SDN Children’s Services win Good Design Award for Design Strategy

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) provider SDN Children’s Services has been awarded an Australian Good Design Award in the Design Strategy category.

 

The awards are one of the longest-running international design awards in the world, promoting excellence in design and innovation since 1958.

 

The winning entry was for the work SDN undertook in partnership with the Customer Experience Company on better understanding and improving the experience of families.

 

The award-winning project was in three parts:

 

1. Understanding what families value and need from SDN in the context of changing parenting and life circumstances. This understanding helps SDN to engage with them in a way that is consistent with our values and purpose.

 

2. Understanding and supporting the complex and changing needs of the educators who deliver SDN’s services by forming meaningful and lasting family relationships.

 

3. Leading the organisation to ensure that an empathetic, family focussed service is delivered and sustained over time.

 

The tools and frameworks developed as part of the project have equipped teams to design services unique to the needs of SDN families, something which is of key importance to the provider, CEO Kay Turner explained. 

 

“We know that confident, capable and connected families are needed for a child’s wellbeing to be truly supported,” she said, outlining SDNs intentional investment in the design of services to support them. 

 

“While it is great to get validation of our strategy through this award, it’s even better to hear the feedback we get from our families about the quality of the services we provide,” Ms Turner added.

 

The award recognises SDN’s engagement across the organisation, from executives to the frontline staff in its centres. The purpose is to raise understanding of family needs and to empower and equip SDN’s teams, to ensure services are delivered with empathy.

 

To date, the service design work led by the SDN customer experience team has seen a 20-point rise in the net promoter score, consistency between centres, and significant increases in measures associated with communications and interactions with families. 

 

For more information about the awards, see here. Information about SDN Children’s Services is available here.