Co-design 04: Debrief

The fourth and final part of Co-design is about the debrief.

On this page

• Impact
• Expect the unexpected
• So should you do it?

In the last video we bring together some final elements.

You can hear Simon, Deb, Angela and others talk about debriefing after the workshop and reflecting on what worked and what did not work and making changes.

What they are doing might be called ‘reflective debriefing’. Everyone worked together delivering the content and then, afterwards, thinking back on what happened, sharing thoughts with one another and offering suggestions and making changes to make it work better next time. This was another critical part of the co-design process.

Perhaps the process is a bit too fluid and ad-hoc for you? If you prefer a more structured approach, we recommend you read this excerpt from Reflective practice – why different points of view matter. It provides insights into the power of reflection, as well as techniques and practices that provide you with ideas for a more structured approach.

Impact

We are almost at the end of the toolkit and we thought we might share a bit more about the impact the project had.

Earlier, we heard the people at Mission Australia in Broken Hill explain what they got out of the project. Read more about the impact the project had on the people who came to the workshops.

In Topic 2 Work alongside peers, we heard from Fair Trading staff about the impact this project had on them and on their work beyond the TnT project. Here are some of the highlights captured in the evaluation:

• breaking down barriers between people with disability and Fair Trading
• a better understanding of the lives of people with disability and how to engage with individuals with disability
• increased capacity to tailor how information is communicated to people with different abilities and from different cultural backgrounds
• increased understanding of the barriers people with disability face, and how information, websites and processes can be more accessible
• increased experience in co-design
• greater understanding of the value of learning from people with lived experience
• improved co-facilitation approaches (including flexibility when delivering content), and understanding of the value of peer delivery
• strong relationships with peer facilitators.

The TnT project also had a significant impact on the peers. Over the life of the project there were 13 peers involved. In this last video, peers took the opportunity to speak about the impact:

The TnT evaluation captured some more of the impact for peer facilitators, including:

• an improved knowledge of consumer rights that they can share with peers, or in their work (including how to review a contract)
• increased confidence to stand up for themselves if they felt something was wrong with a service provider
• better facilitation skills (including storytelling, presenting information and advocating)
• improved ability to work in a team (supporting each other, resolving issues, and holding people to account for their commitments)
• increased professional skills and in some cases, ongoing employment opportunities
• better understanding of community and community connections, including long-term connections to peers, confidence to participate in the community, and confidence to offer support and advice
• being seen as leaders in their community
• how rewarding it is to be able to teach peers about their rights.

Expect the unexpected

The final idea is a simple one - with co-design you must expect the unexpected.

With any project, program or initiative there are elements and outcomes that are unexpected. It seems once you engage in the process of co-design, you are almost guaranteed the unexpected. In fact, it is in the unexpected that some of the ‘gold’ of co-design can be found.

In line with this, we finish off this toolkit by quoting Oscar Wilde:

“To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.”

(Oscar Wilde: The Ideal Husband, 1895)

Co-design appears as a thoroughly modern process to create initiatives, programs, policies and responses to creating more inclusive, welcoming communities in the 21st century.

Should you co-design?

Let's go back one last time to Suzy and Dave, who finish off with some of the benefits of co-design.

As Suzy says, give co-design a go. Dave says:

It provides better outcomes and it does make the world more inclusive 'cause you are acknowledging and trusting different people with different voices to know what they need and helping them deliver those outcomes.