Thinkpieces

The term citizen centric is popular with governments as they seek to reconnect with the community and deliver services that meet or exceed the needs of the public. It is a positive and widespread aspiration to have, and yet, surprisingly, citizen centric is the exception spoken about in case studies rather than the norm. There are some key initial steps that need to be taken if a citizen centric approach is to be successful and widespread. These steps involve attention to Purpose, Relinquishing Power, Leading Change, Engagement, Evolution, Capability and Sustainability.

Purpose

First, there needs to be a clear purpose for taking a citizen centric approach. There can be many purposes. One government may be seeking to demonstrate a different model of democracy, shifting the balance of power for decision making towards the community and away from government. Another government may seek to improve the current set of services by taking a citizen centric approach. Yet another might want to improve compliance with the law by making it as easy as possible to comply with the law. These are quite different purposes and will result in different focuses to the citizen centric approach. They may lead to different indicators of success for co-design.

Relinquishing power

Second, for leaders the decision to take a citizen centric approach can be daunting. Citizen centric means that the bureaucracy must relinquish some power. As the power shifts towards the community, the leader is admitting that he/she is not the authority. It takes significant courage to give away previous tight control of design decisions. It is much more comfortable to take a well reasoned analytical paper to the community and consult by asking for feedback than to take a blank sheet and co-design with them to reach a genuine citizen centric result. Being prepared to listen takes humility, placing the community’s needs above the needs of the organisation. Therefore, a commitment to co-design takes significant courage and commitment on the part of leaders at several levels. Leaders need to make space for a synthetic and creative process in what is often a highly analytical and risk averse environment.

Leading change

Third, the commitment to a citizen centric approach must permeate to the right levels. Governments comprise elected representatives and permanent administrative staff. Both groups must be committed to take this approach. Furthermore, within government agencies the commitment to taking a citizen centric approach needs to reach to the levels that are accountable for delivering today’s results. Staff at these levels (generally at the third or fourth tier) are under pressure to perform and have limited capacity to entertain ideas that won’t deliver a clear benefit.

Engagement

Fourth, it is necessary to spend time understanding the problem and the vision with the community rather than assuming that you know what the problem is.  Often, questions are asked that make sense to the organisation rather than to the community. The community does not see government as a series of separate agencies working in different jurisdictions. They see government as a whole and want to be treated that way. The differences between consultation, collaboration and co-design should be recognised. Consultation tends to be passive, seeking ratification for an idea that is already very well formed. Collaboration means working more closely with the community and researching with them what their needs are. Co-design invites the citizen into the design process more strongly. Co-design occurs when the government hands more control over to the community to develop their designs.

Evolution

Fifth, a citizen centric approach does not just happen once the decision to take this approach is made. It takes time and effort and the capability evolves over time. A relationship with the community has to be developed. Results need to be demonstrated. Practices improve and evolve over time. Successes occur and are built on. Failures provide an opportunity to learn and grow.

Capability

Sixth, engaging with the community is a process and a field that is emerging as a discipline. There are techniques that are proven and work. There are techniques that are new and emerging. There are techniques that are not effective. Therefore, a leadership commitment to taking a citizen centric approach must be rapidly followed by a commitment to build capability both in the organisation and in the community. There are specialised knowledge, methods and tools to be developed and deployed. There are also dedicated roles including design thinkers and researchers that are empathetic with people and are driven to understand the world of the citizen.

Sustainability

Finally, to make a citizen centric approach effective and sustainable, co-design must be embedded into the way policy and services are developed and delivered. Equally, capability development requires a sustained and significant investment as well as organisational evolution.

Conclusion

The concept of co-design with the community sounds simple. It is not. If it were, it would be widespread because there is no shortage of proponents for taking this approach. It is much harder than just a request for co-design take place. There are considerations of purpose, the need to relinquish power, the ability to lead change, engagement, evolution, capability development and sustainability. Organisations that have achieved success in this area have had a sustained vision and investment over many years before co-design has become the way of doing business.