Partnering to build co-design skillsets, mindsets and toolkits

A dedicated leadership team from Education Strategy initially engaged me in 2021 to develop and implement a professional learning program. We designed and delivered an action learning series on Co-Design for Discovery, Sense-Making and Change-Making for 18 professional staff and educators. This was followed with a training workshop in 2022 on Idea Generation and Testing in Co-Design.

Building on the foundational skills and concepts in the professional learning program, leaders from Education Strategy have continued strengthening their practice, confidence, and skills in facilitating co-design projects, capacity building and systems change. This included developing a customised introduction to co-design course for CDU, which we co-facilitated for 50 participants from across the University.

From 2022 to 2024, I have provided co-design coaching and project mentoring to improve the quality and impact of co-design practice across the University. We have also been evaluating the program and begun co-producing academic scholarship on our work building co-design capabilities and supporting culture change.

Throughout the program, I have adapted to requirements and constraints (including lock-downs and changing budgets), delivering capacity building support in a variety of formats: in-person, online, and hybrid training workshops; individual and group coaching and mentoring sessions; community of practice memberships with access to a comprehensive online resource database; and remote support and collaboration via email, Teams, Miro and shared documents.

Empowering co-design leaders to drive systemic change

All training workshops were enthusiastically received, well attended, and received highly positive feedback.

Training participants reported applying learnings in the workplace, in a variety of ways, including:

• sharing knowledge and advocating for co-design within and beyond their departments;

• recognising and initiating opportunities to apply co-design in their work; and

• deepening relationships and enhanced collaboration on work that extended beyond co-design.

Involving the co-design leadership team in the design and delivery of the introductory workshop, especially as co-facilitators, was instrumental in strengthening their understanding and confidence in leading co-design initiatives.  They summarised the most impactful aspect of the program as:

‘The meta experience of how co-design can be taught at the same time as learning a new design thinking process – and seeing people’s emotional reactions to this experience.’

The project mentoring and coaching was a particularly effective and efficient way of supporting co-design leaders to apply and reflect on learning. In 2022, the co-design leaders reported integrating their emerging co-design skills and knowledge in the design, development and implementation of six new projects in the area of Education Strategy. In this way, the leaders not only embodied the principles of co-design, but also demonstrated their understanding and commitment to building capability and institutional change. 

Evaluation data suggests that because the program has fostered personal growth, adaptability, and interpersonal skills, as well as more technical competencies, participants developed their ability and confidence to engage colleagues in the design and facilitation of co-design processes. Participants’ awareness of the challenges and complexities of co-design, along with their enthusiasm for continued learning and application, points towards a positive trajectory for future co-design initiatives at the University.