Design Council

Building an Associate network to deliver better outcomes for business through Design

Scope

Identity, change and strategy Direction planning / Purpose / Values / Internal Communications / Hearts and Minds / Stories
Building people capability Develop Leaders / Design structures / Align plans / Develop teams / Coach to perform / Campaigns / Events
Growth and winning work Clarity and direction / Sustaining ambition / People and processes / Collaboration / Innovation / Brand idea / Brand communications

Sector

Government and Public sector

Background
Designing Demand, was the Design Council’s business support programme, acting as a key tool to improve competitiveness within UK business, and SMEs in particular. Following the Cox Review, The Designing Demand programme was to be made widely available to SMEs nationwide, with dedicated resources to support regional activity.

Brief
To meet the resource requirement, the success of the programme, was largely dependent on the quality and supply of Associates. Our challenge was to lead on the ongoing growth and development of the Associate Network to enable the Designing Demand team to provide the quality and capacity required to meet the targets of the roll-out. 

Solution
There were four component parts: Recruitment, Induction, Development and Network. We identified and recruited Associates, supported by an online resource tool that also managed the recruitment and induction process. We also managed the delivery of CPD for Design Associates, using the resource tool to build, manage and maintain the client management system for the Network.