A Journey into the Unknown | 2021 VocTech Challenge
In March, Ufi will be publishing its Green Paper which sets out the findings from Ufi’s VocTech Challenge ‘discovery phase’ to explore the question:
How can VocTech improve vocational outcomes for people most impacted by the digital divide and at greatest risk from the long-term impact of the pandemic on access to training and jobs?
How do we then link those vocational skills to real employment opportunities?
This is the first in a series of blog posts that share Ufi’s reflections on using ‘design thinking’ principles to shape its work programme.
There is always an element of risk and this is something we're OK with
Blog Post by Louise Rowland, Deputy CEO for Ufi VocTech Trust
Ufi VocTech Trust acts as a funding partner and essential friend to innovators in vocational skills in order to support the development and deployment of digital technologies that help us all to obtain the skills we need to get more out of our working lives.
In supporting innovation, we recognise there is always an element of risk. And this is something we are OK with. Not just in our grant and venture funding decisions but also in how we approach our thinking and planning.
Back in August 2020, when we started planning the grant funding programme for 2021, the big challenge we foresaw was, because of the pandemic, that the communities who are not traditionally well served by mainstream provision are now probably more at risk than ever from being excluded from education and training and being able to access employment. As a charity we believe, in our Theory of Change, that we have a particular role in supporting these communities and we felt this challenge was something we really needed to pay attention to.
As a creative, passionate, and innovative team we were buzzing with ideas about what we could do, underpinned by a sense of urgency, given the impact we could see Covid restrictions were having on learning. Layer on top of this the broader context of UK skills shortages as a result of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and Brexit, we felt the need to act. It would have been easy move quickly with a funding call but we were struck by three things which made us pause for thought:
Firstly, we felt strongly, given the importance of the issues, that we needed to come up with the best possible plan for how to use our time, influence, and funding to have a significant impact. To do this we really needed to test the assumptions we had about how we could be most impactful by seeking new insights.
Secondly, it was clear that Ufi, as a small organisation, could not solve the issues alone. We wanted to engage in a process of co-creation, involving the #VocTech Community.
Finally, we were challenged by the Ufi VocTech Trust Trustees to think about how we could have even greater impact by embedding what we’ve already learned from the organisations we've already funded to test and scale VocTech solutions.
So, we came up with a set of principles to underpin our thinking about what we wanted to do, and agreed to use design thinking ideas in an exercise of co-creation across the VocTech community – starting with a discovery phase to explore this question:
How can VocTech improve vocational outcomes for people most impacted by the digital divide and at greatest risk from the long-term impact of the pandemic on access to training and jobs?
How do we then link those vocational skills to real employment opportunities?
So, what are my reflections so far?
I enjoy being challenged by Sean McDougall, one of the ‘design thinking gurus’ working with us, who makes me ponder on what we can learn about the process as much as what we learn from the process.
This challenge is helpful for me as we are using design thinking principles to shape our work programme for the first time, using our whole strategy toolkit. This is an innovation in how Ufi works, and not without risk, to embark on a journey of discovery without really knowing what you’ll find or where you’ll end. I’ve had to give myself permission to learn to ride the ‘discovery’ wave.
What I’ve also learnt from Sean is that everyone involved needs to be welcomed into the process and listened to in order to spread understanding of design thinking and how it can help unlock innovation in how organisations can work.
My hope is, at the end of this process, people will not only have enjoyed the fact they’ve been able to come up with ideas and proposals, but we will also have a great set of ideas which can have a significant impact on Ufi's Mission. When that happens, the risk really will be worth it.
Read the next blog post in this series: A Taste of Our Own Medicine.
