During a recent research project, we asked 15 multi-national clients about their top five priorities for architecture and design firms. Thirteen of the 15 put green and sustainable design on the list. Clearly green issues today permeate all other clients needs – it is no longer an emerging trend, and now sits right in the lap of basic expectations.
If then, your firm commits to give clients what they really want, you must find a way to deliver on these expanding expectations. Being a green expert is not so easy any more—in truth it never was—but clients were often ambivalent and accountability was relatively low. Some professional firms seemed to be able to win at the business of green design by merely showing some extra energy (and marketing) as embracing a green platform.
Not anymore. Clients have become sophisticated and expect much more than basic skills and an open attitude. Green building is a fast-moving, hyper-competitive field. Perhaps only 15 percent of architecture and design firms are true green experts. If your firm’s partners are not experiencing anxiety about this issue they should. Being proficient and providing professional services in green and sustainable design is not about “having the right business model” or about bringing in a Generation X member to put on the design team. That won’t fix it. Being proficient and providing true professional services is about knowing the nuts and bolts, the nuance of environmental understanding, and how to make green design work. It also requires an aptitude for innovation.
What to do? One of the dominant firms told me that the first thing to do is examine the core values which represent the raison d’etre of the firm. They should guide all strategic decisions and plans. They cannot be represented by a line item in your strategic plan or with a catchy slogan. We often forget that staff does not believe what they read or what they hear from a firm’s leadership about green and sustainable design, only what they SEE. The behavior of the leaders in the firm is what exemplifies the firm’s core values.
If the leaders of a firm are not champions for green and sustainable design, it is unlikely that a firm will win more and lose less during the interview and selection processes. For these reasons, it’s time to get serious about green design as a passion–not just a service component.
When firms launch into a new service area they vigorously pursue their goals in order to get into the game. But what inevitably follows is that the initial push gets compromised if core values of the firm do not support innovative progress in the new service areas.
Be careful. We have seen firms ascend to a respectable position in green and sustainable service, only to then go lazy. A leading firm can quickly become a laggard firm in short order. Some firms become successful but then are not prepared for their own success; they then lose out as other motivated and innovative firms raise the bar on performance. So ask a key strategic question: What are you doing to innovate and improve your expertise?
