This is exactly what I’ve learnt/observed/reflected upon over the last couple of years. It’s cool when you learn that others are thinking along the same lines …
“Being an expert designer does not necessarily translate to being a great design facilitator, and ultimately, companies need to hire both experts in design, and experts in design facilitation. It’s a different skill set that few designers (formally trained or otherwise) have practiced.”
I recently saw a job advertisement here in Melbourne for a design facilitator. I think it is a sign of a maturing understanding that ‘designers’ and design facilitators/strategic designers/ (and possibly, in some cases) design researchers etc are different. Complementary and both important but different.
For my money, if I was a CEO leading a effort to move toward a more design centric culture the second last thing I’d do would be to hire a bunch of designers who design pixels and mock-ups and user flows.