Going for gold • 7

Inspired by an article in Harvard Business Review about the underlying quests for corporate transformation (Anand & Barsoux, 2017), I have identified seven arenas where the power of service design can transform organizations, teams, and people. In this blog post, I explore the final category, Service Design for Equitable Experiences. This one acts as a connective thread weaving through and enhancing the other six arenas, ensuring that the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion are deeply embedded in all aspects of service design.

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7. Service Design for Equitable Experiences

Purpose: To remove discriminatory, socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, physical, or financial barriers that prevent underrepresented and historically excluded groups from fully accessing, engaging with, and benefiting from workflows, products, services, environments, and experiences (adapted from Linares, 2021). This includes fostering an inclusive environment where all voices feel welcome, heard, and respected; embracing contrasting workstyles and personalities; and leveraging multiple perspectives to identify and address blind spots in processes, outputs, and outcomes. These efforts will lead to long-lasting positive changes that benefit individuals, communities, organizations, and society at large.

Note: Compared to a product-centric and compliance-based approach to DEI, a genuine service design mindset pays careful attention to how multi-touchpoint services and experiences are envisioned, co-created, co-produced, co-delivered, and perceived over time. This ensures that DEI is not just an afterthought but woven into the fabric of internal (employee-facing) and external (customer-facing) services and experiences.

Common themes: Exclusion. Barrier-free experiences. Equity of access, experience, and impact. Fair treatment, inclusive representation, and equal opportunities for all. Conscious and unconscious biases. Blind spots. Intersectionality. Cultural sensitivity and relevance. Physical, sensory, and cognitive impairments. Long-term disabilities, temporary conditions, and situational limitations. Design for belonging. Inclusive/universal design principles and applications. Adaptive and customisable design. Participatory design. Value co-creation. Shared decision-making. User autonomy and empowerment. Equitable outcomes. Iterative design. Continuous learning and adaptation. DEI metrics and evaluation. DEI accountability and transparency.

Project archetypes:

• Designing for participation (participatory design and decision-making). Equipping facilitators, designers, and users with the platforms, services, spaces, workflows, tools, and skills needed to collaboratively create innovative, inclusive, and effective solutions to complex, multi-faceted challenges. By treating customers, employees, and other collaborators as co-creators, this approach cultivates collective intelligence, fosters lateral thinking, encourages shared decision-making, and ensures shared ownership of both outputs and outcomes. Designing for participation includes selecting the most effective engagement format(s) for co-creation – such as world cafés, design sprints, innovation jams, hackathons, co-design workshops, and crowdsourcing – depending on project needs at any given time in the process. (Kaner et al., 2014; Lipmanowicz & McCandless, 2014; Gray, Brown & Macanufo, 2010; Knapp, Zeratsky & Kowitz, 2016; Brown & Isaacs, 2005)

• Designing for cultural competency. Ensuring that customer and employee experiences are welcoming, relevant, and respectful for all, regardless of cultural background – including ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, education, generation, and other cultural factors. This involves not only appreciating and embracing cultural subtleties and differences but also tailoring workflows, services, and experiences to meet the specific needs and preferences of diverse cultural groups. (Meyer, 2016; Kowalski, 2023)

• Designing for accessibility. Ensuring that customer and employee experiences do not intentionally or unintentionally exclude groups and individuals with one or more impairments. This includes designing adaptive solutions for mobility, dexterity, visual, hearing, speech, and cognitive impairments that are effective in three distinct scenarios: long-term disability, temporary conditions, and situational limitations. (Microsoft Design, 2016; Microsoft Inclusive Design, 2023; Holmes, 2020)

• Designing for intersectionality. Ensuring that customer and employee experiences address the unique needs and challenges faced by groups and individuals with diverse and intersecting identities – based on factors such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic class – as well as the multiple forms of discrimination or privilege they may experience. This involves creating environments, workflows, and services that are attuned to the complexities and nuances of these intersecting identities, ensuring that everyone feels represented, respected, and valued. (Lupton et al., 2021; Noel, 2023)

• Fostering culture of systemic equity. Building and nurturing a culture where all employees feel valued, supported, and empowered, regardless of their background and identity. This involves crafting policies, programs, playbooks, practices, services, tools, benefits, incentives, and feedback mechanisms that leverage diverse perspectives; drive diversity of thought (including style, approach, and experience); foster inclusive collaboration; support underrepresented and historically excluded groups; and promote equitable career paths within the organization. (Myers, 2012; Frost & Aladina, 2019; Brown, 2016)

Examples: Airbnb (Project Lighthouse, Open Doors Policy, Instant Book), Microsoft (Xbox Adaptive Controller), Target (Adaptive Clothing), Nike (FlyEase), Apple (in-app accessibility features), Forum Virium Helsinki (co-creating urban futures for the city of Helsinki), and IDEO (OpenIDEO, the open innovation platform, and Design Kit, the human-centered design toolkit for social innovation).

