Contract - May 2015 - 44

PHOTOGRAPHY: CARL BOWER

COLUMNIST

Structuring the Stakeholder Engagement Process to Drive Better Design
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.
44

As a designer, engaging with all key
stakeholders on a given project-the
client; the client's key decision makers,
such as facilities and human resources
leadership; and real estate professionals
involved with a project-may be viewed
either as cumbersome and time
consuming or as an opportunity to
create better outcomes. Embracing
the latter in a strategic way often
achieves greater consensus for a
project throughout the design process.
However, in order to make it meaningful
to the participants, the client, and
the design team, you have to ask the
right questions, distinguish definite
needs from wants, and ensure that
everyone-not just the one with the
loudest voice-has an opportunity
to participate in the discussion.
Going beyond Post-its
Similar to the design process, the
engagement process needs innovation.
Many individuals have participated in an
exercise that involves writing on Post-its
and moving them around. This remains
a valid method, but in my experience
with MKThink, the most successful
engagements are tailored specifically
for clients.
Brainstorming sessions for
engagements that I have led at MKThink
often start with flipping through the
book Gamestorming: A Playbook for
Innovators, Rulebreakers, and
Changemakers. We then adapt one of
the many exercises for a client's needs.
For example, we recently had a

university client that was struggling
with the values that students placed
on in-unit versus community amenities
when considering new housing on
a sustainably conscientious campus.
To help students prioritize their desires
and understand that all decisions are
associated with a cost, we came up with
a "Design Your Own Apartment" game.
Participants were divided into groups of
four as if they were roommates and were
given an explanation of the base-level
apartment and a set amount of points
to spend on upgrades. Upgrading the
base unit from LEED Gold to higher
sustainable standards would cost
the most points, followed by in-unit
amenities, and finally community
amenities. The game enabled great
dialogue between stakeholders and
allowed them to collectively prioritize
their needs. Each participant walked
away understanding the value
associated with their requests.
Due to the success of this
exercise, we are repackaging it to
apply to a workplace client's tenant
improvement in order to examine values
associated with private office space,
communal space, and the desire for
different types of individual workspace.
The litmus test of a successful
engagement is when stakeholders say
they enjoyed the exercise so much that
they want permission to run it with other
groups for greater participation.
The follow-up to the engagement
process and the representation of
outcomes are as important to the overall

design process as engagements
themselves. Often, follow-up can be
lacking and produce few meaningful
results. How often does the dialogue get
reported in meeting-minute format with
pictures of Post-its or the engagements
themselves? How frequent are
outcomes shared with participants?
Do they see the outcomes integrated
into the building design?
Quantifying and sharing the outcomes
I tend to take these two steps after the
conclusion of the engagements:
(1) Identify quantifiable outcomes,
such as votes taken on various scenarios
or a prioritized list of identified needs or
desired outcomes. Quantifiable data is
always of great interest to owners, even
if it was gathered through a more
qualitative process.
(2) Create meaningful infographics
that display outcomes, simplify complex
issues, and can be reused throughout
the design process. Allowing
participants to view infographics
afterward is also a meaningful way to
share findings with them and give them
another opportunity to comment. Our
clients enjoy the graphics so much that
they reuse them in board presentations,
marketing communications, and-most
importantly-continue to refer to the
results throughout the design process.
A good stakeholder engagement
process informs design, but a welldesigned, facilitated, and communicated
engagement process can proactively
drive better design. c
contractdesign.com

MAY 2015
http://www.evelynlee.com http://www.contractdesign.com
Contract - May 2015

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