The Service Organization Demystified / Kate Tarling / Episode #181

Imagine not just designing one service... But shaping your entire organization so that it keeps improving the services it offers, continuously. Yes, it's a much bigger challenge, yet the reward of creating a highly service-oriented organization is immeasurable.

But let's be real, redesigning an entire organization isn't a task for the faint-hearted. You're tinkering with an established system that has steered the company for years, propelling it to where it is today.

In my view, we don't have a real choice though. How much longer can we design services that eventually fall short of their potential due to organizational roadblocks? Continuing this way not only wastes time and money but also breeds frustration. Your hard work might not have the desired impact, causing doubt to loom over service design's legitimacy as a field with stakeholders.

They say that you eat an elephant one spoon at a time. In our context, if the elephant is the challenge of reshaping our organization to be more service-centric, where do you start?

Enter "The Service Organisation," a freshly published book. It's making waves in our community for a reason, and I couldn't resist inviting the author, Kate Tarling, to share her insights on the Show.

It turned into a great conversation about how decisions are made, funds allocated, and workflows orchestrated within an organization. If you're keen on doing good service design, at scale, this episode is your golden ticket.

For me, Kate's insights are once again a testament to the monumental effect seemingly simple actions can have.

Enjoy and keep making a positive impact :)

- Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 181

06:00 Who is Kate

07:00 Lightning Round

11:15 The reason behind the book

18:30 Leadership

19:45 Soccer Analogy

23:45 What the book centers on

25:00 Practice tools examples

28:00 Understanding the word "service"

30:45 Transforming the organization

34:15 The role responsible for funding

41:30 The Gap

44:30 What's missing

47:30 Why it's an integral part

49:30 Questions that rose

51:45 Examples of Operating Models

54:45 Closing Thoughts

56:30 Kate's Book

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-tarling-6b43b19/

The Service Organization by Kate Tarling (Kate's Book)

Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka (Book)

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle