Dept of VA: HCD Training
Project Type: Instruction, Coaching, Evaluation, Subject Matter Expertise
Artifacts/Deliverable types: Virtual Course Instruction, In-Person Pilot Instruction, Train the Trainer, Curriculum Advisement, Evaluation Reports
Timeframe: Multiple projects from March 2022 to February 2025
Veteran Experience Office (VEO) Teams: Customer Experience Strategists (myself and at least 1-2 other Strategists), Instructional Designers (3), Business Analysts
My Role: HCD Instructor, HCD Coach, HCD SME, Program Lead
VEO Goals for VA Customer Experience Institute:
Provide a space to develop, practice, connect, and innovate using CX methodologies through programs, trainings, and community support connecting CX novices to experts across the VA.
To build a CX mindset in VA, helping to make VA a world class organization for Veterans and a best place to work.
Why?
Because design thinkers improve service delivery, reduce costs, and optimize workforce performance.
Offerings
VACXi HCD Courses: HCD Basics (Virtual, instructor-led • 4 hours over 2 sessions) and HCD Certificate (Virtual, instructor-led • 14 hours over 7 sessions) - overview of CX and HCD, step through the HCD process one session at a time, applying it to a real VA challenge through immersive and interactive learning lessons. Groups will move from understanding and framing a problem to building prototypes and solutions.
Fellowship program (Project-based learning with coach • About 6 months): Build HCD and CX confidence by working with a small team on a current VA challenge. With the support of a VACXi coach, Fellows work over several months to move through the discovery and design phases of HCD to gain the skills and experience needed to confidently lead CX projects in the future.
Sticky Note Newsletter: Bi-monthly newsletter to learn about the impact of CX at VA, stay ahead of upcoming programming, discover ways to apply CX methods, and connect with the VACXi community.
CX Essentials for Leaders (CXEL):
Research: Bring HCD best practices to VA services and programs
Overview
Over the past decade, CX has become one of VA’s top priorities. The courses, programs, and resources we offer through VACXi reflect VA’s effort to turn priority into action and enable VA to design better experiences for VA employees, Veterans, and customers.
The Veteran Affairs Customer Experience Institute (VACXi) is driving behavior change at VA with a focus on engagement, efficiency, and effectiveness.
VACXi equips the VA workforce with the skills and approach needed to fulfill the Customer Experience (CX) Principles codified in 38 CFR 0.603: providing the best customer experience in its delivery of care, benefits, and memorial services to Veterans, servicemembers, their families, Caregivers, and Survivors.
By strategically embedding Veteran-centric approaches throughout VA, VACXi scales the Veteran Experience Office (VEO)’s impact by creating designers across administrations, across disciplines, and across layers of leadership.
Over 400 VA employees have been trained in CX and HCD since 2022 with the goal of equipping employees throughout VA with customer-centered mindsets and design skills
Approach
Create a space where VA employees connect, learn, and practice human-centered design to create better experiences for employees and customers
Allow learners to question, listen, collaborate, experiment, and make mistakes
Highlight big and small changes that improve VA experiences for Veterans, their families, caregivers, survivors, and the employees who serve them
Below are the ways I’ve supported VACXi projects during my time at the VA:
Coaching
Coach for the VACXi Fellowship program:
(Project-based learning with coach • About 6 months):Led two teams through the HCD process on two VHA Human Capital Management projects.
Taught Fellows how to scope, problem frame, develop interview guides, recruit, conduct interviews, synthesize, ideate, prioritize, and storyboard.
Outcome: One team is continuing the work after the Fellowship and both team’s outputs were valuable for the stakeholders to learn from. One team’s usage of AI in their research has led to an exploration into incorporating AI into our work.
Advise VA staff on HCD projects through Open Door program
Consult CX coaches for support, guidance, and mentorship on design projects.
Held two Open Door opportunities with a field staff member and a VHA researcher, both looking for advice on potential CX and HCD opportunities in their work.
I also connected the field staff member to our Instructional Designer for evaluation advice and signed on to be an HCD SME for the VHA researcher’s grant proposal.
Outcome: These initial opportunities have supported the idea that there is a need for these types of consultations and VACXi is codifying Open Door into an offering.
“Laura is exceptional at communicating and goes above and beyond in her support for the team. For example, our team needed a coordinator for the CX Symposium and she volunteered to play that role which involved her meeting regularly with the lead planner of the event, writing session proposals for our team, and supporting team questions/needs and developing artifacts and presentations for the event. At the event, she even led 40 participants through an HCD 101 training and was available for guests to learn more about our team and VACXi at our information table.”
Subject Matter Expertise/ Research
Advised on all curriculum development and evaluation with Instructional Designers for Human Centered Design qualitative research methods and activities for VACXi trainings and courses
Outcome: Programs and Course offerings deliver relevant and best practice HCD content to our audience
Led the analysis of over 20 communities of practice across VA, government, and the public sector.
Captured insights that will support VACXi in the development of a community of practice.
Outcome: Insights from the analysis led to prioritized initiatives including an Instructor community of practice, marketing/communications about HCD being a ‘team sport’ to encourage signups from groups, and renewed focus on how to leverage Teams for best practice sharing and communication among VACXi students
Project Scoping additional short-duration opportunities to experiment with new programs, formats, products, and services.
Instruction
Taught Intro to HCD Basic course
(Virtual, instructor-led • 4 hours over 2 sessions)Led the instruction of three virtual sessions over the span of one year
Course overview: Learn CX mindsets and apply the HCD process to a fun, hypothetical design challenge.
Taught HCD Certificate of Completion course
(Virtual, instructor-led • 14 hours over 7 sessions)Taught four sessions
Co-led in-person pilot course and evaluation
Course overview: Overview of CX and HCD, step through the HCD process one skill at a time, applying it to a real VA challenge.
Led two VA teams, the Digital Health Office (DHO) and OEI‐PPM in HCD 101 team trainings.
This was a new offering we developed based on these requests and included consultation and a curated experience to support the teams in not only learning HCD but starting to apply the mindset to their own work.
Outcome: DHO came back for more project support since the initial training. We are looking to codify this training as a VACXi offering.
Co-facilitator for a Train the Trainer session as we expanded our Instructor bench
““VACXi helped us all start looking at problems in a new way and re-energized us in the journey of making VA a better place.””
