www.bexley.gov.uk Building a culture of design Anne-Louise Clark Ellen Care
A bit about you
A bit about us
Anne-Louise Design thinking gave me a new optimism about achieving better outcomes for citizens in a time of austerity Age: 54 Job: Head of Transformation and Change Role: Lead for the organisation s change programmes with particular attention on the need for selfsufficiency Best part of the job: Working with multidisciplinary teams to explore tricky issues Hearing about the lived experiences of our citizens Spotting opportunities Challenges of the job: Breaking down professional policy conflict Dealing with assumptions that are based on little evidence Maintaining focus when over excited Motivations: Wants to unlock potential Would like to strengthen the design thinking across a system
Ellen Care Design is doing something on purpose, for a purpose it fits perfectly in the public sector Age: 28 Job: Transformation & Change Officer Service Design and Engagement Role: Advocating design and sharing our design toolkit to support various teams and the Design and Innovation Board Best part of the job: Learning about lots of different services and working with different teams Conducting user research Giving enthusiastic people the tools they need to make something different happen Challenges of the job: Mixture of different levels of experience and understanding Seeing the need for change but not always having the power to make the change Motivations: Respecting people as the experts in their own lives Delivering public value
Building a culture of design
Design at LB Bexley 2018 Transformation & Change Team Outcomes based planning Design and Innovation Board Commissioning Cycle Service reviews and Deep Dives Bexley D School
2015
Catalysts for change New Corporate Leadership Team Outcomes based budgeting Head of Transformation Looking up and out
Why design was right A moment of change Ready to take a chance Values match Sector-wide movement
Working with designers
Starting a first design project Why this project? Why this approach? What s the context? How will you work together? How will you build capacity and relationships?
Lessons learnt Challenging power dynamics Holding space for discovery Working at pace (within existing structures) Proving the concept building a reputation Learning from different designers
The most important thing is, we started
Building capability and consolidating Transformation & Change team Bexley D School In house design projects Building external networks Reading, talking, exploring
Going mainstream
Design and Innovation Board Innovation Events Commissioning Board Insight and Analytics Staff lunches Discussions and suggestions Design and Innovation Board Hear pitches Allocate resources Provide sponsorship Track progress Membership from across the organisation Services supported to in their projects by Transformation & Change team Business as usual Governance Boards DMTs Team monitoring and improvements
Innovation Principles Innovation comes from anywhere and anyone Nothing is too big or too small to consider Focus on improving outcomes for residents, businesses and visitors Start with, include, end with and return to users Give every idea the best possible chance of success Come with an open and curious mind Don t be hindered by the past Asking questions is more important than having solutions Iterate Don t expect to be perfect from day 1 (or even day 100) Fail well It s better to get it wrong and learn, than fear not being perfect
Pioneer Scheme / Fostering 50 Pioneer Foster Carer scheme developed with FutureGov and funded Building the Fostering 50 programme to develop recruitment models for foster carers that could be offered, for a fee, to other local authorities What s happened: - Presentations to Design and Innovation Board as the project was developed - Funding from Transformation Reserve to backfill team manager post for 2 years to allow both programmes to enable transformation of the service
Bexley Heritage Trails App Face to face walks are popular but cannot be delivered at scale Currently no provision for re-using or sharing the information in the walks online Links to Growth Strategy and London Borough of Culture What s happened: - 22,000 to develop an app - Revenue costs paid from existing budgets and exploring recouping through advertising - Developing and testing the app in January - First walks due for public release in March
Bexley Junior Citizen Citizenship / safety education delivered to Year 6 pupils through scenario based activities Funding from Police ends in 2018 No further provision to deliver despite being popular and valuable opportunity What s happened: - Research with other boroughs, schools and pupils - Workshop with key partners - Funding an apprenticeship post to coordinate the scheme in 2019 and develop a sustainable model for the future
Danson Park Watersports Centre Creating an online booking tool for sessions at Danson Water Sports centre Idea been on the cards for a long time but picked up at an Innovation Event to give some momentum and drive forwards What s happened: - Workshop matchmaking with colleagues who have done similar things - Key contacts in Web team to get things moving
Support to pursue an idea Q1: Attending an Innovation Event or the Design and Innovation Board has supported me to pursue an innovative idea Strongly agree: 43% Agree: 43% Disagree: 14%
Increased confidence Q2: Attending an Innovation Event or the Design and Innovation Board has increased my confidence to take an innovative idea or service improvement forward Strongly agree: 43% Agree: 57%
Connecting with other people Q3: Attending an Innovation Event or the Design and Innovation Board has connected me with other people to help me pursue my idea Strongly agree: 29% Agree: 71%
Harder to pursue Q4: Without the Innovation Event or the Design and Innovation Board, it would have been harder to pursue my idea for innovation or improvement. Strongly agree: 50% Agree: 50%
Learnt something new Q5: I have learnt something new about design and creating change from attending an Innovation Event or the Design and Innovation Board Strongly agree: 43% Agree: 57%
What has been the most useful part of attending an Innovation Event or the D&I Board?
Still early days for me, but really enjoyable and nice to be involved in a meeting with Gill that is so different One of the most enjoyable aspects of my work for the Council It has helped me to find out about different innovative ideas that are happening around the council. It is also helping me to build my confidence and network with staff in different service areas. How would you describe being part of the Design and Innovation Board? Exciting and insightful. It is very rewarding to be involved in the process of making changes for the benefit of the council and ultimately the community we serve Refreshing, invigorating, exciting, giving me a fuller sense of purpose and ability. Also fun at times whilst serious enough to make things happen Its great. The board really helps realize and enable the fantastic ideas to come forward from staff across the organization. Energising, collaborative, optimistic.
Developing the Board Building the profile Active participants Getting the practicalities right Being okay with failing and saying no
Why use HCD in the public sector? Services people want and can use achieve outcomes Costs are reduced when users can understand and use products or services without additional assistance More usable services are more accessible Reducing discomfort and stress for people using a service Keep up with (or confound) expectations
Design is the process of deciding on and realizing preferred futures Cameron Tonkinwise, Carnegie Mellon School of Design
Speculative design Redrawn from Speculative Everything redrawing Stuart Candy
Fixing the status quo vs Imagining new models
Three Horizons
How might we. Blend design thinking with other humancentred approaches to shape different relationships with citizens? Build a design led mind set within traditional professional roles in the public sector? Expand the use of design thinking in policy and strategy spaces? Apply design thinking across place shaping work at a local level?
Any questions? Anne-Louise Clark Head of Transformation & Change @AnneLouTonge Ellen Care Transformation & Change Officer - Service Design & Engagement @ellen_care