#64 Why Design Thinking is changing government

This is a style of episode we’ve never done before.

In this episode, David Pembroke interviews two people who are doing amazing work in government.

Anne-Louise Clark is the Head of Organisational Development and Internal Communication for the London Borough of Bexley in the UK. Anne-Louise Clark has extensive experience in government and public sector. She has worked for councils such as the North East Lincolnshire Council, the Maidstone Borough Council and the Medway Council. Anne-Louise has experience in organisational change, learning and development, and internal communications.

Ellen Care works with Anne-Louise as an Internal Communications Officer for the London Borough of Bexley. Ellen Care started with Bexley 4 years ago as part of the National Graduate Development Programme. She studied international relations at the University of Leeds and the University of Western Ontario.

Anne-Louise and Ellen discuss how Design Thinking has changed the way their local government operates.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
2:20 What is the Bexley Innovation Lab? (And how it is different from anything they have done before)
3:51 Why is design thinking different to government’s business-as-usual? And what are the steps in Design Thinking?
6:35 How was design thinking received by the London Borough of Bexley?
9:25 A problem Design Thinking solved which traditional processes could not (and saved the Borough of Bexley money)
11:56 How to increase the use of government services
14:41 What is User Research? (And why it can be better than surveys and focus groups)
18:32 How do you know if you’re solving the right problem?
22:20 How does Design Thinking change the way internal communications is run?
26:58 The struggles of getting government to adopt Design Thinking (and how you can overcome these challenges)
29:23 How User Research overcomes survey fatigue

Selected links:

Read more about the Bexley Innovation Lab on their blog
Connect with Anne-Louise Clark on LinkedIn
Ellen Care’s experience with the National Graduate Development Programme
London Borough of Bexley Website

Credits:

Featured image by Gavin Whitner

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