Part 3a. Individual co-production

Valuing all participants, and building on their strengths

You look for and recognise the strengths, knowledge, ideas and experience (lived or professional) that people have to contribute, whether they are on your staff team or they are service users and carers who you support.

Developing networks across silos

You help people become part of supportive peer networks and broaden their horizons by connecting with groups, activities, or other organisations that can contribute to supporting them.

Doing what matters for the people involved

Your work is shaped around what matters to the individual. You ask how people are doing, what solutions they have already thought of,  and what a good outcome looks like for them, before you decide what’s best for them.

Building relationships of trust and sharing power

You take the time to build connection, trust and understanding. Even when time is tight or you might only meet a patient or a carer once, you can take a relational approach by listening deeply and engaging in dialogue, demonstrating that they matter and that you value this moment of connection.

Enabling people to make change happen

You see your role as enabling people to change, not simply delivering a service.

Individual co-production happens mainly in the moments of interaction with your service users, patients and carers. It might feel simple and small, but the effects are powerful and important.

It might be helpful to think of individual co-production as a set of life or work practices, a bit like exercise; we don’t ask, “When will I be in shape and can I stop exercising? The human body never seems to get healthy." Likewise, co-production isn’t a to-do list item or a project that finishes, but it doesn't mean we can't get in better shape (personally, professionally, as a service, as an organisation and as a society).