How service designers can choose the right strategies for change

Our work is as much about design as it is about challenging mindsets and societal norms. More than anything, social impact is at the forefront of human-centred design. However, this is not reflected or even encouraged in every organisation. Employees that want to support change are already using some of the tools and methods associated with service design. In some organisations, some concept of service design is entirely new.

Demystifying service design to stakeholders

The first way to introduce organisations to service design is by figuring out their relationship with design. Find out what they think about service design and what they expect from it. Then, you can work on designing around the customer’s context.

When designing for an organisation, find out the experience their clients or customers have. If they have no answer, you can then start mapping service design principles with them. Once you’ve introduced them to the concept, you can then go into variation, layout, and examples so that they can see that service design works. This involves showing them how other companies have done it. They’ll become more comfortable with the idea and be open to adopting service design.

So, how do we bring about change in organisations?

Change starts with not seeing ourselves as saviours of sorts. A lot of service designers have a saviour complex, which has us believing that people are inherently broken. We have a habit of thinking that the very people we serve need to be fixed. And so, we believe it’s our job to bring solutions.

A fair amount of service designers transitioned from product design and user experience backgrounds. For these designers, going from a technologically inclined process to human-centred design can be a huge adjustment. In service design, we create new ways of doing things and challenge mindsets. Therefore, awareness of universal design and its potential impact is crucial to the success of our work.

Our work extends beyond customer satisfaction. While a wonderful user experience is important, we also need to build things that challenge human behaviour and open people’s minds.

Understanding and designing around different people’s context

People across the globe have varying experiences and vulnerabilities. This makes our journeys and contexts wildly diverse. Companies often spend months focusing on all the technical aspects of design, leaving no room to think about the user’s actual needs. But when working with different stakeholders, you also need to understand the context of people’s needs. This includes considering the challenges they may face.

A key quality in service design is the ability to immerse yourself in the context of the customer, client, or user. When you stop being a spectator, people feel comfortable enough to discuss growth opportunities. They’re able to show you things that need improvement. This allows us to implement principles of service design instead of trying to fix things.

Of course, we have our design tools and research questions. But if we’re dealing with humans, we must learn from them. Another important part of understanding the user context is addressing the vulnerability of the people you serve. This will differ with every group of people your design is geared towards.

We need to really take a step back and listen more. This makes empathy a big part of service design. It ensures that we understand the whole context of where people are coming from before we try to “fix” them.

Bringing technically inclined stakeholders to the fold

Tech and product design teams often have completely different ways of doing things. They have other ways of detecting opportunities and solving needs. Tech teams are more product-oriented, making human-centred design difficult to implement. So, engineers and other stakeholders in the tech space may need more convincing when it comes to service design. Getting these stakeholders to adopt principles of service design involves highlighting the importance of empathy and research.

Sometimes, just listening, watching, feeling, and shadowing is insightful enough. You get to see the value of being instead of focusing on technology as the main driver for innovation. So, expose your team to the human experience. Listening to and understanding the needs of the product user and how they are expressed will prove that a shift to human-centred design is the way to go. So, just let them be part of the research.

Trying to connect with customers more and understanding where they come from can influence key stakeholders in your organisation. Key aspects of service design include making sense of complex information and packaging it. It’s about making something conceptual a reality and taking stakeholders across your organisation on that journey.

What bringing product designers along the journey might look like

You can get product design teams to implement the principles of service design through questions that direct them to a more human-centred approach. Ask them to tell you about the users of their product.

Bring your team along when conducting user research and interviews. This will expose them to the reality of their customers. They’ll then know their users better and understand their needs. This will improve the product design process. The teams will learn about human challenges and transform that knowledge into key technical features for their products.

Questions to ask the product design and sales teams:

· Who are your customers?

· Have you spoken to them?

· What are their concerns?

· What is the most important thing to them?

If the stakeholders in the organisation can answer these questions, they’re well on their way to life-long change that is actually driven by the needs of their consumers. This will help the development team, sales team, and other stakeholders understand what you want to design so you could support the business accordingly.

Every organisation and team you work with will be different, but there’ll always be common challenges to consider. This is where we come in as service designers. We start by understanding the landscape before we start trying to enforce change.