Cork County Council delivers over 500 public services to a population of c. 416,000 citizens. The diverse and evolving needs of our citizens pose challenges for us as an organisation and to individual staff on the frontline of service delivery. In our experience, embarking on a process of organisational introspection alone is not enough. Reaching out to our customers and truly understanding their needs was the catalyst for holistic reform in how we design and deliver our services. This talk charts the establishment and empowerment of a dedicated Service Design Centre in Cork County Council. It demonstrates how this, in turn, has led to an environment where innovation thrives and customer-focused, design-thinking is not only becoming the cultural norm; but is delivering meaningful and measurable results for our citizens.

1. Centre for Service Innovation
URL of CSI | @twitterhandle or name
Service RePublic
Delivering Meaningful
Results For
Citizens
Cork County Council
Tim Lucey
Chief Executive

2. “I am not a
service
designer”

3. 1,100km coastline
210 access points9,000 houses
2500 staff
Half way to Dublin & still in Cork600 services
Cork, Large & Complex Project > €0.5m totalling €803m
100 locations

4. Centre for Service Innovation
URL of CSI | @twitterhandle or name
Service RePublic
Channels of service delivery are diverse and often
unseen or not readily recognised.

5. The public realm is a Touchpoint

6. Centre for Service Innovation
URL of CSI | @twitterhandle or name
Service RePublic
CORK
can!

7. Centre for Service Innovation
URL of CSI | @twitterhandle or name
Service RePublic
We are not afraid anymore

8. Reputation is Critical
8
PUBLIC = PRIVATE
We all are in the same game ultimately

9. Chief Executive
can never delegate
Obstacle + Strategy + Machine
Prioritisation = Resource allocation to the machine
Structure of the organisation
Culture = it’s about how we treat each other.
9

10. Key factors
that must exist as a
basis for innovation and
transformation
“It must be personal”
10
Recognition
Leadership
Acceptance
Confidence

11. “ What is your
Psychological Contract?
Who is it with?
11

12. Do you understand the
heartbeat of the your
organisation?
“How strong is the pyschological
contract of your staff with your
organisations heart”

13. Perceptions
as an influencer of attitudes, values and beliefs
13

14. Have you turned the
spotlight on yourselves?
Are you afraid to?
How powerful can it be to do so?
14

15. A crisis of
confidence

16. Perceived negativity
16
10%
Residents Businesses
18%
Staff
59%

17. Imagery of organisation
Residents
%
Business
%
Staff
%
Improving 61 72 49
Professional 65 72 45
Positive 60 68 22
Confident 63 60 20

18. Less than 33% of staff believed the
public valued the service provided

19. Service Delivery review
Website Snapshot
58% accessed by desktop
32% by mobile device
10% by tablet
70% indirect access
through online
search facility
Time spent per webpage
73% of users dwell on
webpage for 1 minute
or less
19
Business & Citizens Expectations
40% of customer
contact is to obtain
information
27% is to report an
issue
Greater accessibility to
services 24/7 – timely
information

20. Service Design
CCC established a centre for
Design in Jan ‘17
Aim to create better services (Citizens & Staff)
Active Engagement with people
Unique Approach – 1st in Ireland
New, Innovative, Future Focused, Outcome Driven
Partnership with CIT
Dedicated Office on County Hall Campus
6 specially trained staff
Excellent feedback on pilot projects
(Community Funds, Housing Representations)
Engaging people including
staff in developing solutions

21. Centre for Service Innovation
URL of CSI | @twitterhandle or name
Service RePublic
Service rePublic Timeline
March 2013
First CIT
Service Design
Project
2014-2017
Six Service Design
Projects at CIT
March 2015
Service Design
Master Class
In Cork
sponsored by
Irish Design 2015
2015
Cork County
Council
Perceptions Survey
May 2016
Conversation
between
CIT Vice President
& CCC Deputy
Chief Executive
July 2016
Customer
Transformation Team
established in CCC
November 2016
Discussions between
CIT and CCC
Launch of
www.yourcouncil.ie
May 2017
Launch of
Service rePublic
September 2017
International
SD Conference in Fota
October 2017
Special Purpose Award
CIT
January 2018
Internship Programme
Between CIT & CCC
October 2018
Sponsoring Global
Service Design
Conference

22. reImagine
reDesign
reEngage
reStart
rePublic

23. Building the Team
People + Skills + Attitude +
Place + Platform

24. 36,800
online service requests
60%
logged by citizens
themselves
120+
online services
www.yourcouncil.ie

25. Results Community Fund
Measure Pre Service Design Post Service Design
Service Databases 8 1
Total Applications 609 756
Channel Choice 3 4
Channel Shift 609 hard copy
143 hard copy
(81% shift)
Response rate 3+ days Immediate
User Satisfaction
Anecdotal -
Immeasurable
70% excellent 5/5
22% very good

26. Results Housing Service Queries

27. Measuring the Outcomes
● Hard and soft data
● BI reports
● Dashboards
● Service assessments to
senior management

28. Insights
Vision and support at
top of organisation is
vital
Transformation needs
space -physical,
strategic,
psychological and
emotional
Partnership can allow
you to scale quickly
Create an environment
for learning and
teaching together - this
is real sustainability
Get the right people
involved - look beyond
traditional skills and
competencies
Leverage the assets,
skills and networks you
already have

29. Service Design movement has been
a powerful enabler of innovation.
Innovation exists everywhere.
It’s about enabling it to flourish, and utilising a SD
approach to reach excellence in service delivery.

30. Achievements
Local Authority Housing
Department of the Year
2015
First LA in country to
achieve EMAO
ISO50001 Energy
Accrediation 2016
Excellence in
Communication Public
Relations Award 2018
Water Quality Lab –
secured INAB 17025
accrediation 2015
Wastewater
Laboratory, accredited
25th year in succession
1st LA to achieve
OHSAS 18001 Safety
Management System
2017
Appointed Lead LA
nationally for:
● Waste Enforcement
for Southern Region
● Climate Change
Adaptation Planning
for South West Ireland
● Public Lighting for
entire retrofit of
network nationally

32. Meaningful results for Citizens
92% residents believe Cork
is a great place to live
86% feel a sense of pride in
the area
86% are happy with their
employment and work life balance
83% are satisfied/very
satisfied with life in general