Online & Remote Services

Public sector and civic organizations are increasingly recognizing the need to be able to work effectively in remote settings across distributed teams. We help our partners navigate this transition by strengthening their cultures and developing new, effective tools for internal collaboration and external engagement.

Whether a project calls for a fully online or hybrid design, our team has extensive experience with online tools and facilitation:

Community Engagement & Outreach

Even before the pandemic, we leveraged online tools to make engagement opportunities more accessible, inclusive, and far-reaching by providing an online alternative to most in-person engagements.” We have successfully utilized tactics, such as:

• SMS and phone calls to reach digitally divided communities
• Video and social media to expand reach and connect more authentically with audiences
• Multilingual and visually-engaging surveys to collected broad public input
• Robust digital platforms for creative brainstorming, prioritization and consensus building
• Virtual meetings complete with presentations, Q&A, live polling, and small group discussions

Service Design

We support the creation (or improvement) of programs and services through the application of service design tools and methods. Key elements we facilitate remotely include:

• User journeys to map current processes that show the experience from the perspective of your “end-user” and identify key areas for improvement.
• Brainstorming & ideation workshops that move from a broad set of ideas to a concrete definition of key challenges and context-specific prototypes of potential solutions.
• Stakeholder feedback sessions to listen closely to the audience and understand gaps, pain points and assumptions that can lead to better designs and improved service delivery.

Strategic Planning

We facilitate generative strategic planning efforts through stakeholder engagement and consensus building. Online formats and approaches include:

• Organization-wide retreats
• Commission or committee workshops
• Public hearings
• Focus groups

Trainings

Our trainings are hands-on, interactive, customized, and are often designed to culminate in actionable next steps, enabling participants to immediately apply what they learn. Many of these trainings are available online. Some of our most popular include:

• Human-Centered Design – An introduction to the tools, methodologies and mindsets we use in all our project work. This process helps individuals, teams and organizations better define challenges to support practical, efficient and creative problem-solving. It is designed to be deployed rapidly to fit evolving needs for both internal and external stakeholders.
• Digital Community Engagement – We share what we’ve learned over the years about creating meaningful public participation online. Learn ways to leverage digital tools that collect key inputs from the community, whether you’re sourcing ideas, identifying priorities, or building consensus.
• Managing Change in Times of Crisis – The art and science of facilitating organizational change requires a more nuanced and human-centered approach, especially in these uncertain times. We’ll help you strategize how to navigate “the new normal” in your organization.