Combining their talents and resources, IBM, Design for America at FSU, the FSU Innovation Hub, and the College of Social Work’s Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children (CFC Center) held a “Design Sprint for the Future Child Welfare Workforce” event on September 19, 2019. Students attended the event worked together with IBM Design Thinkers, child welfare professionals and College of Social Work experts to brainstorm solutions to the growing challenges faced by Florida’s child welfare system, particularly the high job turnover rate among case managers.

Led by IBM Design Thinkers, the event gave students the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of the IBM design thinking process through the social work lens, by helping to rethink the work experience of future child welfare workers.

“No matter what a person’s talents are in the workplace, there is still a good heart for wanting to good in this world,” said, CFC Advisory Council Member, Leah Dienger, IBM Social Programs Global Government Leader and alumna of the FSU College of Social Work. “The design sprint event pulled people from all backgrounds to solve a social issue and I believe everyone at the event saw the benefits that social good can do in the community. Design thinking brings everyone together and everyone has an equal voice.”

During the event, students participated in an interactive panel with community-based child welfare workers, moderated by Ellen Piekalkiewicz, director of the CFC Center. These workers shared their personal experiences in the field, how they had grown from these experiences, and learned about the immense hardships experienced by their clients and their families. The panel and attending students broke out into groups to develop strategies to combat the growing list of issues that are increasing job turnover for child welfare workers.

Students were challenged to craft a story based on what they learned during this process. These stories were then used in breakout groups to craft larger narratives that were designed to incorporate elements of each student’s individual story and to demonstrate where connections could be made among these individual stories. Two student groups presented their work to the audience.

“The thing I loved most about design thinking is that there is no such thing as an absurd idea. It’s a way of thinking that allows you to think outside the box and be as innovative, creative, and wild as you can get, and usually, the results are astounding,” expressed Kanisha Scott, an undergraduate social work student at FSU. “I hope that the event sparked a passion to implement this new way of thinking into the workplace and for some of my fellow social work students to consider joining the field of child welfare.”

FSU students who attended the event also received access to IBM's Design Thinking Practitioner Online course. Upon completing this course, students receive an IBM Practitioner certification badge, which shows the development of skills in user-centered design, user experience and research, ideation and empathy.

Throughout the event, students had access to interdisciplinary professionals including IBM’s Design Thinkers, faculty from the FSU College of Social Work and College of Communication and Information, community-based care providers from Children’s Home Society and staff from the Florida Department of Children and Families Office of Innovation, along with the president Jim Akin of the National Association of Social Workers Florida.

The event was a prime example of industry–university-community collaboration, a connection cultivated by the CFC Center’s Advisory Council members who include CEOs, practitioners, policy implementors and marketing executives.

 “Universities play a crucial role in training the next generation of industry and nonprofit leaders and helping to drive economic growth in today’s knowledge-based societies,” said Piekalkiewicz, CFC Center director. “The CFC Center plans to continue its collaboration with IBM and the FSU Innovation Hub to bring to the FSU campus an annual design thinking event centered around society’s challenges.”