May 16/17 workshop Posted by Posted by Linda Skates on 19 May 2017 Posted on: 19 May 2017

Hi,

The fifth workshop was held over two days on May 16^th & 17^th, in Wellington.  We really stepped up the intensity in this workshop and had a very challenging two days.

We had to turn off our analytical mindsets, keep disabled people and families/whānau at the front of our minds, be creative and think about what might be, imagine things that do not yet exist, and get it all down on paper.

At the workshop we:

• Described the ideal experience through the system for a range of disabled people and families/whānau
• Created some innovative solutions for some of the crunchiest parts of the design
• Mapped what needs to be in the new system to deliver on the ideal experience for disabled people and families/whānau
• Tested, reviewed and refined our system based on the experiences of disabled people
• Agreed the next steps for bringing our work into a systems view.

Describing the ideal experience in the new system 

In previous workshops, we identified a set of diversity factors to understand the disability community.  We used these diversity factors to create a group of disabled people and families/whānau called personas.

Our first job was to understand the person we were working with.  How old were they, where did they live, what did they want to do in their lives, who was in their life, what current support did they have, did they need support to make decisions and lots more?  A number of us became very attached to our personas and they felt very real to us.

We then mapped what we wanted their experience to be in the new system. This included mapping the process of thinking about what they want in their life, finding out about the system, getting funding, arranging support and managing it on an ongoing basis. The focus was on:

• How did the experience unfold for the person? What happened to make them start thinking about getting support?
• What did the disabled person do? What did they feel?
• What did the family/whānau do? What did they feel?
• Who else was involved at different stages? What did they do? What did they feel?
• What are the critical mindset shifts required by the system?

Each group then presented on the experience for the disabled person and their family/whānau.

Some of my key insights for me through this session were:

• There are lots of steps in the process that happen with disabled people and their families and whānau that do not involve the system at all – for example dreaming and thinking about what the disabled person and their family want for their life
• There always needs to be options to assist people who require lots of support to make decisions, but these will be different for everyone and need to be flexible
• The importance of thinking about the person in their context and tailoring the approach to this, including providing kaupapa Maori approaches for people who want this
• The need to specify what the behaviours look like for people within the system. For example, what does it look like when someone in the system treats a disabled person and their family/whānau with respect? We need to be able to describe this so it can feed into recruitment, training and performance expectations.

A member of the group commented they were able to separate themselves from the status quo and test design through different experiences when using personas.

During this session, we started to think about what would need to be put in place in the system to support this new experience for disabled people and families/whānau.

Started to create some innovative solutions for crunchiest parts of the design

By this stage, it was 3.30pm and we were all dying to start grappling with some of the most difficult parts of the system. We started by brainstorming potential innovations and then chose one for each group to work up into a concept.

Our group worked on ‘Show me the money’ – trying to come up with a new funding allocation system based on Enabling Good Lives' visions and principles.

This was a very challenging exercise for all groups. We had to move into a totally creative space and think beyond the constraints and our assumptions about what is possible. There were some really interesting ideas that provided some nuggets of potential solutions that fed into our thinking for day two.

We mapped what needs to be in the new system 

On day two, we broke into four groups to map different parts of the system from the perspective of a disabled person. We had four groups who worked on:

• Entry: how disabled people and families/whānau find out about the system and support?
• Funding allocation: how do disabled people develop a proposal for support and get allocated funding?
• Choosing and managing support: how do disabled people and families/whānau find out about and share information about support options, and what options are available for managing support and funding?
• System, disabled people and family/whānau capability including structures: how do we build system, disabled people and family/whānau capacity and capability, and structures for this?

Underpinning the thinking for mapping the different parts of the system was the objectives of:

• Shifting power to disabled people and families/whānau
• Increasing choice and control for disabled people and families/whānau
• Ensuring all disabled people have the same opportunities, including those who need support to make decisions and those who do not have unpaid support in their lives.

For each part of the new system, we mapped:

• How the experience unfolded for the disabled person and their family/whānau
• What were the process steps?
• Who was involved? Were there any roles?
• What were the behaviours of the people in the system?
• What resources or standards were required?

Then we tested, reviewed and refined…

We then reviewed and developed a new iteration of our part of the system. We presented that to the other groups and we all asked questions and provided feedback on possible solutions.

Then we tested our design with a new person – thinking about how the experience would be for them. And we added, reviewed and refined a bit more.

Agreed next steps to bring work into a systems view

At the end of the two days, the co-design group had come up with a lot of great ideas, worked through some difficult issues, and had a lot more questions. We agreed that we now needed to pull together the work into a view of the whole system for testing with the co-design group on 30^th and 31^st May.

As a group, we felt we had challenging conversations but came through the other side.  It was a positive end to the two-day workshop with people saying they felt closer to designing a transformed system.

Some commented it was difficult to think through and grapple with details of the tough issues. Other comments from the group included:

• It’s possible as we’re starting to map specifics of change
• It’s exciting as a new configuration (starts to emerge)
• We are trying to avoid unintended consequences
• Impairment support is easy to figure out, disability support is harder
• We don’t want a system where there are worthy and unworthy people; that’s hard to do but a good aspiration
• The system needs to be intentional about cultural approaches – don’t assume the new system will meet these needs
• Whatever is designed needs to be designed and governed by disabled people/families/allies at ALL levels
• Family is a driving force and can be an ally

Sacha O'Dea

Programme Lead, System Transformation

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