Creative teams don't scale on talent alone. They scale on clear systems. This is the operating model I use, drawn from building one.
One front door
Every request, from anyone in the business, should come in the same way and reach the right team. At Impact, ION's internal creative agency, that meant an intake and ticketing system and 52 workflows built around what each discipline actually delivers.
Make demand visible
You can't plan for what you can't see. I use a reporting rhythm from daily to annual, with dashboards that separate proactive from reactive work and show demand by business vertical. That way, leaders can see where work comes from and plan capacity. Example: The data showed that a large share of weekend requests came from one team, so we built a template for that team and cut those requests by half.
Standardize the repeatable
Nobody becomes a designer to reformat the same slide for the fortieth time. Template systems, tiered marketing documents, and document automation take routine work out of the queue, so designers can spend their time where craft matters. I identified 60+ templates for automation across legal, analytics, and HR, and delivered 20 of them in 2025.
Design the urgent path on purpose
Some requests can't wait. For the C-suite and other high-demand teams, I set up dedicated intake, an urgent-response system, and 24x7 coverage. Example: a small rota across three time zones, with a named on-call designer for each shift and a one-hour first-response commitment on urgent requests.
Treat vendors as partners with a plan
When a key vendor contract came up for renewal, I ran the process over 12 months: competitor analysis, a plan to avoid termination risk, and a focus on keeping service continuous. The result was negotiated savings and no gap in service.
Build the team around the work
When the presentation function was created, four designers moved to my team, and I hired two more. I built the team from the ground up, with its own intake process, style guide, and coverage model. Example: Every designer has a monthly one-on-one and a growth goal each half, and rotates through the executive desk so they learn to work with senior stakeholders.
Hiring, onboarding, and growing designers
Hiring: I look for people who ask questions before they open a file, starting with four simple ones: why, who, what and when. Alongside a portfolio review, I run a short working session so candidates can show how they think.
Onboarding: A new designer gets a buddy, a tour of the intake system, and a small real project to finish in the first week.
Growing: Feedback is regular and specific. Designers choose a skill to build each half, whether motion, data visualization, or presenting to executives, and I make room for it in their workload.
Work with the business, not for it
I partner with the C-suite, sales, legal, and HR, and I've built relationships by supporting their daily work. Our automated MSA, NDA, and offer letter templates came out of working directly with those teams. Example: Working with legal on the MSA template meant sitting in their review sessions first, so the automated version matched how they actually check a contract.