Cultivate
Cultivate the conditions necessary to conduct codesign research.
This stage is about understanding if the necessary conditions are in place to support and sustain ongoing, rigorous, rapid, and inclusive research and development of emerging solutions. It requires a willingness to work across silos and areas of expertise to innovate aligned to a shared mission.
Define Roles & Distribute Power
Identify the stakeholder groups that will be working together, define their roles, and assess the power dynamics.
The first step in Codesign is assembling the team. It’s important to ensure decision makers are included early to ensure learning from the pilots can grow into sustained learning and change.
Stakeholders should first identify the roles needed to execute the research project with fidelity, then use a strengths-based approach to identify the people within each group that are best suited to those roles.
It’s critical that in the early stages of codesign, we take the time to map out both the stated and unstated power that exists between and within different stakeholders, so that important insights are not lost or overlooked in the research process.
Goals
Identify strengths and assets within the group
Create clearly defined roles and accountability structures for all stakeholders and participants
Map the power dynamics within the group.
Tools
Resources
CliftonStrengths Assessment (Gallup)
Engagement Rubric (PCORI)
Group Work and Roles (CSUSM)
Identifying Both Positive and Negative Group Behavior Roles (MindTools)
Identify Shared Problems
Identify the shared problems and root causes between all stakeholders.
There may be an assumed problem that is shared between all stakeholders. It should be the reason that these groups have chosen to work together in the first place. However, until we agree to a “shared problem statement” that is precise, unambiguous, and defines a root cause, that problem remains an assumption. This stage should help all stakeholders interrogate and break down their own assumptions and collectively build a shared understanding of the problem they’re facing.
Goals
Create a concise and agreed upon problem statement or statements.
Understand the root causes of the problem.
Interrogate assumptions.
Tools
Resources
Take Action; Create Change (National Latino Council)
Identify Obstacles & Opportunities
Identify the external and internally imposed issues that may prevent a smooth process.
The reality is that codesign is hard. With different stakeholders working together to achieve a shared goal, a litany of different obstacles can and will arise. Schools are dealing with staffing shortages, pressures from the state and local governments, as well as the everyday realities of the classroom. Education companies are dealing with the pressures of running a business and the immediate needs of their customers, while researchers are feeling the pinch from both sides, trying to hold the project together and collect meaningful data.
By spending time at the beginning of this process laying out the obstacles that may prevent seamless interactions, all the stakeholders can more deeply understand each other and develop a more empathetic understanding when these obstacles do arise.
Goals
Deepen empathy between all parties
Mitigate risks
Tools
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Engage
Design
Produce
Research
Cultivate