In this final series on designing for well-being, we look at the application of a design framework to achieving the core aspects of health and care for people. We’ve outlined the role of well-being in supporting a healthy organization and the core aspects of well-being itself in the workplace. Now, we turn to asking: what …
Organizations large and small are starting to re-assemble back in offices and considering what kind of culture they want to see. Part of this culture work is creating one that supports well-being. What was the culture of your organization like before March 2020? Was it one that had parties for birthdays, team development retreats, or …
Designing for Humans sounds like an obvious statement for designers, but very often we design things for things — systems, technologies, or ideas rather than actual humans and the implications of that are many. In this post I revisit a conversation I had with Scott Millar on the role of design and collaboration and touch …
Transparency without honesty is a way to create illusions under the guise of trust, truth and accountability. Work in human services long enough and you’ll come to learn that transparency is a word made of top-quality plastic — it can be molded into whatever people want it to mean. It’s a feel-good word that gives …
Plastic language is all about using words in meaningless ways and that creates meaningless impact, too.
Change is hard because our identities often depend on us being right, even when we are not. Understanding the myths we hold to can be a means to get past this and make real change and make it stick.
Organizational transformation efforts from culture change to developmental evaluation all depend on one ingredient that is rarely discussed: time. How do we sit with this and avoid the trap of aspiring for greatness while failing to give it the time necessary to make change a reality? Toolkits are a big hit with those looking to create …
Developmental evaluation holds promise for product and service designers looking to understand the process, outcomes, and strategies of innovation and link them to effects. It’s the great promise of DE that is also the reason to be most wary of it and beware the traps that are set for those unaware.  Developmental evaluation (DE), when …
Adaptation, evolution, innovation, and growth all require that we gain new knowledge and apply it to our circumstances, or learn. While much focus in education is on how individuals attend, process and integrate information to create knowledge, it is the social part of learning that may best determine whether we simply add information to our …
If you’re working toward some sort of collective goals — as an organization, network or even as an individual — you’ve most likely been asked to use SMART goal setting to frame your task. While SMART is a popular tool for management consultants and scholars, does it make sense when you’re looking to make inroads …
