means showing the reasoning behind your work: the constraints you navigated, the trade-offs you made, and the results you’re aiming for.

Designers often fall into the trap of presenting directly from tools like Figma or Miro, assuming the visuals will speak for themselves. They rarely do. Without the right narrative framing — the story behind the pixels — people may miss the problem you’re solving or why certain decisions matter. That’s when meetings lose focus and conversations become reactive instead of constructive.

Effective communication also means tailoring your message to the audience. When speaking to engineers, emphasise logic, flow, and feasibility. When speaking with executives, highlight customer outcomes, business impact, and alignment with strategy. Contextual storytelling is one of the most underappreciated design skills — and one of the most powerful.

Timing also matters. Share too early, and you risk confusion; share too late, and you lose buy-in. The goal is to make stakeholders feel involved, not surprised.

Ultimately, communication is not a soft skill — it’s a leadership skill. Design is a team sport, and your ability to articulate, align, and inspire others determines not just how your work is received, but how design itself is valued across the organisation.

A quick example:Two designers from one of our product verticals presented weekly updates to their squad (about 10–12 people). They chose to present directly from Figma and jumped straight into showing final designs. Within 60 seconds, they were flooded with questions and quickly lost control of the discussion.

After a short mentoring session, they approached the next meeting differently — with a clear agenda, defined feedback points, and a simple structure. The result was a 45-minute discussion that stayed on track, with thoughtful, focused feedback from everyone. All it took was structure and intention.

Feeling Unheard

Sometimes designers feel their ideas aren’t being taken seriously — that their perspectives are sidelined in discussions with peers or other departments. Over time, this can erode confidence, motivation, and trust.

This often isn’t about the quality of the ideas themselves, but about visibility and timing. If designers aren’t consistently included in the conversations where direction is shaped, their input risks arriving too late to make an impact. Creating forums where design perspectives are heard early — and where feedback loops run both ways — helps ensure that ideas don’t just exist, but influence.

Building Design Influence from Within

There are countless reasons behind the “seat at the table” conversation, but these are the ones I encounter most often. The good news is, design influence can be built — thoughtfully and deliberately.

Here are a few principles I’ve found most useful when embedding design within a company:

Understand the Business

I cannot stress this enough — invest time in learning how the business actually works, and who and what drives decisions. Design influence grows fastest when it’s grounded in business understanding.

• Decision-Making: Where and how are key decisions made?

• Stakeholders: Who needs to be onboarded or aligned for design to succeed?

• Success Metrics: How is success defined — by delivery speed or by customer impact?

• Company Values: What principles guide decisions and behaviour?

• Quality Standards: Are there established design and accessibility standards?

• Process Alignment: Is there a shared approach to product delivery?

Every organisation has its own character — almost like a personality. What works brilliantly in one company may fail completely in another. Adaptability is crucial.

Read the Room

Over the years, I’ve worked with companies led by strong “alpha” personalities, others driven by engineering excellence, marketing power, or product vision. Some even operate by the “loudest voice wins” principle.

In rapidly scaling businesses, I’ve also seen a kind of decision atrophy — where teams circle endlessly around issues without committing to a direction. This usually stems from fear: the awareness that decisions now affect hundreds of people, not just a handful.

Being aware of these dynamics helps design leaders position their input effectively — knowing when to push, when to listen, and when to reframe the conversation entirely.

Balance Team and Business Focus

As a design leader, your role is to bridge worlds — nurturing your team while staying attuned to the wider organisation. When you connect your team’s work — customer empathy, product insight, and design thinking — with the company’s strategy and priorities, you create the foundation for lasting influence.

That’s when design truly earns its seat at the table — not by asking for permission, but by demonstrating value through clarity, communication, and impact.

I hope this article helps anyone in a design leadership role understand better how to integrate a design team successfully into an organisation. It’s been a little different for me within each role. A big part of our role is learning how to make design impact land within the org.