Catalysts for co-creation
There are many ways to facilitate co-creation.
In this section you will learn about key co-creation catalysts in the CoSIE project:
- Community reporting for Lived experiences
- Living Labs for instigating conversations of change
- The possible usages of ICT, open data and social media
- A roadmap to facilitate co-creation
Stakeholders in many national contexts of service governance often do not have experience in co-creation practices and how it may be supported by manages and governance. Below we illustrate some key strategies found useful to support co-creation in CoSIE (for more, see Roadmap to Co-Creation):
- Involving multiple stakeholders and users: The organizational and sectorial diversity of public, private and third sector actors is important to assure a rich and multidimensional comparison of ideas, suggestions, and methodologies (examples can be found in Italy, Spain, Hungary, and Estonia). This means always involving the targeted individuals supported by the services. Their point of view, indeed, is crucial to develop or improve a service or policy in the most adequate way.
We should also not expect people to come to us – find out where people already are, and go to them.
Reaching out needs well thought and adapted strategies, such as personal visits (Estonia), using neutral professionals (Sweden) or enhancing accessibility by digital tools (Spain).
Deciding who to involve in conversations can be a snowball effect. Often key voices will go undetected at first but through building relationships you will find connections with more people to involve.
- Adopting infrastructure and developing relationships: Sustaining co-creative spaces require not only decision-makers’ approval, financial support but also specific infrastructure (such as meeting spaces) and building relationships to keep the motivation. Not all stakeholders can commit to every co-creation activity or being involved in a whole process, but their input may be invaluable.
Find easy ways to allow people to be involved in a ‘light touch’ way – it may lead to more substantial involvement.
- Using common language and ethics: To increase the possibilities that the co-creation process is successful the different languages used by the stakeholders need to find a convergence towards a common language, which defines also common objectives, expectations of roles, relationships and methodologies. The convergence may be achieved thanks to a close and repeated conversation among all actors using accessible language.
Get people talking. This could be throwing a community party, using design tools or ‘Living Lab’ pop-ups or just picking up the phone. Essentially start the conversation and see how relationships and ideas emerge
Regular meetings among all stakeholders may contribute in developing a common sense- and decision-making as in Italy, Sweden, and Spain).
- Upskilling co-creative professionals: Co-creation is enabled by modifying the professional-user interface. The skills and capacity of service professionals and first-line managers to involve qualified individuals, to engage them and to value their work are fundamental. Service providers need to develop skills and capacity of staff at all levels in co-creation techniques, tools and values.
This may involve some groundwork in change in organizational mindset before you engage with citizens and other stakeholders. Devoting efforts and resources to training and coaching for front-line of professionals helps their upskilling (examples of this are the pilots in Sweden and the UK)
Enrolling neutral but professional intermediaries (i.e. a mediator) may help in finding and engaging the stakeholders and in facilitating sensemaking about the co-creative processes and necessary approaches. The intermediary succeeds in leading the network when each actor has its responsibility and is not disempowered by the intermediary guidance. (for example the pilots in UK, Italy, Sweden).
- Raising awareness: Often times pubic service system, the managers and stakeholders needs to be prepared for embedding and supporting co-creation in specific services. For such purpose, benchmarking activities such as through Living Lab, local knowledge exchange (see the Polish pilot) and cross-national workshops may be very helpful in raising awareness about co-creative approach.
Yet initiating, and especially sustaining co-creation requires shifting governance approach towards conversational governance and seeing service system as a constantly learning systems. (A good example of this is the Swedish pilot)