The term co-production refers to a way of working whereby everybody works together on an equal basis to create a service or come to a decision that works for everyone. It’s built on the principle that those who use a service are best placed to help design it.
Co-production is frequently used in public services, especially in the NHS and the social care sector, but has become something of a buzzword that lacks real substance or practical use. In fact, co-production is not a model, rather it’s a theory with a set of values and principles. It is a challenge to the status quo for many government departments and public services – and even for service users or people who move out of the ordinary to having real power.
If co-production is about developing more equal partnerships between people who use services, carers and professionals, then it should play a vital role in learning and development.
Who can be involved?
Co-production can be used in almost any context where service users or communities are involved in or affected by the outcome. It’s a way for service users or citizens with different expertise to collaboratively work together. Co-production overcomes organisational boundaries and enables frontline workforces to show openness, empathy and emotion.
Think Local Act Personal’s Ten top tips for co-production, produced by the National Co-production Advisory Group, is a good starting point to understand the key elements and how to support co-production.
Experiences matter – by chance or choice
Learning can occur between individuals, organisations and wider networks – how learning is communicated between these groups is important for co-production.
When thinking about learning and development, if we look back on our own careers and what shaped us the most, we invariably point to experiences we’ve had; those that taught us to deal with uncertainty, or to stand up to a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Although coaching, mentoring and training may help along the way, the spectrum of experiences is what makes the real difference in our development. Sharing these experiences, and involving service users in professional training and staff recruitment, supports and drives culture change and has a big effect on outcomes.
The ladder of co-production
Co-production sits within a range of participation levels, detailed in the ladder of participation, which describes a series of steps towards co-production in health and social care. Co-production operates at many levels: strategic, service design/development and individual.
These are the four core values that matter for co-productive change in training.
- Everyone has something to contribute. Citizens are empowered to contribute their own resources – time, willpower, and expertise – that give them greater control over their everyday lives to achieve outcomes that matter to them. This is often referred to as an assets-based approach
- Reciprocity is essential. I often can’t get my teeth around that word, but it means a two-way relationship where risk and power are shared.
- Social relationships matter.
- Social contributions – rather than financial contribution – are encouraged.
Changing the culture – training is key to survive
As John Maynard Keynes said: “The difficulty lies not in new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones.” Culture is more than “how we do things around here” or “a set of beliefs that determine behaviour”. In learning and development there’s an opportunity to play a big role in shaping not only workplace culture, but also perhaps the culture of a nation. And it is tough. Social care training often requires overcoming deeply ingrained behaviours and leading people through radical change.
Relational v transactional
In essence, the workplace needs more emphasis on the relational rather than the transactional approach to the delivery of health and social care. And co-production implies a change in the role of professionals from fixers to facilitators working with people to find a solution
But this isn’t a quick fix. The quality of our services is, in a large part, dependent on the quality of the staff engaged in their delivery. Staff, therefore, need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills and attributes to provide the best possible service.
In practical terms, citizens can and must be involved in:
- Professional training.
- Staff recruitment.
- Inspection.
- Supporting local leaders in driving culture change.
Involving service users in training the workforce should be encouraged. There are barriers to making this work in reality and the role of professionals is key; they need to recognise the expertise of service users, volunteers, parents and carers.
There are lots of resources online to help you get going in a practical way with co-production, one of my favourites is the Iriss co-production project planner.
If you remember nothing else from reading this today – if nothing changes, nothing is going to change! What are you going to do to make change happen?
