Dr David Mackay, Strategy and Organisation, and Ms Sheryl Walker, C-Change Scotland, with the SSSC award certificate.
Dr David Mackay, Strategy and Organisation, and Ms Sheryl Walker, C-Change Scotland, with the SSSC award certificate.
Over 2012/3, academics from Strategy and Organisation worked with an organisation in Govan called C-Change Scotland. They are a supported living organisation that works with and for adults with learning difficulties and/or mental health issues. The aim was to develop ideas around "inclusive strategy making", where ideals of accessibility – through inclusive design theory – were applied to the strategy making process. The shared ambition was to include all hierarchical levels and the supported people C-Change work for in the strategy making process. This was to allow the gathering of strategic ideas from as broad a range of talents and expertise as possible in the organisation, whilst building ownership and commitment to implementation for the outputs agreed. From the baseline process of "Making Strategy", as taught on the MBA module of the same name, the collaborative partnership redesigned methods to maximise accessibility without compromising functionality e.g. a graphic artist created multi-modal strategy montages live, in parallel to decision explorer maps. After successfully completing the research, the process redesign work was submitted for consideration to the Scottish Social Services Council's Care Accolade Awards, which recognise achievement, partnership working and innovation in the Scottish social service sector. From over 150 entries, the SBS-C-Change collaboration was recognised amongst 25 finalists in an awards ceremony in Perth, reaching the top 3 in the "Innovation and Redesign" category. The inclusive strategy work followed on from an Interface initiated Innovation Voucher knowledge exchange project the previous year, and has led to a number of further outcomes (such as a co-authored journal submission, guest MBA lectures and PhD student data collection).
Dr Mackay commented, "Aside from being an effective research engagement, it has been a real learning experience for me working with C-Change Scotland. They are an organisation that does tremendous work of great social worth and being exposed to their commitment to accessibility has helped develop strategy making theory and practice that we hope improves the process experience and outcomes for all involved. Indeed, the innovative methods developed through this Third Sector engagement have garnered significant interest from private and public organisations that see real value in following in their footsteps. We look forward to continuing to develop our mutually beneficial relationship with C-Change over the long term."
Sheryl Walker at C-Change said, "It was a privilege to work in partnership with this excellent, award winning and innovative University. Dr. McKay has helped us in our on-going quest to challenge expectations of learning disabilities by engaging the organisation in an accessible process that enables the views of everyone across the organisation to be captured. All these views are considered valuable contributions to the strategic direction of the organisation which is significant in terms of our continued sustainability."
For further information about inclusive strategy making or accessible business process design, please contact David Mackay at david.j.mackay@strath.ac.uk