Have you ever thought about...
What a therapist, a grandma, and an organ donor teach you about service design?
I know, this might sound like the start of a strange joke, but it gets to the heart of a big truth about our work.
We invest a lot of time perfecting our journey maps, blueprints, and personas.
But as we know, the challenges we work on won't be solved by a deliverable.
They're solved through invisible "tools" like subtle influence, creating space for others, and building strategic relationships.
So, where do you find these tools? Well, this episode is a great start.
This episode is part of our "Inside Service Design" series, where we explore the real, unpolished practice of driving change from within organizations.
And just like in the previous episodes you get to hear two brilliant in-house professionals, share some of their most powerful, non-traditional strategies. This time we're joined by Irina Damascan and Gina Mendolia.
Gina walks us through her concept of "Setting the Trap" for engagement, and how she draws inspiration from the roles of therapists, coaches, and even grandmas to master the art of creating space and enabling teams to connect the dots themselves.
Irina introduces a powerful model for influence she calls the "Organ Donor Chain," a strategic way to build networks of reciprocity by doing "favors" that enable change across the organization, often in unexpected ways.
I have to say, it was refreshing to hear about effective mental models that go beyond design-as-usual, which aren't just theories but truly help to design better services.
Want to add some (unconventional) tools that help you drive change to your toolkit? Grab your notebook and join us for this conversation.
What's the most unconventional place you've found inspiration for your work? Maybe a different profession, a hobby, a movie? Share your inspiration in the comments on YouTube and let's continue the conversation there.
Keep making a positive impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to the May Round Up!
05:00 Irina's path to service design
07:45 Gina's service design journey
09:00 Gina defines success
11:00 Irina defines success
17:00 Challenges Gina tackles
19:00 Irina's service design role
24:45 Gina's dinner table session
29:30 Adding inspiration
30:30 Irina's session insights
40:30 Gina's life-simplifying tactics
45:45 In-house misconceptions
51:00 How Gina measures success
56:00 Advice for younger Irina
58:30 Irina shares an example
1:03:00 Gina's motivation
1:04:30 Questions to ponder
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
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