The Benefits of investing in Co-design
This is Part 4 of our Co-Design blog series. If you have just got here, read these first!
Part 1: What is co-design?
Part 2: Key principles of co-design
Part 3: The Three Essential Elements for Success
A quick reminder on the definition of co-design:
Co-design is intentionally bringing the people who use a system or a service together and collaborating with them to identify problems. It’s then continuing to work with those same people to develop solutions to the problems they identified and again to test the implementation of those solutions.
Why should I invest in a co-design process?
If you have read our previous blogs on co-design, you’ll know that the co-design process requires specific skills and capabilities to engage diverse perspectives
and can take time and resources to implement. With this in mind, is it still worth carrying out a co-design process?
Absolutely! If you are designing programs or services for a group of people with specific needs, it is strongly recommended that you consider involving those people during the development phase.
Let’s discuss a few reasons why you should consider it and why it makes a difference.
Transparency builds trust
Co-design can support organisations to design programs, services and other products that actually respond to the needs and aspirations of the people they need to serve and impact.
Doing this well requires individuals and teams leading co-design processes to be transparent about the limitations and constraints they are working to in their design project, whether that be available resourcing, funding parameters or timeframes.
Transparency empowers co-design participants to create practical real-world solutions, not just crucial for your return on investment. Progressing co-design solutions through to implementation demonstrates an organisation's genuine commitment to learning about, understanding and acting on the experiences and perspectives of the people they support.
Change starts with people
Changes that are made with people, rather than for people have been shown to contribute to improved care experiences and can lead to generating efficiencies in health service settings.
The benefits of using co-design for the development of health services is becoming increasingly recognised and documented.1 With growing knowledge and insight into these benefits, and through the advocacy efforts of consumer groups, there is greater awareness and recognition of the importance and value of involving people in decision-making.
This has led to many services, organisations and commissioning agencies routinely partnering with people with lived experience to inform and shape the design (and re-design) of their programs and services.
The image below is adapted from Steen et al. (2011) and outlines the benefits of co-design for consumers and healthcare organisations and services.
Improved ideas for better programs and services
Consumers, being experts in their own experiences and service usage, naturally hold valuable insights for designing services that truly cater to their needs.
Co-design involves generating solutions for identified problems. If we create the right conditions and ask good questions during the co-design process, consumers feel empowered and supported to contribute their ideas.
Diversity and inclusion
Co-design injects diversity into program and service design by actively involving a range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. It also ensures that the voices of various stakeholders, including consumers, staff, and other relevant parties, are heard and integrated into the process.
Engaging diverse consumer experiences and perspectives is also important here as it allows co-design participants to:
explore the problem they are seeking to solve more deeply,
develop a mutual understanding of the experiences of others (which may differ from their own),
generate ideas that respond to the needs and problems identified, and;
iteratively build on and refine prioritised ideas collaboratively.
The experiences and perspectives of people who work within or alongside services and systems also hold important insight into the needs of the people they support, as well as what they need to deliver that support most effectively based on the organisation’s context, the service landscape and leading practice.
Engaging staff and other system stakeholders in co-design processes can also have secondary benefits, including developing a shared understanding and facilitating dialogue across an organisation or partnership regarding the challenges and constraints experienced by their colleagues. This also supports better problem definition - a key ingredient for generating better ideas.
Improved outcomes
Co-design builds participants' capability to contribute to processes that inform and shape the programs and services they access.
Building participant capability hinges on purposefully designing and facilitating the co-design process. Regular progress updates and knowledge sharing in the project's focal area are essential. Co-design team members should be supported to grasp and practice co-design principles, and understand why these are important in order to develop realistic, attainable, and responsive solutions. This capacity-building creates a sense of agency and empowers people’s continued participation in decision-making.
Real examples of co-design in Australia
Co-design is an effective methodology for creating and improving idea generation, services, and outcomes for both consumers and organisations.
To explore co-design processes and their application across a range of services and products, explore our recent co-design projects, such as co-designing an integrated mental health service hub model, a social prescribing service model, tools and resources to meet community mental health literacy needs, and improving access to specialist care..
References
E, Blomkamp. (2018). The Promise of Co-design for Public Policy. Australian Journal of Public Administration. 77(4). 729-743.Steen et al. (2011). Benefits of Co-Design in Service Design Projects. International Journal of Design. 5:2. 53-60.If you're keen on designing or revamping a program, service, or product using co-design, don't hesitate to reach out to the team for a chat.
