What people say about us
"Sarah has really been part of our team during her Master's year. She has a mature understanding and real expertise in Service Design and she has made useful suggestions about how we tackle our work. Even more than that has been her example - she leads by example - as she demonstrates the value of design thinking in practice. Her enthusiasm is evident in her work and a joy for the rest of us. She rolls up her sleeves and gets on with it and doesn't stop until she is satisfied that she has achieved the high standard she sets for all she does. I have been struck this year by how reflective she is about the application of design thinking; she could have could have simply cruised through this past year but, she hasn't. She has used the year to think deeply about how design can be applied, strategically and operationally, within a public body. I hope that she will continue to stimulate us and our work in the future."
Tony Coultas | Head of Service Innovation at Skills Development Scotland
Collaborating with communities: an assets-based approach
I spent yesterday afternoon in the IRISS head quarters talking about assets – the values, relationships, trust and respect involved in truly adopting an assets based approach. With over twenty minds in the room from social work, NHS, funders, third sector, government and other interesting worlds it was definitely an interesting afternoon. It was a nice treat for me to just sit and absorb, think and sketch for a couple of hours so thank you to Sue Northrop and IRISS for coordinating the meeting.
As my first sketch suggest the conversation opened with a question around why an assets-based approach isn’t happening more visibly and rigorously as we have known about it for a very long time and we know it works…of course it is flavour of the month and has been for a while but what does that really mean for people who are on the ground doing this stuff anyway ( and many of them have been working in this way for many years )
I was really interested in the balance between the intellectual debate that was happening and the people who are charged with delivering servives on the ground. They are asking how this is different from what they are doing already and I’m not sure we know how to answer them. The whole practice and role of being a public servant fascinates me and I think the future has to involves public servants who are supporters, catalysts, facilitators and innovators.
We talked about the stories and narratives in this space and I think this aspect is so important and often over-looked. At the moment the stories are all happening on different stages in different languages and the public don’t trust that ‘the state’ want to hear their stories, they simply don’t believe it. This is what has to change because more often than not the solutions are nuggets found in peoples stories – we have seen this happen time and time again in our work, particularly in Start Up Street Stirling and Mypolice.
Snook are excited to be part of this conversation and I see our role underneath the umbrella of ‘action’ – we can make know how and inspiration tangible and I think that is one thing that would drive this conversation forward. As one of our heros Jimmy Reid says:
“I am convinced that the great mass of our people go through life without even a glimmer of what they could have contributed to their fellow human beings”
Talk to Lauren about this work
Lauren Currie
Director
