Post on 04-Oct-2020
www.bexley.gov.uk
Building a culture of
design
Anne-Louise Clark
Ellen Care
@Innovate_Bexley
A bit about you
@Innovate_Bexley
A bit about us
@Innovate_Bexley
Anne-Louise “Design thinking gave me a new optimism about achieving
better outcomes for citizens in a time of austerity”
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
Age: 54
Job: Head of
Transformation and
Change
Role: Lead for the
organisation’s change
programmes with
particular attention on
the need for self-
sufficiency
Ellen Care “Design is doing something on purpose, for a purpose – it
fits perfectly in the public sector”
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
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
Building a culture of
design
@Innovate_Bexley
Design at LB Bexley
2018
@Innovate_Bexley
Transformation & Change Team
Outcomes based planning
Design and Innovation
Board
Commissioning Cycle
Service reviews and Deep Dives
Bexley D School
@Innovate_Bexley
2015
Catalysts for change
New Corporate Leadership Team
Outcomes based budgeting
Head of Transformation
Looking up and out
@Innovate_Bexley
Why design was right
A moment of change
Ready to take a chance
Values match
Sector-wide movement
@Innovate_Bexley
Working with designers
@Innovate_Bexley
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?
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
The most important
thing is,
we started
@Innovate_Bexley
Building capability and
consolidating
Transformation & Change team
Bexley D School
In house design projects
Building external networks
Reading, talking, exploring
@Innovate_Bexley
Going mainstream
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
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%
@Innovate_Bexley
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%
@Innovate_Bexley
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%
@Innovate_Bexley
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%
@Innovate_Bexley
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%
@Innovate_Bexley
What has been the most useful
part of attending an Innovation
Event or the D&I Board?
@Innovate_Bexley
How would you describe being part of the Design and
Innovation 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
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
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.
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.
@Innovate_Bexley
Developing the Board
Building the profile
Active participants
Getting the practicalities right
Being okay with failing and saying no
@Innovate_Bexley
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
@Innovate_Bexley
“Design is the process
of deciding on and
realizing preferred
futures”
Cameron Tonkinwise,
Carnegie Mellon School of Design
@Innovate_Bexley
Speculative design
Redrawn from Speculative Everything redrawing Stuart Candy @Innovate_Bexley
@Innovate_Bexley
Fixing the status quo
vs
Imagining new
models
@Innovate_Bexley
Three Horizons
@Innovate_Bexley
How might we….
• Blend design thinking with other human-centred 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?
@Innovate_Bexley
Any questions?
@Innovate_Bexley
Anne-Louise Clark
Head of Transformation & Change
@AnneLouTonge
Ellen Care
Transformation & Change Officer -
Service Design & Engagement
@ellen_care