What we do
We fix the gap between what your organisation intends and what people experience.
We work with organisations to find what people are working around, understand why it is happening and remove the barriers built into policy, process and everyday practice.
The result is a system that works better for the people using it and the people responsible for making it work.
Where we help
From what is happening to what needs to change.
What people experience
We bring the people using and working in the system into the conversation, including the people your data may not show you.
What is causing the friction
We separate the cause from the symptom and test whether policy, process, habit or an unspoken rule is getting in the way.
What needs to change
We help you adapt the system and strengthen the judgement of the people responsible for making it work after we leave.
How we work
EVA
Engage. Validate. Adapt. The model behind everything we do.
Children and young people · South Australia
120 children. 495 postcards. 20 conditions for a good childhood.
How children shaped Australia’s first legislated Charter for a good childhood and checked it still reflected their voices. Since 2023, the Charter Ambassador Program has grown 374%, bringing the Charter into schools across the state.
Read the case studyEconomic development · Adelaide
52 city leaders helped shape the Charter governing a $14.8m annual budget.
By 2022-23, four of its five structural recommendations remained in place.
Read the case studyChild protection reform · South Australia
500+ carers, workers and young people engaged, Act passed by Parliament 10 months later.
Government of South Australia, 2016-2017. Engagement design, facilitation and verbatim reporting following the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission.
Read the case studyCouncil customer experience · South Australia
The council’s inaugural CX strategy delivered significant uplift in service performance.
First call resolution increased 19% in six months. Average handle time fell 20%; call transfers fell 38%.
Read the case studyLeadership capability · Banking
Engagement up 15 percentage points in 12 months at a major banking corporation.
Leadership capability framework, assessment and development for a workforce of around 650 across three states. The same approach underpins FTS. leadership programs.
Read the case studyWays to start
Fix your system. Start here.
Tell us what's frustrating your staff or the people you serve. We'll help you choose a practical first step.
Choose any starting point. You do not need to work through them in order.
Start with a leader
Leaders shape the systems their teams work in. They set priorities, approve processes and decide which problems get fixed. But it can be hard to see how those decisions affect people day to day.
Lead the System combines a Leadership Circle 360, a debrief and remote coaching sessions. Your leaders hear how others experience their leadership, see what they may be missing and decide what to change first. They leave with a clearer view of their impact and practical next steps for fixing the problems their teams deal with every day.
Start a conversationStart fixing your system
Most organisations already run surveys, focus groups and feedback forms. What comes back is polite, partial and safe to say. The real story of why a problem keeps happening stays in corridors, car parks and private messages, because people don't trust that telling the truth will help, or they fear it will cost them.
Talk to the System is designed by Becky Hirst, whose engagement work is used by governments and organisations around the world. We use proven international engagement and innovation methods to create a safe place where people say what is really going on. Children, carers, patients, customers, frontline staff, managers, executives and boards: we reach every part of the system, including the people who are usually left out or never asked.
Each engagement is built around the people we need to hear from. That can mean anonymous channels, small trusted conversations, creative and visual methods, sessions in the places people already are, and formats that work for people with different ages, languages, abilities and levels of confidence. Every voice is recorded faithfully and reported in people's own words, so leaders hear it as it was said.
You get the honest, specific information that standard consultation misses: where the system is breaking, why, what it is costing people, and what they believe would fix it. Because people helped shape the findings, the changes that follow have support from the start.
Start fixing your systemFix it in your sector
Schools often respond to attendance concerns by focusing on a student's or family's behaviour. School Can™ looks at the school's side instead: whether its plans, policies and everyday ways of working are making attendance harder.
How it works
- EngageWe hear from students, parents and carers, and school staff about what they are actually experiencing. We review the school's attendance and support policies alongside what people tell us.
- ValidateWe share what we found with school leaders, including the gaps between what policy says and what families experience. We train staff to talk with families in ways that acknowledge what they are dealing with and keep the conversation focused on support, not blame.
- AdaptWe work with leaders to use existing policies differently, change what needs to change internally, and make it easier for families to approach the school and get help.
What you get
- A clear picture of what students, families and staff are experiencing, in their own words
- A review of your attendance and support policies against that experience
- Staff training in talking with families
- 10 practical changes, agreed with your leaders, to put in place
Most patient journey maps are built in workshops, from the organisation's point of view. They show the steps the service has designed. They rarely show the work patients and carers do between those steps: chasing referrals, repeating their story, filling in the same details twice and working out who to call.
Seen™ looks at care the way patients experience it. We test the parts anyone can access, like phone lines, portals and forms, and hear directly from patients, families, carers and staff about where care gets harder than it should be. You get evidence of where the system is failing people, what it's costing patients and staff, and agreed fixes your team can put in place.
Start a conversationTest the System follows one of your processes end to end, through every channel, as your customers experience it. We show you where it breaks, what that costs, and what to fix first.
For when…
Complaints, repeat contacts or rework keep rising, your dashboards say everything is fine, and you can't see why.
What we compare
Designed
How the process is meant to work, from your procedures, standards and messages.
Experienced
What actually happens to customers, from real customer journeys and our own testing of every channel.
Measured
What your dashboards report at every level, and where the data comes from.
The gaps between the three are where the cost sits. Most of them are invisible from the inside.
How it works
- EngageWe scope the process with you, review how it's meant to work, live the journey through every channel alongside recent customers, and talk with frontline staff about workarounds and pressure points.
- ValidateWe lay the designed, experienced and measured views side by side, name each gap and cost it. Every cost assumption is agreed with you.
- AdaptWe walk your executive through the findings and decisions, then work with your staff and customers to fix it.
What you get
- An executive report that tells one customer's story, then the findings, the cost and the decisions needed
- A dollar figure for the avoidable cost: extra contacts, rework, complaints and lost customers
- Prioritised recommendations, with quick wins separated from longer fixes
- Staff and WHS findings, linking broken process to psychosocial hazards
- An executive debrief for your leadership team
No blame. We report on the system. Staff and customers are never named.
Investment: One process per engagement, every channel into it. Fixed price, quoted after a short scoping call.
What comes next: We use EVA to work through each fix with your staff and customers, then re-test the same process six months later to show what the fixes saved.
Start a conversationMore sector programs coming soon.
Prices
Get our price guide by email. It covers every starting point and how we price designed work.
Alongside every step
Training is easy to forget once people are back at their desks, especially when it isn't connected to their actual work. We train your people using real problems from your organisation, so they learn to spot what's frustrating staff and customers and fix the processes causing it. They practise on your system, and the skills stay with your team.
Training is tailored to your organisation and delivered live online or in person. Topics include Customer Experience, Customer Engagement, the EVA model, Leaders Who Listen and more.
Start a conversation
Get in touch
If you're ready to see your system differently, get in touch.
Tell us what your people are working around. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.
Start a conversation