Complementary/alternative methodologies, toolkits, and resources: Collective Action Toolkit (Frog, part of Capgemini Invent). Liberating Principles & Structures (Liberating Structures). Gamestorming – playbook with 80+ games for collaborative play (Gray, Brown & Macanufo, 2010). Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making (Kaner et al., 2014). Inclusive Design Toolkit (Microsoft). Inclusive Design Toolkit (University of Cambridge). Human-Centered Design Kit (IDEO). OpenIDEO (IDEO). Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide (Creative Reaction Lab). Equity-Centered Design Framework (Stanford d.school). Racial Equity Tools (Equity in the Center). Liberatory Design Modes (Liberatory Design). Design Justice Network Principles (Design Justice Network). Inclusive Design for Business Impact and Social Impact (Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art).

Supplementary methodologies and toolkits: Systems thinking. Critical thinking and design. Social design and innovation. Civic design. Community design. Ethnographic research. Design thinking. Behavioral design. Industrial design. Service design. UX design. Retail design. Interior design. Workplace design. Experience design. Urban planning and environmental design.

Exploring the problem space: Understanding the broader context. Defining stakeholder mindsets / archetypes / personas. Understanding user drivers, needs, goals, behaviours, and blockers in existing experiences (in close collaboration with stakeholders and end-users). Crafting mental models to highlight moments that matter, pivotal touchpoints / interactions, common pain points, and unmet needs. Uncovering deep insights across multiple research methods and sources. Crafting tentative North Star for equitable experiences, determining ambition levels, and identifying opportunity spaces for improvement. Framing or reframing challenges/problems. Brainstorming initial ideas and hypotheses. Etc.

Exploring the solution space: Finding smart, emotionally resonant solutions (in close collaboration with stakeholders and end-users). Continuously testing tentative solutions through storytelling, rapid prototyping, experimentation, and piloting. Considering scalability, sustainability, and ethical implications of all solutions. Continuously adapting, downselecting, and prioritising tentative solutions. Crafting ideal, future-state end-to-end experiences (onstage and backstage) for prioritised user segments or mindsets. Defining stakeholder, business, and social impact. Crafting compelling stories and value cases for change. Identifying roadblocks, creating roadmaps, defining requirements, and mobilising resources for implementation and sustained success. Etc.

Project sponsors: Chief Diversity Officer, Chief Inclusion Officer, Chief Accessibility Officer, CXO, CHRO, CEO, or equivalent

Desired outcomes: ↑ service/experience accessibility, ↑ service/experience equitability, ↑ user empowerment, ↑ community trust and engagement, ↑ inclusion and representation in innovation & design processes, ↑ DEI-related metrics, ↑ employee engagement and retention, ↑ customer satisfaction and NPS, ↑ brand differentiation, ↑ brand reputation, ↑ brand engagement and loyalty

Note: Thank you, AnnaRose Girvin, Lead Experience Designer at Method, for serving as such a valuable sounding board for this blog post. Any mistakes or shortcomings in the final piece are entirely my responsibility.

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References

Anand, N. & Barsoux, J-L. (2017, Nov–Dec). What everyone gets wrong about change management. Poor execution is only part of the problem. Harvard Business Review.

Brown, J. (2016). Inclusion: Diversity, the new workplace & the will to change. Advantage Media Group.

Brown, J. & Isaacs, D. (2005). The world café: Shaping our futures through conversations that matter. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Frost, S. & Aladina, R-F. (2019). Building an inclusive organization: Leveraging the power of a diverse workforce. Kogan Page.

Gray, D., Brown, S. & Macanufo, J. (2010). Gamestorming: A playbook for innovators, rulebreakers, and changemakers. O’Reilly Media.

Holmes, K. (2020). Mismatch: How inclusion shapes design. MIT Press.

Kaner et al. (2014). Facilitator’s guide to participatory decision-making (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Knapp, J., Zeratsky, J. & Kowitz, B. (2016). Sprint: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days. Bantam Press.

Kowalski, S. (2023). Cultural sensitivity training: Developing the basis for effective intercultural communication. Econcise.

Linares, M. (2021, April). Frameworks for measuring product inclusion and product equity. Medium.

Lipmanowicz, H. & McCandless, K. (2014). The surprising power of liberating structures: Simple rules to unleash a culture of innovation. Liberating Structures Press.

Lupton et al. (2021). Extra bold: A feminist, inclusive, anti-racist, nonbinary field guide for graphic designers. Princeton Architectural Press.

Meyer, E. (2016). The culture map: Decoding how people think, lead, and get things done across cultures. PublicAffairs.

Myers, V. (2012). Moving diversity forward: How to go from well-meaning to well-doing. American Bar Association.

Microsoft Design. (2016). Inclusive 101 guidebook. Microsoft.

Microsoft Inclusive Design. (2023). Cognitive exclusion. Microsoft.

Noel, L-A. (2023). Design social change: Take action, work toward equity, and challenge status quo. A Stanford d.school guide. Ten Speed Press.