Learn how to lead user-centric change in complex environments and create the conditions for truly transformative organisational change

Who it’s for

For designers, user-centred practitioners and change leaders looking to create the conditions for transformative change and lead good service design and delivery at scale

What you’ll learn

In this two-day intensive masterclass split over two weeks, you’ll learn how to expand the scope of your impact, win buy-in for large-scale transformation and lead stakeholders and teams to deliver complex, organisational-level change.

You'll learn:

• How to assess the user-centred maturity of your organisation and identify the key challenges and barriers to better service delivery
• Identify key priorities for change and construct a realistic program of work that will develop your organisation's ability to deliver better services
• Understand your current scope of influence, its limitations and areas where it can be expanded, creating a clear roadmap on how to do this within your current environment
• Map your stakeholder landscape, your organisation’s leadership style and communication needs, and put together an engagement and communication plan for your work
• How to design governance, organisational structures and ways of working that enable better service delivery
• How to apply the learnings of other organisations who have successfully become user-centred and apply these learnings and stories to your own work
• Identify the difference between user-led change and more traditional organisational change approaches and learn how to realistically transition your organisation to a more user-centric method of change

Course modules

Day 1

1. Understanding your organisation’s user-centred maturity

Map your organisation’s level of user-centred maturity and identify the key challenges and barriers to better service delivery. Learn from other organisational case-studies about the common pitfalls of large-scale user-centred transformation, what works and what doesn’t and how these apply to your organisation

2. Defining your organisation’s objectives

Assess how well your organisation is currently delivering its objectives and how those objectives work within a wider context of system change

3. Scoping your work from service improvement to transformational change

Reflect on the opportunities and need for radical change in your organisation, from small-scale improvement to radical and innovative change

4. Identifying priorities

Review your organisation's current priorities and direction, it’s objectives and capacity. Identify key opportunities for new service development, improvement and change

5. Understanding and expanding your scope of influence

Reviewing your current sphere of its limitations and areas where it can be expanded, creating a clear roadmap on how to do this within your current environment

Day 2

1. Scaling beyond you

Identifying ways you can expand your work beyond you and your immediate team. Creating a change movement, building and leading teams and communities of practice.

2. Creating a vision for change

Construct a realistic program of work that will develop your organisation's ability to deliver better services.

3. Mapping and leading your stakeholders

Understand our organisation’s leadership style and communication needs, and put together an engagement and communication plan for your work

4. Scaling and sustaining your work

Design governance, organisational structures and ways of working that enable better service delivery, create a plan for capability growth and organisational sustainability

5. Dealing with change and uncertainty

Understand key strategies to overcome the uncertainty surrounding big strategic change

6. Looking after yourself and your team

Learn tools and techniques for self and team-care in service transformation

How it works

All classes are delivered live and online in small classes that are a mix of taught tuition, individual exercises, and group discussion.

Participants work on a service or case study of their choice so all course takeaways are able to be put into action immediately.

This course is taught over a 2 week period, with an immersive 1 day class each week. The class will take place every Thursday from 9.30am - 5.30pm on the 5th,12th of June 2025.

Your trainers

Lou Downe is author of the bestselling book about how to design services that work - Good Services.

They founded the discipline of service design in the UK government, where they were national Design Director for 5 years - establishing the Government’s Service Standard and Design System and building a community of over 3,000 designers, user researchers and content designers - one of (if not the) largest design teams in the world.

Lou was nominated as one of the top 50 creative leaders in the UK in 2016 and one of the world's 100 most influential leaders in digital government in 2018 and is a passionate believer in the role of design to create a world which benefits everyone.

Private courses

This masterclass can be delivered privately for your organisation. Drop us a line here to discuss.