When LaTisha "Tish" Fletcher talks about innovation, she's not talking about apps or dashboards. As Innovation Team Director for the City of Birmingham, her work starts somewhere most government innovation teams overlook: building trust before building tools.
"If you're not a good listener, this is not the best role for you," Tish says matter-of-factly. It's a refreshing perspective in a field often dominated by tech-first thinking.
Service Design Over Silicon Valley
Birmingham's Innovation Team operates differently. Instead of chasing the latest technology trends, Tish and her small but mighty team (a Civic Designer and a Data Analytics Manager) focus on human-centered design and service design. Their goal isn't to modernize for modernization's sake. It's simpler and harder: to help government work better for the people it serves.
This approach requires what Tish calls "academic-level rigor." When her team deployed a baseline survey in one of Birmingham's most vulnerable communities, they didn't just email a link and hope for responses. They offered immediate financial incentives upon submission, acknowledging residents' time and expertise. The result was meaningful data that actually reflect the community's reality.
24 Hours with the Fire Department
The team's commitment to understanding lived experience goes deep; literally hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews and focus groups. But one initiative stands out: spending a full 24 hours with the fire department to witness firsthand the challenges residents face.
This kind of immersive engagement isn't common in city government, especially in communities where trust in institutions runs low. But that's exactly why it matters.
"The real work happens really at the intersection of all of these things, the intersection of policy, the intersection of operations, data, lived experience, community," Tish explains. Her team doesn't just study problems from City Hall. They show up, stay present, and listen until the full picture emerges.
Trust Transforms Everything
The results speak for themselves. In a community where skepticism of government can run high, Tish's team has achieved something remarkable: they've turned a previously difficult relationship into genuine partnership. Residents who once viewed city services with frustration have become the team's biggest supporters.
How do they do this? By validating their experiences, honoring their time, and most importantly, taking action on what they've heard.
Now the team is prototyping three resident-requested solutions:
- A Service Hub: A "mini City Hall" that brings services directly to the neighborhood, eliminating transportation barriers
- Service Navigators: People who coach residents through complex bureaucratic processes, providing human support when forms and websites fall short
- An Energy Efficiency Program: Tackling the severe problem of energy burden, where utility bills can exceed 30% of household income
These aren't innovations dreamed up in a conference room. They're solutions co-designed with the people who will actually use them.
The HeroX Connection
This approach mirrors work HeroX has championed through challenges like Community Champions for Disability Health, which recognized that connecting communities requires human support, cultural understanding, and genuine partnership.
Whether it's healthcare navigation or civic services, the lesson is the same: the best solutions emerge when we design with communities, not for them.
Advice from the Field
For government leaders considering similar work, Tish offers hard-won wisdom:
- Embrace ambiguity
- Don't confuse speed with progress
- Build trust before you build tools
- Remember that innovation is a team sport; collaborate across departments and with the community
"When this team unlocks this community, it's a game changer for the rest of the communities in the city." It's a powerful reminder that investing deeply in one community creates a blueprint for transformation everywhere else.
The Future is Co-Designed
Tish Fletcher's work in Birmingham proves that real innovation in government isn't about being first to market with a new technology. It's about being first to truly listen, first to build trust, and first to let communities lead the design of solutions that affect their lives.
It's slower work. Messier work. But it's the kind of work that actually changes lives.
Ready to learn more? Watch the full conversation with Tish Fletcher below and discover how deep community listening translates into high-impact service design. Subscribe to stay inspired by innovators who are proving that the best solutions emerge when we stop competing and start collaborating.
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Image: "Power of Collaboration" by Kati Szilágyi for Wikimedia Deutschland e.V., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
