The Power of Co-Design is rooted in democracy. The world is full of need. Our resources to respond are limited. Scarcity prevails. We need to unlock better solutions. Beyond the limits to budgets to address need, there are also limits to how people understand each other. Communication theory and teachings on strategy are replete with reminders to:
- Unify around a common and well understood cause
- Attend to the right information to make sense of reality in a world full of confusing data
- Be prepared for the unexpected by fully understanding options and perspectives
- Keep communication live so that feedback keeps informing understanding
- Stay engaged and engage others so that new meaning and trust is built
- Engage the aspirant in everyone to leverage knowledge and skills and achieve more
This all sounds so easy to do…on paper. The reality of designing and delivering services and managing major projects is that people’s values are unclear, changeable and often in conflict. Communication is imperfect. Bias, competing agendas and stress get in the way of effective engagement. Misunderstandings undermine trust. There is never enough time, information and resource to deliver perfection. In this environment, how do we improve the odds of getting things right?
The Power of Co-design Overcoming Challenges
Services like healthcare are full of well meaning people with an education which brings its own professional outlook and even language. Yet patients routinely feel unheard. The major projects and infrastructure sectors also have their own jargon and culture. People involved believe they are doing good. Many impacted communities fail to see the benefits. In theory, regional economic development has been managed by councils representing their communities. However, many townspeople are angry that their voice is not heard. An example of not utilising the power of co-design.
The Power of Co-design Solutions
What is required is a new way of developing and delivering products, services and infrastructure. The power of co-design is that it is a method whereby those funding, producing, using and impacted by a solution are involved in crafting how resources are organised and what the end result looks like. It is a participatory approach to design where stakeholders are treated as equal collaborators. It rose out of bold social experiments across Scandinavia in the 1970’s which have led to some of the most progressive government service provision in the world.
Co-design is a change for sectors like healthcare where hierarchy and professional prerogative have dictated what patients experience. When our economy was riding the wave of engineering marvels which created new roads, dams, mines and wealth the public were happy to accept what they were given so long as local jobs resulted. Recipients of social services were grateful to get what they could. Now those same providers want to foster agency rather than dependency in their consumers. The broader public now has an expectation that they will be consulted and personalised services will reflect their preferences and values. Communities are now asking for greater coordination of effort across health, social, community and housing players to address the drivers of disadvantage which have become inter-generational.
This means we need to consider how to work at a place-based level rather than within our direct sphere of influence, to unleash the power of co-design.
The Power of Place-Based Co-design
Place based co-design is what our 4D Framework will allow you to do. It has arisen out of years of distilled lessons in the field. When any phase is missed, it can spell disaster for what is delivered. By using co-design you ensure that user’s views, provider’s experiences, funder’s needs and local assets are all considered when developing solutions. This creates both efficiency and effectiveness. It assures services and infrastructure will be well used. It stops protests and angst and ensures that projects meet shared expectations.
