Get Going
plan the actions needed
Our 25 years of experience helping organizations create and implement major systems change has taught us that the #1 impediment to creating breakthrough system designs and strategies is prematurely anticipating implementation challenges. Doing so will kill a change initiative at the start. So, we have learned to rethink and produce the new design or approach first, and then, plan how to make it happen. We call this step Get Going.
During the Design process, this step answers these three questions at a minimum:
- What is the first step to take?
- What are most important steps to take?
- Who will see to it that they are done, and by when?
Once a high-level action plan is shaped, a simple compelling case of the new design is produced. While not lengthy, that case memorably tells the story of the Design and its potential, using methods such as vignettes of how customers will experience the Design, visuals contrasting today and tomorrow, or an unforgettable name. For example, the name chosen for a Design to address youth homelessness was NEON, which was short for Not Even One Night!
Finally, the Design is “handed over” to the owner with a small ceremony. If desired, another Design Lab can be utilized to address the Implementation stage, including marketing, resourcing, organizational and stakeholder change management.