Case Study: GOV.UK Design System - How Coaching, Culture, Confidence & Collaboration
Client: GOV.UK Design System Team
Sector: Government / Digital Services
Focus: Team Coaching, Culture Change, Confidence in Complexity
Duration: 6 months
Context & Challenge
The GOV.UK Design System (GDS) team sits at the heart of UK government digital delivery, creating the design patterns, components, and standards used by millions every day. High-stakes, high-visibility work brings pride—and pressure. While delivery was strong, there was untapped potential in team collaboration, reflection, and collective leadership.
Traditionally, learning and development (L&D) was treated as an individual responsibility. In previous years, the team had focused on personal or discipline-led L&D. With shifting demands, cross-functional complexity, and a renewed strategy, team leads saw an opportunity for something deeper: a shared investment in confidence, culture, and capability.
Approach
The engagement began with 1:1 diagnostics to surface themes around confidence, collaboration, and stepping into ambiguity. Insights were shared with team leads, creating psychological safety and shared ownership from the start.
We designed a 6-month bespoke coaching programme combining:
Whole-team workshops
Dedicated reflection ceremonies
Leadership coaching for team leads
Non-positional leadership was a key focus: Design Managers, Product Managers, and other team members were supported to step into influence and lead initiatives without formal authority. Workshops helped the wider team understand what it looks like to lead through influence, collaboration, and thoughtful decision-making, while team leads explored the question: “How do we steward this?”
The programme also encouraged structured reflection, integrated into delivery rhythms such as a 3-week cycle with a dedicated reflection week, providing space for skills sharing, peer learning, and deliberate reflection. Teams experimented with flexible squads and clearly scoped briefs, giving members autonomy over how to deliver work while ensuring continuity and knowledge transfer.
The Coaching Journey
Over six months, the team explored:
Psychological safety and vulnerability in high-stakes environments
Confident communication and collaboration across roles
Leadership behaviours for a culture of reflection and learning
Collective L&D as a strategic enabler
Sustainable delivery pace and autonomy
Leading through influence and stewardship without formal authority
Practical practices included:
‘Team superpowers’ sessions to identify strengths and growth areas
Peer-to-peer L&D and skills sharing
Reflection ceremonies embedded into delivery cycles
The team embraced vulnerability, giving and receiving feedback, and reported a closer, more trusting culture. Prioritising coaching alongside delivery—even with heavy workloads—helped the team “sharpen the axe,” building confidence and capability to sustain high-quality outcomes.
Outcomes
Stronger culture of openness, learning, and peer support
Teams stepping into spaces previously considered uncomfortable, exercising influence without formal authority
Increased clarity, confidence, and pace in delivery
Greater cross-functional collaboration on complex releases
Coaching behaviours embedded into daily practice and ceremonies
Operational changes inspired by coaching, e.g., 3-week delivery cycles with reflection weeks
Reflections from the Team
“This has been one of our most productive years to date. Coaching helped us move faster by stepping back and sharpening how we work together.” — Kelly Lee, Lead Delivery Manager
“We’ve grown as a team—this wasn’t about fixing individuals but building something shared. It’s changed how we collaborate, reflect, and deliver.” — Steve Messer, Senior Product Manager
In the GDS Teams, own words
If you’d like to read the teams own words on this, you can read two fabulous blogs written by Kelly Lee on medium; How approaching learning and development as a team can improve productivity and culture and Tired of fortnightly sprints? We’re trying something different If this resonated with you…
If this resonates
If your organisation, department, or team wants to collaborate better, reflect more, and step into influence, let’s have a conversation.
Stefan
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