How to Scale Up Creative Leadership

Transitioning from an independent role or a small department, to oversight of a large team, requires honing leadership skills which may not have been required before. Here is an outline of steps I encountered over my first three years in a leadership role, and some of the resources which supported me at each step.

1.     Understand the dynamics of a creative team

Creative teams are different from other work groups. From our first college in-class critiques, we are taught to compare and compete in a crowded, ever-changing field - which makes moving from "I" to "We" a delicate balance.

• Creative Directions by Jason Sperling (Prestel, 2021) outlines the mental shift from creative producer to creative coach, especially when you’re managing intrinsically motivated people with similar skillsets to yourself.

• Karen L. Mallia writes in Leadership in the Creative Industries (Wiley-Blackwell, 2019), creative professionals are rarely prepared to lead—and often have to learn new skills in the public view of the team and clients, under pressure, and without a safety net.
  

Both books helped me recognize that leadership wasn’t just setting an example and hoping the team followed. It was about empowering others to do their best work - without imposing my own standards and expectations. My tendency to jump in with hands-on support to ensure client expectations were met, rather than taking a risk and giving control of the outcome to my teammates, was more hurtful than helpful for my team. Learning to give other creatives space and trusting them to achieve independently became a habit practiced over time.

2. Learn the culture of your organization

Creative managers must balance two kinds of results: those requiring technical skills, such as embracing new technologies or planning a campaign launch, and those requiring essential skills, like communication and conflict management. One creative leader's boss may care most about creating disruptive work and winning awards. Another may prioritize team retention, culture, and positive 360 feedback.

Learning to understand and align with upper management’s implicit expectations is a skill in itself. Creatives expect feedback on what they produce – a bigger logo here, a different color there. Taking feedback on one’s perceived conduct and direct report communication can be helpful, and yet extremely uncomfortable. Learning to take critical personal feedback with dignity and a coachable posture, while not losing sight of one's own creative vision, are key.

3. Interact with your teammates as individuals

The team I led was experiencing a department reorganization, with new hiring, new systems, and new spaces, plus pressure to keep performing at the same time. It took time before we had the capacity to really learn about – and appreciate – each other.

• The DISC assessment helped our team understand communication preferences.

• Conflict Dynamics Profiles showed me where I tend to avoid or escalate tension, and to question if my responses were helpful or contributed to destructive behaviors.

• Crucial Conversations (Patterson et al., McGraw-Hill, 2012) gave me tools to speak honestly without harming relationships and emphasized stating mutual goals when conflict arises.

  
  

Implementing these tools helped me built a foundation of trust within our team – something I had not been asked to do before as an individual designer.

4. Recognize theories of team building

I wish I had a better foundation in practices and expectations in team-building before diving in. In retrospect, I found the guidance from these models reassuring around the stages of our team development.

Because I joined a team which was encouraged to perform quickly, I led backward through Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team — delivering results before we developed trust and rapport as a department.

Understanding Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning) helped me realize that I had been unaware of critical early stages of team bonding – and that my staff challenging their roles and my expectations were part of the process, not a leadership shortcoming. This allowed me to experience and share more grace.

5. Communicate creative role boundaries

Clarifying and creating structure around my own role helped me alleviate ambiguity and delegate, coach, and advocate more effectively. The Robert Half Salary Guide 2025 offers clear, industry-standard definitions of increasingly complex creative leadership roles:

• Studio Manager: Oversees workflow, deadlines, and quality control

• Creative Services Manager: Oversees team efficiency and builds morale

• Creative Director: Sets the vision and advises upper management on the marketing strategy
  

Knowing these distinctions helped me build more accurate expectations of what I could deliver successfully, what asks are leveled outside my reach, and how to advocate for the value of my team’s work. Responding to new needs by leaning into old skills may not achieve the results necessary, so understanding the parameters and expectations of an elevated role is critical. Over-performing is tiring, and leads quickly to burnout. Finding the balance is key to a sustainable performance.

6. Develop personal resilience and character

Learning new leadership skills in public - with clients and direct reports both watching and prioritizing different outcomes - requires humility and determination. As a leader, your organization may have challenges unrelated to your team which can have a detrimental impact on workflows and expectations. Focusing on the decisions and behaviors which are within your control, and letting go of ownership of results outside of your control, are vital. This year, I’ve invested time in caring for myself and reflecting on my professional identity. After several years of significant change, I needed to lean into resiliency. I read several books on emotional regulation, cultivating positivity and understanding trust. Another resource I recommend is What's Your Enneatype? by Liz Carver and Josh Green (Fair Winds Press, 2020). Additionally, I took the CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder), a strengths-based development tool, four times in three years – before the taking a leadership role at a new organization, immediately after starting the new job, and at the height of constructive criticism. By the fourth quiz, after gaining valuable experience and rebuilding my confidence, my results mirrored my original self-assessment, and I added a new strength that had emerged.

7. Keep growing industry-specific skills

Management doesn’t have to mean stepping away from creativity entirely. It can feel really hard to go from creating and building a portfolio of personal work to cultivating a department reputation and showcasing a direct report's work without taking undue credit. To balance this shift, I’ve continued focusing on my own creative goals and building skills with graduate classes and personal projects.

• Expanding my digital skills, learning Adobe Premiere Pro in CSU's JTC 540: Corporate Digital Video Editing

• Improving my strategic writing and PR planning via CSU's JTC 550: Public Relations Writing

• Social media and personal brand building - creating and updating my own sites in Behance, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Managing emerging designers means keeping up and mastering new technology, and continuous learning reminds me what I love about the creative process.

Final thoughts

When I felt the spontaneous ideas flowing again in my new leadership role, I knew I’d made it. There are individual specialists that may never stare down that challenge of team leadership and learn to scale up their impact. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. I'd like to raise awareness about the unique challenges of this process for other creatives and their upper level leaders. It is essential for executives to understand the environment where emerging creative leaders are coming from, and encourage them as they cultivate new skills. I am grateful for the coaching and training I had access to at Colorado State University. Becoming an effective creative leader who supervises a thriving large department it isn't easy, but yes, it is possible.