15 principles of Good Service Design

12. Encourage the right behaviours from users and service providers

The service should encourage safe, productive behaviours from users and staff that are mutually beneficial. For users, the service should not set a precedent for behaviours that may put the user at harm in other circumstances – for example, providing data without knowing its use. For staff, this means they should not be incentivised to provide a bad service to users, for example, through short call- handling time targets

What this means in practice

The incentives, KPIS and business model of your organisation, and the interactions a user has with your service encourage behaviours that positively affect

• Your user 

• Your staff

• The ability of your company to thrive and be sustainable

• The world

You’ve achieved good when

Your user is able to use your service in a way that does not encourage them to put themselves, your staff, your organisation’s sustainability and the world in danger whilst using the service or in the future

How to do it

Make sure that the outcome you want to achieve is encoded in every layer of your organisation, from its business model and staff targets, right down to the way your users interact with your service.

Remember what you’re trying to achieve and measure this. Measure outcomes not outputs

Make sure you focus on balancing the behaviours you expect of your users with the behaviours you expect of your staff and your organisation. Don’t just focus on one of these