Enter Design for Emergence. The Soar team reached out to D4E through Hive member and Design for Belonging author Susie Wise, to host a design process to create prototypes that would help Soar to increase belonging among the staff. “It felt like a context to design for emergence,” Susie reflected, “they were really in startup mode, and I was intrigued that they wanted to intentionally focus on belonging as part of their work.” Design for belonging is a collective effort, so Susie answered the call and brought in fellow Hive members René Benevides and Morgan Vien. Together, they comprise a team with expertise in belonging, Liberatory Design, education, mental health, embodied leadership, and leadership coaching. The project would also be a powerful learning opportunity for D4E. “Although we have individually worked across a variety of sectors,” Morgan explained, “our primary focus has been the education field. A collaboration with Soar was an opportunity to apply process and expertise toward social impact in a new space.”

As organizations begin to scale there can be a tendency to try to solve complex, adaptive problems with technical solutions, so it was important that our process would help us get clear on the problem we were trying to solve together. During the initial empathy phase of the work, through listening to the Soar team, including the RBTs, therapy providers, and leaders, important bright spots emerged. The staff loved the children they served, their colleagues, and the therapy model (ESDM). Staff could see the impact they were making. They felt the support of the organization to grow as practitioners.

But we also heard some opportunities to do better. These prompted insight-based questions which would be the launching point for co-designing prototypes to help staff to thrive. For example, how might we, we asked…

…create the feeling of stability in growth? and

…create a space for regrounding after a difficult time?

The co-design process yielded a range of other prototypes that will be developed into Soar’s practice including welcome rituals, protocols to repair relationships during tense times, and opportunities to connect and share stories outside the grind of the work day.

In addition to the actual prototypes, to support Soar in designing for belonging, we needed to model belonging. As a trio with different lived experiences and professional backgrounds, but a shared vision, the possibilities were many. Susie explained, “we modeled ways of being that were about design mindsets, liberatory design in particular…showing how we wanted to be, not just telling, and that allowed people to explore their position, power, identity, who they were.”

“we modeled ways of being that were about design mindsets,
liberatory design in particular…showing how we wanted to be,
not just telling, and that allowed people to explore their position,
power, identity, who they were.”

Morgan, René, and Susie designed and implemented a process that planted seeds and looked for resonance, laying the groundwork for impact that would be passed along through the organization, albeit in unexpected ways. They also brought a wide range of tools for Liberatory Design into the space, including the very co-design days themselves.

The process of engaging the wider Soar team in the co-design work offered a chance to flatten hierarchies, shift power, and give a sense of ownership in the challenge, the solution, and the organization as a whole.

The work has also brought growth and learning to D4E. René reflected that there are “so many layers of learning in that space. There’s so much possibility that I open up myself as a designer and an embodied leader and embodied learner. More and more I support others toward that vision, as I practice opportunities to be in that playful creative space with other members of the Hive. I feel I’m in a learning body, and the relational aspects of how we embody design and embody emergent leadership in our work with our partners is palpable.”

“I feel I’m in a learning body, and the relational aspects
of how we embody design and embody emergent leadership
in our work with our partners is palpable.”

The collaboration between Soar and D4E is ongoing. In the next phase of the work, Soar has engaged D4E to design new opportunities to support belonging across stakeholder groups. Importantly, we are embracing the complexity of adaptive systems change by expanding the project to include not just Soar employees but the families Soar serves. “It will be powerful to see how families see their own want or capacity for participation in relation to Soar,” Morgan reflected. “The only way to do it is through co-design.”