What is GDI?
Groupe Dynamite is a leading Canadian fashion retailer specializing in women's clothing, operating over 300 stores across North America with a strong e-commerce presence through its brands, Garage and Dynamite.
The beginning
Context & Challenges
When I joined Groupe Dynamite, the company was in the middle of a major shift in its ecommerce strategy. I was tasked with leading the redesign of two native fashion retail ecommerce apps alone, a project that quickly revealed significant structural and cultural challenges. These included:
Progress
My Leadership Approach
The leadership approach I employed wasn’t about taking charge in the traditional sense; it was about fostering trust, building collaboration, and facilitating a shared vision. Here’s how I approached leadership in this project:
Breakthroughs
Key Turning Points
As the project progressed, several key turning points helped reshape the team’s approach and set us on the path to success:
Impact
Results & Outcomes
By focusing on alignment, clear communication, and strategic planning, we saw significant improvements in both team dynamics and project outcomes:
Clearer Project Vision & Goals
The alignment meetings were instrumental in helping stakeholders define shared goals, providing the project with a clearer vision and direction.
As a result, the design execution process improved significantly after many months of alignment effort, leading to satisfying outcomes across the board.
Improved Collaboration
& Communication
Transparent communication and regular check-ins fostered a more collaborative atmosphere, enabling faster decision-making and smoother feedback loops.
As stakeholders saw how design decisions aligned with business goals, their trust in the process grew, resulting in stronger collaboration and smoother future projects.
Successful Execution
The strategic focus paid off, allowing us to execute the design plan efficiently, starting with the successful home screens redesign for both native apps and continuing with the complete refactor of the payment gateway, and avoid costly revisions and product development.
Meditating
Lessons Learned
& Reflections
The project was a powerful learning experience that shaped my approach to design leadership. Here are the key lessons I took away:
Alignment is Key
Without a shared vision, even the best design work can fall short. Regular alignment meetings and transparent communication ensured everyone understood the project’s goals and the role they played in achieving them.
Strategic Planning Over Tactical Progress
While it’s tempting to rush design work, I reaffirmed that slowing down to focus on strategy and alignment yields better long-term outcomes. Trust became the key result of this approach, enhancing collaboration, productivity, and overall success.
Leadership is About Influence
Leadership isn’t about authority. It’s about influencing others with trust, guiding teams toward a shared vision, and empowering them to make decisions.
Doing all of this in a siloed environment is challenging but achievable through consistent, transparent communication and ultimately demonstrating how design aligns with business goals.
Production
Deliverables
This story isn’t just about turning chaos into order; it also involves a significant amount of both proactive and prioritized work. The latter was driven by group decisions and aligned with the priorities set by the product manager and the business unit.
