Contract - October 2015 - 32

Creating room for purpose, along with the freedom
of expression, engages the greatest number
of individuals within a firm with the design process.
The more individuals in the office feel like they
have room to grow in a manner that is meaningful
to themselves, the more they will be encouraged
to be engaged in the firm's future and ultimately
its success.

Building a Purpose-driven Practice
by Evelyn M. Lee, AIA

Evelyn M. Lee, AIA, writes
a regular column for Contract
on business practices in design
and professional development.
Lee is a senior strategist at
MKThink, the ideas company
for the built environment
based in San Francisco,
and holds graduate degrees
in architecture, public
administration, and business
administration. Lee has served
on the AIA national board
of directors and, in 2014,
she received the AIA Young
Architects Award. Her website
is evelynlee.com.

32

When analyzing the shortcomings of a design firm's
business model, I often see parallels between designers
and artists. In many cases, we tend to undervalue
our services to ensure that we are still able to create
our craft, or complete the project. However, doing
so often makes us lose our sense of purpose. So how
do we bring purpose back to the design workforce?
Or, more importantly, how are firms going to become
exemplary in a new, purpose-filled economy?
Build a practice focused on people
In his book "The Purpose Economy: How Your
Desire for Impact, Personal Growth and Community
Is Changing the World," author Aaron Hurst writes:
"During the week, most of us spend at least 50
percent of our waking time at work. If we aren't
getting our need for purpose met here, we are
unlikely to have satisfying levels of purpose in our
overall lives." For you as an individual, it is always
important to remember the reason why you entered
the design profession, why you joined a particular
firm, or why you started your design firm. Do those
aspects still hold true for you today in your given
position? What changes would have to be made
within your current company to match your original
motivation for joining or starting it, or to instill
greater purpose generally?
Bringing purpose into a firm drives innovation
and encourages participation from employees.

Build a practice that engages community
By definition, community is a feeling of fellowship
with others as a result of common attitudes, interests,
and goals. Pairing community with a sense of purpose
focuses not only on the neighborhood in which
the firm's physical office resides or the community
that the firm builds within its own walls, but it also
focuses on the type of community that the firm
builds with its clients. The current state of the
industry is ripe with opportunity, so I encourage
firms to be selective about the types of clients
and work they pursue.
Within the purpose economy, our clients
are looking for ways to both make their processes
more transparent and to further their own engagement
within the communities they serve. As designers,
our understanding of the end users and their true
needs becomes more important to the success
of the design and implementation. Encourage your
clients to give you access to all of the stakeholders
necessary to make the process a success, and show
them how it will further create purpose within their
own organizations.
Build a practice that is adaptable to change
The ability to adapt to change is becoming more
necessary to the success of any industry. But that
is particularly true in our design industry, which
continues to specialize its expertise and commoditize
the services it offers. Designers must be aware
of changes in the economy that can have significant
impact on a client's business and the decisions
it makes about processes, operations, and managing
capital asset spending. Understanding the client's
line of business will enable greater opportunity
for a designer to articulate the value of the design
services provided. Doing so will help you identify
opportunities to increase your value to a client
in a way that is purposeful to the organization's
greater mission and vision for the future.
A firm built on purpose is one that places equal
emphasis on having a positive impact on its own
employees, the clients, and the communities it serves,
as well as the prosperity of the practice itself.
"In an organization that prizes purpose," Hurst writes,
"management is held to a higher standard." All
individuals in a firm-not only management-must
be held to a higher standard and continue to push
past boundaries and comfort levels. But, with higher
purpose often comes greater rewards. c
contractdesign.com

OCTOBER 2015

PHOTOGRAPHY: CARL BOWER

COLUMNIST
http://www.evelynlee.com http://www.contractdesign.com
Contract - October 2015

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