Work

Challenge: How might we address concerns about a lack of respect identified through an employee survey?

Solution: We launched a crowdsourced idea campaign, followed by a design thinking project that engaged an interprofessional group of staff in co-designing solutions to help foster a culture of respect across the organization.

Impact: Staff engagement increased more than 10%.

Published on NEJM Catalyst in 2024.

Challenge: How might we create an engaging experience that encourages safer practices at work?

Solution: We created a team-based safety challenge featuring a physical board game and an online experience. The interactive format encouraged teams across the organization to learn, practice, and compete while building safer habits in a fun and engaging way.

Impact: Safety habits reporting increased by 13%, with 200 departments receiving the safety challenge kits.

Challenge: How might we reimagine communal kitchen furniture to support shared, intergenerational living?

Solution: We designed a flexible kitchen system that accommodates community members of different ages and abilities, creating opportunities for people to cook together, share meals, and contribute to a shared living environment. The design supports a community model in which shared spaces and responsibilities help foster connection, collaboration, and mutual care.

Impact: The final design concept was shared with the community to gather feedback and demonstrate how the kitchen could support more connected and collaborative communal living.

Challenge: How might we build innovation capability across an organization?

Solution: A portable design lab with design thinking pop-ups and portable kit allows trained design professional to bring the design thinking to work space and offers tools and session to practice innovation session.

Impact: More than 325 staff participated in in-person design thinking training, with an additional 26 staff trained virtually.

Challenge: How might we create a more positive and meaningful waiting experience for patients in an oncology clinic?

Solution: We designed a digital waiting experience that puts meaningful resources at patients’ fingertips, offering opportunities for self-care, treatment education, and community connection during their time in the clinic.

Impact: The experience received positive feedback from both patients and the clinical team. Patient satisfaction is being measured to evaluate its ongoing impact.

Challenge: How might privacy, dignity, and comfort be reimagined in the future as AI and emerging technologies transform healthcare?

Solution: We created an interactive VR experience for a healthcare summit, inviting clinical staff to step into a futuristic patient-room concept and explore how emerging technologies could shape the patient experience. Their feedback provided valuable insights into how privacy, dignity, and comfort should be considered in future healthcare environments.

Impact: Feedback from the VR experience was analyzed and shared with the organization’s digital strategy team to inform future thinking around technology-enabled healthcare environments.