I had the honour of moderating an awesome panel last weekend on the inevitable tensions designers face as products and processes begin to scale. We dug into a lot of gritty details, but one conversation really stuck with me.

We were tackling the age-old question: How do we successfully transition from being seen as just “service providers” (the team that pushes pixels and makes things pretty) to becoming true strategic partners in the organization?

One of the panelists, Gbemi Okeowo, gave an answer that felt like a lightbulb moment for me. She said that designers must learn to speak the language of all key stakeholders if we want to be heard, understood, and involved in the decisions that actually matter.

It sounds simple, but here is the thing: we often fail at this. We tend to speak the language of user pain and empathy, while the people at the executive table are speaking of revenue risk and growth.

If we want to move beyond the design files and into the boardroom, we have to become expert translators.

Mastering the room: a guide to stakeholder languages

I spent some time reflecting on this after the event, and I realized that different teams really do speak entirely different dialects. Here is how I break it down:

Business leaders (Executives & Product managers)

These folks care about value, profit, risk, and growth. When we talk to them about “user friction,” it might sound like a minor annoyance. But if we frame that same friction as a revenue risk (like cart abandonment), they listen. Suddenly, an improved user flow isn’t just “better UX”, it’s a measurable increase in LTV (Lifetime Value).

Engineering and Technology teams

Their world revolves around feasibility, scalability, and technical debt. They don’t want to hear about delight as much as they want to hear about efficiency. So, try framing design decisions in terms of system constraints. Explain how a design system isn’t just about consistency, but about development efficiency — reducing their build time by 20%.

Customer support and Operations

This group speaks the language of cost and ROI. To them, a confusing interface is a nightmare because it drives up operational costs via support tickets. If you can show them that better onboarding reduces CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) because retention is higher, you’re suddenly their best friend.

Marketing and Sales Teams

They need ammunition to sell. Their language is acquisition and competitive edge. Our job is to show how design reinforces the value proposition. We need to talk about how a new layout improves A/B Test performance for the pages that actually close deals.

The designer’s translation guide

To make this practical, we have to consciously stop using our internal jargon and start using terms that land with our partners. Here is a quick cheat sheet I’ve started using:

• Instead of Usability, try explaining it as the ability of a user to complete a task successfully, which directly reduces support costs.

• Instead of Wireframe, call it a testable model used to de-risk development spend before expensive code is written.

• Instead of User flow, describe it as the customer journey that is currently losing us a significant percentage of potential sign-ups.

• Instead of Design system, frame it as an asset that improves engineering efficiency and reduces long-term technical debt.

Two habits to build your influence

Knowing the language is step one. Step two is changing how we present our work.

First, lead with outcomes, not outputs.

We’re all guilty of showing off the deliverables, the shiny new screens. But stakeholders care about the result.

• Avoid saying: “I designed a new checkout flow.”

• Try saying: “I designed a new checkout flow, which our hypothesis predicts will reduce drop-off rate by 10%, contributing an estimated $50,000 in recovered revenue this quarter.”

Second, use narrative storytelling.

This is how we keep the “soul” of design alive while being strategic. Combine the hard logic of business metrics with the emotional resonance of user needs. Use analytical storytelling (data and metrics) to persuade executives, but use narrative storytelling (customer quotes, videos) to inspire empathy. It helps them understand why those numbers matter.

By consistently framing our work in the context of organizational goals, we prove that design isn’t a cost center, it’s a value multiplier. That is how we stop asking for a seat at the table and start earning it.

If you want to dig deeper into this, I found a great video from the Nielsen Norman Group. It’s worth a watch.

Which stakeholder’s language do you find hardest to speak? Let’s chat about it in the comments.