Staging environment

Design Leader Accelerator

4.7 (15)

·

8 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Rise in your Design Career: Build your strategic skills, confidence & create your path from craft leader to business leader.

Alison has built & led Design orgs at:

Target
Shutterfly
Thomson Reuters
Fallon

Course overview

Unblock your Growth in Design Leadership

Product, UX & Content Design folks seeking to grow and enhance their leadership practice, welcome home! This blend of self-paced course, community and live coaching sessions is your path to becoming the confident leader you are ready to be.


Stepping into management is a "what got you here" (craft, leading the work) "won't get you there" (leading through others, business results, visionary leadership) moment for many.


It's my mission to demystify what is needed to be seen as a business leader and be known for excellence in craft AND in leadership.


From imposter syndrome → confidence

From overwhelmed → organized focus

From tactical work → strategic influence

From feeling stuck → career plan


Shift from feeling isolated and overwhelmed, to feeling confident and centered in this supportive environment led by sought after coach Alison Gretz.


The course lasts 8 weeks, with one self-paced module and a live cohort call weekly. We'll will dig into the 4 common sticking points that hold Design Leaders back as they step up to management and then evolve to Director+.


It's by building key muscles and overcoming these sticking points, while also grounding in your own authentic leadership style that will further you as a leader.

Does this sound familiar?

01

I'm ready to scale up to Director, but I'm feeling stuck and blocked from receiving the opportunities to promote up. How do I grow?

02

I'm a Director of Content Design, but I'm feeling out of my depth and need to up-level my soft skills expertise.

03

I want to lead in Design with authenticity and impact – is this possible while still being a respected boss?

04

I'm struggling with imposter syndrome, and my tough stakeholder relationships are causing burnout.

Walk away with the soft skills needed to grow in Design Leadership

Coaching and advice on your leadership journey

Direct and frequent access to Alison alongside a supportive peer group.

Ability to overcome the top 4 pitfalls of design leadership

Learn about common pitfalls to avoid, in a space where you can ask questions and identify key blockers or bumps that are in your way.

Leading in alignment to your values

Define and explore how you will be as a human-centered leader.

Expand your Toolkit with Workbooks, Frameworks & Tools

Each week, Alison will share a value-packed workbook and video/audio recording.

Design Your Next roadmapping and goals

You'll leave the course with a clear path forward, broken down into actionable steps.

This course includes

9 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

11 in-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

19 projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

Sep 16—Sep 22

    Sep

    16

    Design Leader Accelerator LIVE Kickoff

    Mon 9/164:00 PM—5:15 PM (UTC)

    Sep

    18

    Session 1

    Wed 9/184:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    1: Beginning With You

    4 items

Week 2

Sep 23—Sep 29

    Sep

    25

    Session 2

    Wed 9/254:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    2: Setting the Stage

    4 items

Week 3

Sep 30—Oct 6

    Oct

    2

    Session 3

    Wed 10/24:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    3: Leading Through Others

    4 items

Week 4

Oct 7—Oct 13

    Oct

    9

    Session 4

    Wed 10/94:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    4: Leveraging Your Ecosystem

    5 items

Week 5

Oct 14—Oct 20

    Oct

    16

    Session 5

    Wed 10/164:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    5: Elevating Your Communication

    3 items

Week 6

Oct 21—Oct 27

    Oct

    23

    Session 6

    Wed 10/234:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    6.0: Change by Design

    3 items

Week 7

Oct 28—Nov 3

    Oct

    30

    Session 7

    Wed 10/304:00 PM—4:45 PM (UTC)

    7.0: BONUS! Elevating Others

    3 items

Week 8

Nov 4—Nov 8

    Nov

    6

    Session 8

    Wed 11/65:00 PM—5:45 PM (UTC)

    8.0: Design Your Next

    3 items

Post-course

    Provide a Testimonial

    1 item

4.7 (15 ratings)

What students are saying

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accelerate your impact, influence and leadership

Meet your instructor

Alison Gretz

Alison Gretz

As a Design Leader, I have led global teams of humans in solving problems and creating solutions for the real world. I've built management teams from the ground up at Target, Shutterfly and Thomson Reuters. I created the first UX Manager position at Target, and then grew those Managers into Leaders who are now Director level and beyond.


Passionate about supporting whole humans at work, I gained an accreditation in coaching to compliment my leadership skills and hung a shingle as Design by Design, LLC.

Free resource

Leading in Alignment to Your Values

Knowing what makes you tick by discovering and exploring your values is where we begin in this course. By knowing and understanding your values you can lead more authentically, find the best environments in alignment, and uncover better ways to communicate with others.


Use this no-cost workbook to define your values and assess your current alignment.

Get this workbook

Human-centered Leadership for Human-centered Leaders

        This course has been invaluable as someone who is currently job seeking. This course is offering so much context and information to leadership and management dynamics have not yet been exposed to. It's been especially helpful as I go through interviews and talk to different leaders. Alison's approach to this course has been empowering.
Current Student

Current Student

UX Professional
        Alison embodies a wealth of knowledge and expresses genuine warmth and humanity, generously sharing her time for which I’m genuinely grateful. I'm thoroughly enjoying learning from her vast expertise and interacting with a cohort of fellow leaders. Alison's inclusion of current topics and insightful reflections makes this accelerator truly unique.
Current Student

Current Student

Design Leader

Flexible Course schedule

1-2 hours per week

  • Self-paced videos & workbook

    You can go at your own pace and jump into topics that are most relevant to your growth ahead of the cohort.

  • Weekly Group Coaching

    live & recorded

    Each week, Alison will host a live cohort coaching call where we'll dig into REAL WORLD scenarios and transformation.

  • Community Q&A

    Always on

    Alison will host an intimate community where we can tackle more Q&A, weekly AMA topics, and peer mentorship.

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Be the first to know about upcoming cohorts

Design Leader Accelerator

Join the Design by Design Mailing List

Get access to Leadership by Design, a twice monthly email newsletter from Alison.

Best of both Self-paced and Cohort Learning

Best of both Self-paced and Cohort Learning

Connect with others

Weekly live calls exploring critical topics as a group. Also recorded!

Self-paced for busy professionals

The core content launches weekly, with flexibility to work at your pace.

Access to Alison

Community opportunities from AMA theads, email advice and discounted 1x1 coaching services.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Be the first to know about upcoming cohorts

Design Leader Accelerator