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5 tips for incorporating 'design thinking' into your stakeholder engagement strategy

7/31/2017

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Simply put, design thinking is a means of generating innovative solutions to problems. It forces a client-focused approach that results in both more ideas and greater potential for client satisfaction. David Kelley, Dennis Boyle and the d.school at Stanford are good places to start if you're interested to learn more about this 5-step process. In this article I briefly touch on each as it applies to stakeholder engagement.


  1. Empathize. Who is your stakeholder? What are they feeling? Use interviews, surveys, one-on-one conversations and other interactive methods to dig deeper into their experience. Listening is a huge part of both design-thinking and engaging stakeholders effectively. If you don't hear them you can't come up with a solution that resonates.
  2. Define. Come to consensus about what you've heard. Confirm your findings with your stakeholders to make sure you're on the right track and document, document, document. What needs have you uncovered? Why? How would a solution make them feel? How would it change their behavior? If summarizing information and presenting it back for confirmation is not your strong suit consider engaging a skilled facilitator.
  3. Ideate. Go for quantity over quality! That's not a phrase you hear often but it's the truth. When generating ideas, especially with stakeholders, it's important not to limit them right away. All ideas are valid! You can critique later. At this point you want to keep the party going and get as many contributions as possible. This exercise alone can bring stakeholders into alignment - creating a more open dialogue that gets you closer to solving their real problem and engineering a solution that is sustainable.
  4. Prototype. After you've listened to feedback, go back to the drawing board and see if any new ideas can be captured. Once you have a clearer picture, begin to articulate and compose what a solution would look like. Turn the idea into something tangible- a program, product, service, etc. The prototype does not have to address the entire problem, it can be focused on one part of the solution.
  5. Test (and re-test). Use a sample group to review the proposed solutions and observe how they interact with it. What questions do they ask? How do they feel? It's important to remain client-focused and treasure the feedback you receive without getting defensive. One of the reasons 2017 is the year of the stakeholder is because stakeholders can provide incredible insights which can save you time, money and frustration (check out my short article on the other 2 reasons here).

Design thinking is a complex strategy that can also be quite fun! There are tons of worksheets and materials available for conducting a design thinking workshop for different audiences to solve various problems. If you're interested in hosting a workshop for your municipality or client send me a message and I'll point you in the right direction!


Do you use design thinking for community development? If so, how?
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3 reasons 2017 is the year of the stakeholder

7/26/2017

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1. Organizations can no longer afford to be autonomous. 
They literally cannot afford it. 
It has often been said that in order to be truly free you need to have that "f-you money," you know - the kind of money that ensures you don't have to ask anybody for anything, not their blessing, not their help, and certainly not their opinion. While that might still be the goal for many, most of us, including local government, are not there yet. With that said, local governments often need all the partners and financial leverage they can muster and that means reaching out to stakeholders across industries.
 
2. Context is the knowledge of the future. 
Oh, you've got data? You know what the housing cost burden is for families at 80% Area Median Income? Ok great. Now tell me why................................. (i'll wait)....... 
Exactly. Now, for many of us who work in the community development space amid federal regulations writing grants and the like, we know that local knowledge is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle. In order to understand the cause of what's producing the data we see, we need to know what is happening in people's everyday lives. What is wrong with the transitional housing system if someone can't get a bed because they are pregnant? What can we do to ensure homeless veterans have access to quality healthcare?
Many policy changes are enacted because of the stories we hear. We need those stories. Not only do they give meaning to numbers but they help uncover broken or non-existent links in the systems we develop. Local context is the glue which makes programs work effectively and seamlessly. 


3. Diversity is on-trend.
If your organization doesn't value diversity or recognize that "diversity of thought" is not enough, you are behind the eight-ball my friend. Your approach is "played out," and I bet your programs are too.
For marginalized groups diversity has been a catch phrase, a forced invitation to the main stage, and for too long it's been lip-service. While we can't make up lost time, we can use innovative practices and technologies to leapfrog toward a more socially inclusive and just world. Committing to actively and purposefully engage all sectors of the population is an undeniable part of that. 
If you're serious about solving complex problems - engage stakeholders. 


Not sure where to start? Connect with me and ask your questions. I'll help you. No strings attached.

(This article was originally published on www.localparticipation.com which has been rolled over to this site). 

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    Author

    Adria is a community development consultant. She loves all things local and when she's not writing online you can find her enjoying the outdoors. 

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