Putting empathy at the centre of government services

It’s now widely accepted that building digital solutions around internal government processes doesn’t deliver the best outcome for a government or its stakeholders.

Over the past few years, the approach has changed from being process- or government-centric to being focused on supporting the needs of the stakeholders. We are hearing messages such as: “putting the citizen at the heart of everything we do” across every level of government in Australia.

Delivering on this commitment is often harder than it seems as it impacts everything, from how policies are developed through to how services are delivered.

Empathy, even in a digital first world, is essential. But empathy can’t be assumed, nor can it be ad hoc. To incorporate empathy into the next generation of services, governments must be methodical in their approach to developing a clear understanding of the needs of all stakeholders.

Increasingly, human-centred design (HCD), also known as user-centred design, techniques are being used by government service design teams as they work to transform their services. Gartner predicts that 60% of governments will have HCD techniques integrated into their digital service design process by next year.

This is reflected in the 2021 Gartner Digital Transformation Divergence Across Government survey with 20% of respondents having already incorporated HCD into their design practices and now in widespread use; 34% have deployed and are piloting in targeted projects; and a further 30% plan to adopt over the next three years.

Many governments in Australia are leading the way, with examples including the Queensland Government offering a toolkit to support the use of HCD in service design and the Victorian Government offering a handbook to guide the use of HCD.

Changing service design and delivery

HCD is changing governments’ approach to service design, focusing on the drivers and needs of all internal and external stakeholders or users.

It requires governments to go beyond the generic concept of ‘user’ or ‘citizen’ and embrace the fact that governments are supporting all types of individuals, including commuters, travellers/visitors, drivers, pedestrians, patients, parents, caregivers, students and individuals acting on behalf of other organisations. Within each, there’s a range of personas with different characteristics that change their needs and expectations of the services they require.

HCD also brings into consideration other stakeholders, such as representatives from other organisations or parts of government that may be part of or the focus of a particular service, breaking down the silos that often inhibit government service design. It uses various techniques to capture and maintain a focus on the drivers and needs of these stakeholders.

As a result, the measure of success for an HCD-based government service initiative isn’t the delivery of the service, but the assessment of whether the service meets the needs of all stakeholders.

Involving key stakeholders

HCD doesn’t advocate a specific design process. It’s more interested in the involvement of key stakeholders throughout the process to ensure all perspectives are considered in the design of the solution.

It advocates the involvement of citizens or the primary stakeholder for the service in every stage of service design. Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), for example, encourages government to: “Start with user needs, not government needs.”

In practice, many factors limit the level of citizen involvement in the design process. Some governments involved stakeholders in the final validation or ‘verification’ stage of service design and delivery by using a phased approach to service rollout. This includes alpha/beta releases of new services as part of the standard process. Depending on the nature of the solution, it can also include citizen/stakeholder-based trials.

Examples of the adoption of HCD exist across all sectors of government, including public safety and justice, K–12 education and public transport. The nature of human services and social programs is well placed for the use of HCD.

Contemporary approach

The approach to designing digital services, including the adaptation of HCD processes, has been guided by best practices from other service-oriented industries. The use of agile and HCD techniques is becoming a standard and is fundamentally changing government service design. Some have made the use of HCD mandatory for all future government service design initiatives.

The most advanced citizen experience focused government organisations are incorporating the concepts of total experience into their service designs. They’ve established frameworks and formal processes that govern how HCD is applied to their design process. They often have dedicated citizen experience business areas working closely with IT to deliver digital solutions in line with their overarching citizen engagement approach.

Less advanced government organisations are adopting an unstructured or ad hoc HCD approach, including some aspects of citizens research, into their processes. In such cases, government CIOs need to take a proactive role in the establishment and adoption of the approach.

There’s no doubt HCD is the future of government service design. Driving its adoption across your organisation will maximise the impact of your digital government investments.

*Dean Lacheca is a VP analyst at Gartner focused on supporting public sector CIOs and technology leaders around the transition to digital government.

Image credit: iStock.com/Dumitru Ochievschi