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Shape your delivery network

It is unlikely that you will be able to deliver your service alone, so it is important to understand the network of people that already have a role in delivering it and who else might be useful.

When to do it

Do this together with the activity in Decide who will respond to the problem.

How to do it

You should:

  • list types of people who already take action in the problem space

  • list types of people who don’t yet take action in the problem space but might

  • consider the expertise and numbers of people in your network

  • prioritise who to collaborate with

  • plan how to persuade them to work with you

Try this activity

This activity will help you understand existing delivery structures and give you an action plan to persuade other people to deliver the service.

Time, space and materials

  • 45 minutes

  • your user and stakeholder map (see the chapter: identify users and stakeholders)

  • any space with a wall, sticky notes, paper, pens and some tape or some large (flipchart sized) paper for a face-to-face event

  • or for a remote event use a video conference and online whiteboard that will take the place of the wall and enable participants to add and move online ‘sticky notes’

People to include

  • subject matter experts

  • the owner, such as the senior responsible owner

  • any number of people

  • a facilitator to provide the instructions

Instructions

The purpose of this activity is to identify people who might deliver your service and plan how to persuade them to take part.

  1. Write a sticky note in one colour (such as green) for each of the users and stakeholders that you have identified. Write sticky notes in a different colour (such as pink) for other people that don’t yet take action in the problem space but might, these might be people like professionals or volunteers or community groups. You have 10 minutes.

  2. Create a vertical line. At the top of the line, write ‘expert’ and at the bottom of the line, write ‘amatuer’. Order the sticky notes in a single vertical column. You have 5 minutes.

  3. Create a horizontal line across the middle. On the left of the line, write ‘few people’ and on the right of the line, write ‘many people’. Order the sticky notes horizontally without changing their vertical position. You have 5 minutes.

  4. Clearly mark the sticky notes of people that already take part in delivering the service. Consider whether this gives you the best structure for delivery and where there are gaps. Discuss as a group. You have 10 minutes.

  5. Where you have gaps in your delivery structure, mark the sticky notes of people that don’t yet take action in the problem space but might. Add sticky notes in a third colour (such as orange) showing what actions you might take to persuade them to take action. You have 10 minutes.

Tips

  • separately list people that are exceptionally influential and reflect their higher social capital by ranking them higher in expertise

  • expect to see a delivery pattern that spreads diagonally across the grid in the top-left and bottom-right corners. For example, in England’s school system there are few expert headteachers (22,000) and many amateur governors (250,000)

  • where you have people in the top-right corner (many-expert), question if cost is sustainable

  • where you have people in the bottom-left corner (few-amateur), question if there is enough of them to deliver the service or if the management structure is top-heavy, or if you need to add more supervision. It might also be an advantageous scenario where a service is being delivered in a direct way such as through a digital service

  • when considering how to persuade people to take part, consider whether they have spare time or money to work with you, and how you could mitigate these factors if they don’t

Next steps

Further reading

ind out more about this topic by searching the internet for:

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