all resources
NOTION
You've felt it for a while now.
Stakeholders don't loop you in early. They treat design like decoration. Decisions get made without you at the table, then you're expected to "make it work."
Maybe you're a senior designer watching this pattern repeat—knowing something needs to change before it derails your career. Or maybe you're leading a team, watching talented designers burn out because they're tired of not being heard.
Here's what most designers miss: This isn't about your skills. It's about broken trust.
The designers who earn their seat at the table understand that stakeholder relationships require the same rigor as design work—research, alignment, and intentional action.
The Stakeholder Reset gives you the framework to lead that change.
Why This Matters for Your Career (and Your Team)
You're exhausted by this:
Being brought in too late to influence decisions that directly impact your work
Having your recommendations ignored while stakeholders chase their own ideas—then blame design when it fails
Watching dysfunction drain your team's morale (or your own) because no one feels valued
Feeling like you're constantly proving design's value instead of being trusted as a strategic partner
Here's what's at stake:
If you're a senior designer: If you can't rebuild trust, you'll stay stuck as an order-taker. Your work will be undervalued. And when promotion conversations happen, your name won't come up.
If you're a design leader: If you don't reset this now, you'll lose your best people. The dysfunction will calcify. Your influence will shrink.
Not because you or your team aren't good enough. But because the relationship is broken—and no one knows how to fix it.
What The Stakeholder Reset Does
This isn't about becoming a better designer. You already know how to design.
This is about diagnosing why stakeholders undervalue design and rebuilding trust through research and action—so you can finally be seen as the strategic partner you already are.
The guide gives you:
A clear diagnosis framework to uncover why trust broke down—not just symptoms, but root causes
A 6-week research plan to understand what stakeholders actually need and where misalignment lives
Structured conversation guides to realign expectations without politics or hope
Actionable templates and tools to implement changes that rebuild credibility and shift perception
Progress metrics to measure whether the reset is working—so you have proof, not just hope
This isn't theory. It's a strategic intervention you can start leading this week.
Here's the Shift
The goal isn't to fix your design process—it's to rebuild the trust that makes stakeholders actually want to include you.
Before you ask for better process or more influence, answer this: "Why don't stakeholders trust design right now—and what would it take to change that?"
That question transforms you from frustrated executor to strategic problem-solver.
The Stakeholder Reset walks you through how to answer it—through research you can run, conversations you can facilitate, and changes you can implement.
The Question Is Simple
Six months from now, will stakeholders see you (and your team) as indispensable? Or will you still be managing around the same broken relationships?
If you're a senior designer: Your next promotion depends on whether you can prove strategic value—not just ship good work.
If you're a design leader: Your best people are watching to see if you'll lead the change.
The gap between where you are and where you want to be isn't talent. It's doing the hard work to rebuild trust.
And that work starts with a reset.
Related resources
