How can you use the culture of your company or the company you're working for in your service design work?

That's a tough question, but an interesting one.

I'd love to share a few thoughts on a few examples on how I did it in the past and how I would love to do it in the future too.

The first example I'd like to share is one. Where I'm working with a church for a service design work. And the one thing that I do there a lot is to use spirituality within the service design process, which means stuff like using prayer when it comes to looking for inspiration. Idea generation or using again, prayer and listening of God's plan when it comes to decision-making and making, the spiritual aspect, also a part of the decision making. Here. Ah, it's a bit strange.

Sometimes you are for people who are not used to that to mix like the management and the services and perspective with the more spiritual perspective and mixing them together. But what happens when you do that? There's something quite magic. Which is that, it feels much more natural to the people within the company because it fits their own culture. And I think there, there is something quite interesting, which is not this idea of having to be fully just in the culture or fully a service design driven, but more having this kind of a blend and hybrid thing.

I think that's where. Usually it works pretty well. Maybe I'm biased because, we Swiss people, we always love to have consensus and hybrid situations. We don't like to black or white situations. We always like to be in the middle. Maybe that's just a bias from my own culture.

But that's one example and not an example. Was back in the days where I, when I was working in London you know London is often are a bit more interested in mindfulness and mental health and this kind of stuff.

And when I was working there within a quite big organization, I noticed that this was something that the people working there, felt really interesting. This was something that they loved. And so while we were doing a design sprint, which can be sometimes a bit pushy we also try to integrate new elements of mental house mindfulness, these exercises you're starting today. With maybe I mindfulness. Moment or break these. At tiny elements.

I think again, brought it back that we could be a bit more pushy with the kind of design sprint process. But at the same time, integrated with the culture. Of the London news in general, but also of the few people which were in this project, which loved this kind of stuff.

Another example is not so much about the values, or, but more about the habits and structures.

I know sometimes we ask ourselves as service designers, how can we bring change into action, and then we think, oh, we need to add these new elements within the organization. And one. Change that happened for me within the last years was really this idea of not so much looking at what could I add. But where could I. You know, mix what I do with what's already existing. So practical example is, if we are thinking about informing key stakeholders, instead of saying, Hey, we're going to make a meeting with these key stakeholders, or are we going to do a recurring session? Where we going to get it, all these people now look at where do these people already meet?

There is an opportunity there. We can surely, find places where they already meet. For example there are in many companies, per department meetings. Where you could just say, Hey, Kool-Aid join and then stay for the coffee. Where in the coffee, that's where you then make your connections.

So instead of looking at. How can I create places? Where people can meet and create new habits. And when we care can share information, Look where these moments, these places already exist and, Cool. And go in it and add something on top.

This remains me. I have an idea from James clear. The guy who wrote books about habit building, and he has this idea of habit stacking.

So for example, if you want. To do more. Sport instead of looking, oh, I, when should I do sport? I'm at, I'm going to new to build a new routine. He says you could build this new retooling of doing sport on top of a routine that you already have. The one of the most fun examples. That I've used myself as to use each time you go to the bathroom to do a little sport session.

So for example, to say, Hey, I'm going to do 10 pushups. Every time I go to the bathroom. And that suddenly, it's not so much work to go into a sport mode because it's already building on something that exists. And so I think here, there is an idea which is very interesting for us as services. Which is this idea of stacking. Ah, of using what's already existing and just add a tiny thing on top of it. So that it serves also the purpose. That we have with our own work.

And looking at the future.

One thing that I'm quite interested to do. More in your future is, just to analyze. And read what are the values of the company? Usually a company comes with a list of values that they have can be from their brand material or just from their strategy and you and read what are these values and. For each of the values, then you can see, okay, how can I, make this value happen within my services?

I worked.

For example, if one of the values will be a deep collaboration, then you cooled before you do a workshop, come back and say, Hey, we're going to do this deep collaboration thing because. In our company or in this company. That's one thing that is very dear to us and today too. Live and experience that value.

We're going to do it. With this tool, which is at workshop.

What I'd love to do more in the future is to look at these values that companies have. And once I'm working with them, To try to contextualize what I will do with my service design work and show how it relates to the values that the company has.

So in short use the values that companies already have. Link what you're doing, wisdom, values and use the structures and habits that already exist to build on top of that.