Central to Family Safety Victoria’s Strategic Plan 2021-24 is a recognition that people are experts in their own situation, and that there is shared value in listened to, understanding and respecting their experiences. While this guides our work with victim survivors and families, it must also be reflected in how we work together with our own employees. We rely on their input to shape responses which will make a difference and meet individual needs.
Reflecting the organisation’s commitment to being person-centred in its work, in early 2019 Family Safety Victoria’s Executive Management Team sponsored a human-centred design process to build an understanding of the organisation’s needs and aspirations for its people and culture. The foundational elements for a People and Culture Strategy were developed and the capability of the Family Safety Victoria workforce built in human-centred design principles and practices.
Human-centred design is a way of working and being that focuses on the lived experience of end-users, in this case, the employees of Family Safety Victoria. It recognises end-users as subject matter experts and their knowledge as high value. It is a process of genuine collaboration, where creative solutions to complex problems are generated ‘with’, rather than ‘for’ end-users, greatly increasing their quality, relevance, and viability. It also allows for diverse perspectives and new interpretations to emerge, and is a powerful way to generate local ownership, sharing responsibility, and empowerment.
From March to June 2019, four core design teams of twenty-three people from diverse work environments across the organisation participated in a human-centred design sprint. During the process more than 80 employees shared their experiences, insights, and ideas with the design teams through interviews, a survey, and workshops.
After the design sprint Family Safety Victoria employees also had an opportunity to provide feedback and shape the People and Culture Strategy through the 2019 and 2020 People Matter Surveys, as well as additional staff workshops run in mid-2020 to ensure the needs identified in the draft People and Culture Strategy were still relevant and appropriate following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This work built a rich source of insight into the strengths, pain-points and challenges facing the Family Safety Victoria workforce, a diverse set of ideas, and a number of ‘prototype solutions’ that meet the organisation’s needs. These insights and the prototype solutions form a core part of the People and Culture Strategy.
Five core themes of aspiration for our people and culture
A consolidation of the insights and ideas shared throughout the human-centred design sprint pointed towards five core themes of need and aspiration for people and culture at Family Safety Victoria – that our people are:
- valued
- empowered
- connected
- inspired
- growing.
These five themes form the pillars that underpin the People and Culture Strategy. They inform the strategic priorities for investing in our people and culture, and together with our organisational values will also inform how we will go about achieving those priorities.
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