Service design confidence: beyond learning tools & methods

The last 6 months have been a rollercoaster ride for us (the facilitators), the participants and their sponsors.

We run a 6-month learning and development programme for people in not for profit organisations (e.g., public services, council’s, housing associations and charities), interested in making sure that the services they create and run work for the people that they serve. We call it Service Design in Practice.

We try not to use the word training course to describe the programme. It’s a learning and development programme + coaching. But what’s the difference?

A training course often adopts a linear or modular approach with a set of defined outcomes. It tends to be “one size fits all” and fairly inflexible to individual needs. These are often delivered in response to the need for a quick fix that gives the illusion that change will happen.

A learning and development programme takes people from where they are and takes them on a personal learning journey. The journey inevitably has its highs and its lows, but it certainly ends in a shift in mindsets and a different approach to the way people think and do their work. We have seen moments of hilarity, confusion, vulnerability and enlightenment.

People on this journey will often only later realise why they did what they did at the start of the programme. It takes a cyclical approach to learning, gradually building and developing concepts and ideas to a point where they become part of the participants DNA. As one individual said, “once you’ve seen it and experienced it, there is no going back!”.

We add individual coaching into the mix too, which participants find particularly useful. It helps them to see the wood for the trees when trying to try out new ways of working. Because it’s one thing trying out a new tool or method in a workshop environment. It’s a very different matter trying out new ways of working in a real work environment. Things are never quite like the theory or the textbook suggests!

Three of our participants made a video, including this - a look back at their journey represented by weather symbols.

This is how you affect real and long-lasting change within individuals and develop capability within organisations.

Here are some of the takeaways from the last cohort:

Service design is about more than learning a set of tools and methods

It’s a set of principles and a mindset to adopt. The first step on this journey is to take a look in the mirror - to understand your own perspectives, privileges and assumptions about the world around you. Only once you’ve begun to tread this path, can you think about how the world might be different for others around you.

Question assumptions

Take the time to walk in the shoes of others and you’ll end up creating a service that better meets their needs and aspirations. You’ll often be surprised about what you hear.

For example, Sport Wales discovered that young men in Newport didn’t want to play football on grass pitches because they didn’t want to ruin their box-fresh trainers. This isn’t something that they would have discovered if they’d stayed sitting at their desks!

Test, test, test!

Don’t rely on your own perspective regarding how your ideas look and feel to the people you serve. Test ideas with real people. The earlier the better.

Shift your perspective - start by looking at challenges through the eyes of your service users. It's ok to feel nervous about this, getting out of your comfort zone is uncomfortable but pays off.

Psychological safety

This doesn’t mean the whole team are the best of friends and in agreement all of the time. It means creating an environment where team members believe they will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. We can’t overestimate the value of this when engaging in design work. Because often it’s the “silly ideas” that result in breakthrough thinking. So feeling at ease with speaking up is a prerequisite for this way of working.

Our role in this is less as teachers imparting knowledge and more as guides, supporting others to navigate their way on their own learning journey.

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If you’d like to chat about joining the next cohort starting in March 2022, book a 15-minute call with Jo.