Culture Layer in full stack of service design
Culture envelopes all the components of a service because it shapes how we make decisions and act. From the autonomy staff have to how authority works, our culture shapes how we design.
‘Culture’ encompasses how we think, speak, act, our beliefs, our moral compass, how we talk, what we wear, how we interact, which all affect how we make decisions. The intent we put out into the world is shaped by this and the existing cultural conditions around us.
Our ‘culture’ as an organisation is expressed through our attitudes and beliefs, how we make decisions, how we express our thoughts, and what we show up to expressly care for.
The culture of an organisation can be both organic and intentionally fostered. An organic culture is often created by like minded people gravitating towards one another based on perceived shared values and interest. These might be shaped by similar backgrounds, shared experiences and commitment to the shared mission.
Organisations can make efforts to intentionally design or foster a culture. These efforts include writing down principles, manifestos documents, company merchandise, leadership talks, physical environment design. These are often aspirational values that an organisation undertakes to nurture culture and can be somewhat effective. Culture is very difficult to design, but it can be nurtured.
The language a company uses, leadership’s actions, the training teams receive, the investment into the environment around them and their tools, investing in their rights, the communication style and signals, all these behavioural elements shape the culture and set a precedent for how people can act and deliver in their day to day jobs.
Therefore, when we are designing we must ask ourselves what cultural conditions are needed to enable people to act in a manner that is supportive of the change we may wish to see. If the right cultural conditions don’t exist, change can be very hard to enable.
Culture and power are symbiotic. They permeate all layers from how we shape business models to the style of governance we implement. This is based on our experiences and beliefs, and will undoubtedly shape what the organisation can and will deliver. A culture can support people to deliver freely with autonomy, conversely, it can harbour negative feelings amongst people delivering and using a service. This impacts both the collaboration in the backend of a service and the point of delivery through staff.
Culture is not a homogeneous entity despite often being promoted as one by entities. We are diverse populations and it is shaped by variable cultures of socio economic groups including beliefs, held wisdom, shared history, celebrations and shared trauma. We must respect the cultural conditions that sit more widely outside of the ‘culture’ of an organisation or organising group. This means respecting the wisdom, knowledge and beliefs of a culture we are designing with and for, or entering into. These cultural dynamics external to a dominant logic can change our behaviour and shape our design decisions.
The wider cultural condition of a society may also impact our decision making, thus culture is fluid, not fixed, and we are responsive to the situation of the time. This means emergent needs or scenarios may shape the cultural conditions temporarily and trigger us to take decisions and act differently than our usual dominant cultural logic.
How does culture affect the service?
Culture can define how we feel about the people we support and how we treat them
Change can often create negative cultural responses from staff which can have an impact on an organisation’s ability to change their service model or services
A culture can nurture staff to go the extra mile to support users, conversely it can stop them from supporting users
A temporary change in culture can result from events driving a change in how we take design decisions and over time can proliferate until a given culture is eroded
Questions we can ask as leadership
- What kind of cultural conditions do we believe are important to help us and our staff succeed?
- How can we create an environment where culture is not homogenous but made up of rich and diverse input?
- Are we showing through our actions, how we would like the organisation to feel?
- What are we doing to promote the cultural conditions we think are important to succeed?
- Are there strong cultural dynamics we need to consider when making changes to our organisation delivery model or services?
Questions we can can ask if we work with this specific component
- What are the main ways we communicate and how does this affect our culture?
- What are doing to promote the cultural conditions we want to see?
- Are there clear boundaries around delivery and a culture that can deliver services positively within this structure?
- Are there unwritten rules that direct how the culture feels?
- Are there opportunities to nurture a new culture that will improve outcomes for users?
Information we need to understand before we start designing
- Who defines what culture is in this context? Who is empowered to change it?
- How do staff define the culture?
- What wisdom exists within the culture we are designing for?
- What are the cultural conditions needed for the change we want to see?
- Are there notable voices who define and speak for the culture of the organisation?
- Are staff empowered to deliver?
- What cultural areas of a business or system are impacting on the user experience and anticipated value delivery/exchange?
