Some designers working “inside” feel abused. The fun work is assigned externally and they don’t feel appre­ci­ated. The people they work with have unrealistic expectations of them and, since the service they provide is often “free,” their clients can ask for countless iterations because they lack a strategy or a communications plan and instead say, “I’ll know it when I see it.”

Others work for companies like Nike, Capital One, Target and Herman Miller and have many fewer complaints. It may be true that organizations with enviable design func­tions are that way because of an enlightened CEO, but more often than not, it is because at one point in the organi­za­tion’s his­tory a designer said: “We have the institutional know­ledge, we know the culture, we know the brand, we can do it faster and cheaper and better, and I’m going to prove it,” rather than, “I’m not going to take it any more.” These designers wanted to partner with other functions in their organization and to do that, they had to make a con­nection between their work and business results to become partners with (not design waiters for) the people who make the big decisions.

Other companies like McDonald’s, Bank of America, Procter & Gamble, IBM and American Express rely heavily on agencies and other outside resources. Companies like this often rely on Procurement to acquire design suppliers, but might also hire designers to coordinate between them and creative suppliers. These designers may or may not partici­pate in selecting or directing the agencies, and may have different issues that irk, such as convincing management to refresh the outside resources they habitually use.

Most companies, such as Colgate, Bed Bath & Beyond, MetLife and Starwood, fall in the middle where some design work is done inside and some out.

If you are interested in changing the status quo in your orga­ni­zation, make the fact that design is finally having its moment work for you. Every business publication in the last five years has either had a cover story about design or devotes regular real estate to it. There cannot be a CEO who is not aware of what design has done for Apple, Bloomberg, Starbucks and Nissan to differentiate them from their competition, define how special they are and how worth-it it is to pay a premium for their product or service. Capitalize on this. Show and tell them how they can get some.

There are steps to take to improve the reputation of internal design or creative services so it can live up to its potential. You have heard the derisive comments: “things get lost in the shuffle;” “the internal group doesn’t do a good job;” “they are overworked;” “they can only do the simple stuff;” “it should be cheaper and faster internally, but it isn’t;” or “it is easier to work with an agency.”

Of course these critics think that being a strategic partner with design means, “Just do what I say, please.” Some pride themselves on out-of-the-box thinking and attempt to moti­vate by saying, “Do it exactly the same way we did it last time.” They pride themselves on their operational efficiency, but at the final moment declare, “I have no budget.” They love that creative services is a friendly local resource to use to “Iterate this as many times as I want!” They don’t need a creative brief because, “Creative services has institutional knowledge.” Do any of these great ideas sound familiar?

If you are in a situation where you feel abused, commit your­self to breaking the mold and changing the situation—or get another job. There is nothing worse than a complainer who hangs around, but never does anything constructive. No one is going to come along and wave a magic wand. Make the per­­sonal investment in doing an analysis of why the internal group is not meeting expectations of the designers working in it, or the corporate functions that depend on it. Is it lack of fund­ing, poor infrastructure, inappropriate resources or inefficien­cies? How can you start to build a better internal capability and establish a vision, inspire your team, sell management and execute flawlessly? None of this is easy, but others have done it. If your organization is not taking advantage of it, step up to the plate and become a hero to your fellow design­ers and all those depending on the organization to produce pro­ducts, services, communications and systems that have value and support the business strategy (which we hope is sound).

One of the best ways to begin to make your case is to speak the language of cost. Every business person understands the concept of cost, and so should you. A design group I know is growing in influence in a company where the CEO blanks out when the word ‘design’ is mentioned. But when shown that $50 million was saved during the first year of a program to standardize the symbols and language used on products and in instructional and promotional material about them, he author­ized hiring additional designers. It is in the early days of the relationship and the CEO is not yet a convert. He may never understand the value of design beyond cost, but mean­while, the vice president of design is realizing his aspira­tions for design’s tentacles to infiltrate the organization and improve its performance.