2022 - 2023
Head of Design & Improvement at The Lab
As Head of Design and Improvement at Dartington Service Design Lab I had responsibilities including:
The development & publication of an integrated strategy of a design research consultancy working hand-in-hand with systemic thinking & evaluation to produce societal impact for young people & families.
The team leadership of service improvement specialists, senior service designers and systems thinking researchers (a team of 6 practitioners).
The concurrent leadership of 3 large UK integrated design research programs including; 1. The Young Lives vs. Cancer (and partners) 1-year program to identify service improvements for the psychosocial needs of families experiencing cancer, 2. the 5-year Inclusion as Prevention systemic change program in South Lanarkshire and 3. the Grosvenor Hart Homes wrap-around services within the built-environment of Chester for care leavers within social housing.
A breakdown of what I have done:
1. Organisational design strategy development & publication Working alongside the CEO, and heads of systemic change and evaluation to develop Dartingtons integrated commercial approach.
2. Business development, bid writing, pitching & commercial workPitching to a wide range of organisations & sectors who provide services to young people and families. Securing client work and managing commercial relationships by demonstrating value throughout discovery & insight implementation.
3. Project management & accountabilityLed by experienced guides who know how to hold space, encourage participation, and keep things moving with purpose.
5. Team leadership & line management at scaleLeading a team of 6 service improvement, senior service designers and systems-thinking researchers.
4. Design thought leadership & facilitationDeveloping the methodologies for the Labs approach to integrated service design alongside systemic thinking and service evaluation. Including, stakeholder mapping, systems mapping, service blueprinting, synthesis of qualitative research at scale, service visualisation & futures thinking, theory of change.
Client project spotlight: Young Lives vs. Cancer (and partners) a systemic approach to service provision for the psychosocial needs of young people & families experiencing cancer
Young Lives vs. Cancer approached The Lab looking for a research partner to support them with a unique project which would see them partner with Teenage Cancer Trust, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust & CCLG.
To take a sector first approach to ‘alignment’ and developing for the first time a shared strategy across organisations to develop the mechanisms of support that families actually need while going through cancer, to get closer to lived experiences, share responsibilities and join-up to provide more holistic support packages.
I led the pitch for our organisation to be their research partner for 12-months, to take a joined-up systemic change, participatory-led relational work with families, service design and evaluation integrated approach. Coaching, working in the open and bringing the partnership of organisations along with us throughout all methodologies applied.
Summary of methods applied & approach taken
Qualitative
Embedding a team of service design, systems thinking researchers & service evaluation practitioners into the partnership.
Devised a ‘small circle’ of co-design relationships with circa 12 parents, guardians and young people to work with us in a relational way to share their experiences, pain-points with current service provision, alternative futures and mechanisms of action required.
Devised a ‘large circle’ of 40-50 individuals with experience of accessing cancer treatment & holistic support, to conduct 1-2-1 interviews and consultation with.
Quantitative
Developed a survey at scale alongside a university partner, to reach 1000+ individuals with experience of cancer in the past few years.
Communication & implementation
Synthesis of evidence of needs and insight collection at scale, through means of user stories, jobs-to-be-done (JTBD), causal loop analysis, journey mapping.
On-going weekly ceremonies with organisational partners, to immerse them in findings, observe sessions and understand methodologies.
Large scale engagement workshops, including a theory of change workshop in London to allow project partners to develop their shared strategies from the evidence gathered at scale. Acros physical services, digital, peer-to-peer support services et al.
A window into the work:
As close to authentic co-design as I have ever worked in my career, building trust with young people and families over an extended 12-week period, both in-person in Bristol on Thursday’s and online with regular check-ins.
A mixture of creating shared-values for how we work on this brief around cancer experiences, eating together and having conversations outside of the project to build familiarity and get to know each other, devising low-fidelity ways to sticky-note and also draw their experiences over time accessing cancer support services, grounded in their needs. Wide ranging needs from ‘a lack of information at key moments in time’, ‘needs for peer-to-peer support’ as well as needs for ‘financial, transport, facilities’ et al.
Honing-in on user archetypes and as-is position assessments of the current service provision by the third sector partners and highlighting goal-gaps in service provision.
Hosting theory of change strategy workshops with senior leadership, grounded in the evidence, to support them to develop their service improvement strategies.
So What? (The big wins)
I think it’s a major win in itself, that large charitable organisations who would normally be competing for the same donations and pots of funding came together here. Demonstrating throughout their receptiveness to listening to their audiences need and how they might share responsibilities for the the holistic support packages and services available to people experiencing cancer within the UK.
Recently, a major theme of the work around Children, Young People and Families having to travel vast miles for not only critical treatment but all manners of support available to them, gained an answer from the UK Government. Who announced £10m of government travel support for those in need. It’s beyond a privilege to see such an outcome emerge, from the shared experiences of people we have directly worked with being recognised in this way.
Further role dynamics
Management of service improvement lead, senior service designers & systems-thinking researchers.
Management & accountability of budget, project reporting and commercial client relationship across 3 concurrent large-scale client projects across the UK.
Management of university partner recruited to support the research with international evidence of approaches outside the UK in addressing similar problem spaces.
Concurrent service design consultancy work for Grosvenor Hart Homes, working with business owners, architects and the Duke of Westminster to develop wrap-around supports for social housing within Chester.
