What did I enjoy?
Seeing the publication of the Public Design Evidence Review, which explores the role and value of design in the public sector. It includes a section on public design for transformational change for which I was interviewed in 2023. I reckon the things I said back then, alongside other participants who I look up to as thought leaders, remain very relevant today. Choice quote from the executive summary:
Well-designed policies and services solve problems and deliver intended outcomes. They are effective because they address root causes rather than symptoms and avoid moving problems elsewhere in the system.
In the London office this week, I was privileged to meet with visitors from Australia, who are responsible for triage and navigation services in the health system there. The conversation has already made me think differently about our own evolving access model.
And now that the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England is published we can really get to work on delivery plans for the next several years. Conversations that would have been tentative or awkward before publication are becoming easier and more productive now that the big picture vision is open for all colleagues to see. The level of ambiguity is still very high, but I can see people starting to sketch out the structures and boundaries that teams will need to succeed as we move into delivering the ambition for the public.
What was hard?
My chairing skills were stretched this week with two highly consequential and technically complex meetings to chair. In both instances, I had put time into preparing beforehand, which made me less nervous, but I’m still at the “consciously competent” stage as a meeting chair. Getting the pace right is hard. I constantly check whether I am giving everyone the space to say what needs to be said, and keeping the humans most affected at the centre of the discussion, while also watching the clock to make sure we will spend our time together proportionately on the most important matters.
What do I need to take care of?
We’re at a natural pivot point with a number of our products and services where it’s right that we question their future roles, scopes and roadmaps as part of a transformed health and care system. Sometimes there’s a perception that the people who build and run a service today will be too wedded to the status quo to imagine a more radical future. The in-house team’s first reaction to well-intentioned but less well-informed ideas can be negative or defensive. This leads to them being cut out of conversations at the very point when their expertise is needed the most.
In my experience the people closest to the problem will also be the most creative in finding solutions, if care is taken to create the space for them to do that work safely. That’s easier said than done when people’s jobs may be at risk and powerful people are jockeying for position, but we owe it to everyone involved to keep on trying.
Matt Edgar writes here 