What does design thinking have to do with local authorities?

Eleanor Brown shares three lessons from piloting designing thinking at Enfield Council, and makes the case for problem solving from the outside in.

The traditional one-size-fits all approach to public service delivery is struggling to meet the ever-changing, complex needs of our communities. But relationship-focused approaches are proving more fruitful. By listening to communities, experiencing their problems first hand, recognising them as individuals and valuing their insights, we can redesign services in a way that ultimately helps people live better lives.

This is where Design Thinking comes in. With the aim to find the best solution to a given problem, design thinking comprises five main processes: empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test.

In local government, you’re lucky if you get six days to explore a problem, let alone six months.

What sets Design Thinking apart from other service improvement approaches is its human focus. It combines empathetic design and ethnography so that designers experience the problem and wider environment first-hand, whilst remaining objective – seeing things that others don’t see. And designing solutions that treat the root cause rather than the symptoms creates ‘what if’ moments, building improvements and capacity for the future too.

As organisations this means we start designing from the outside in, rather than the inside out. But it’s not a silver bullet. You need to know which types of problems it will resolve effectively and, importantly, how to adapt it to meet the needs and expectations of your organisation. In local government, you’re lucky if you get six days to explore a problem, let alone six months, making it challenging to follow standard ethnographic techniques. Incorporating aspects from other disciplines, such as systems thinking, can help understand the wider picture and amalgamate cause and effect.

This means we start designing from the outside in, rather than the inside out.

Three lessons

So how do you get started if Design Thinking isn’t on your organisation’s radar? There are three key lessons my team and I have learned while researching, piloting, adapting and championing Design Thinking in our local authority.

Start small

Start with a proof of concept. Ideally a known problem to your organisation, and even better, one which others have tried to resolved but haven’t succeeded. We began by trying to improve a whole service, but quickly realised we’d been a little bit ambitious! So, using our complaints data, we zoomed in on a particular customer problem which was also known to our leadership team and politicians, but, despite various projects, no one had been able to fully resolve yet. We piloted Design Thinking to improve that end-to-end customer journey, and we developed our approach across multiple customer journeys, ultimately expanding through the service.

As it was a known, high-profile problem, when we started to demonstrate impact and positive outcomes, this helped win hearts and minds.

Measure, measure, measure

Measuring impact is essential when managing change. It’s also a key feature of Design Thinking as you test, learn from and refine your solutions in the real world. As you track impact to identify the most effective solutions, remember to use that evidence to develop support from your key stakeholders (and show them the numbers).

Unlock the potential of your people

As a proof of concept, it’s unlikely you’ll have a full team of trained Design Thinkers waiting in the wings, but don’t let that deter you. The key is to bring people together who have the right mindset, as well as some core skills and capabilities. In our experience, a great advantage has been our diversity of experience and knowledge outside of Design Thinking. 

Create a multidisciplinary team of people who are brave, curious, love problem solving, think outside the box, can see things from someone else’s points of view and leave their preconceptions at the door. Together you’ll learn how to use and adapt Design Thinking and build relationships with some amazing colleagues along the way.

Create a multidisciplinary team of people who are brave, curious, love problem solving, think outside the box

And don’t forget your residents and customers as you test and learn. They are the ultimate subject matter experts when it comes to improving customer experience and service delivery more widely. Maximise and champion their lived experience, get them involved in trialling possible solutions, and listen to what they have to say on your proposed improvements. We developed our approach over time, starting with colleagues who were also residents which gave us a relatively ‘safe space’, and within a few months we created independent customer groups. Both gave us invaluable insight as we experimented with ideas and refined solutions.

Some of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of my career have been on the frontline with colleagues, having a go at what they do every day

A final piece of advice – roll up your sleeves and get involved. Think of yourself as a Design Thinking Champion and get stuck in! Some of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of my career have been on the frontline with colleagues, having a go at what they do every day – listening and talking to residents, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my team as we embarked on this journey together. It’s such a great way to learn and gives you a wealth of memorable experiences you can share with others as you continue to win hearts and minds for Design Thinking.

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