School of Specification – Incorporating client feedback

Nigel Ostime, principal of Ostime Consulting, has produced a School of Specification module exploring the importance of feedback. Here, he considers what clients are looking for from architects and how practitioners can improve their performance.

Why is client feedback important?
We know from surveys undertaken by the RIBA that there is a direct positive relationship between client satisfaction and providing the client with the opportunity to give feedback. Levels of satisfaction in both design and project management are higher when follow-up has occurred. Other than providing learning on how to improve, feedback can also provide excellent marketing collateral.

What are the key skills and services that clients want from architects?
From conversations with clients conducted by the RIBA over a series of roundtables we can categorise the types of skills clients want from their architects into five headings:

Championing the vision. Clients are prepared to invest trust in those who can deliver a vision, and they see architects as the professional best placed to lead the vision. They want architects to be business savvy, demonstrating an awareness of how to deliver value.
Listening and understanding. Clients think architects who listen and understand properly are rare, and they want them to understand better how a building translates into real returns. Good communication skills breed trust and reduce perceived risk.
Engaging with people. Clients said a good number of architects lack the people skills needed for collaborative working. Good people skills boost reputation and mean clients have to do less and worry less.
Delivering technical talent. Despite wishing otherwise, clients think it is necessary to replace concept architects with a ‘safer pair of hands’ after RIBA Stage 3. Most clients want architects to lead the consultant team. They also want them to place greater emphasis on how the building operates in use.
Learning and improving. Clients increasingly expect evidence of competence and well-functioning buildings.

Clients are prepared to invest trust in those who can deliver a vision, and they often see architects as the professional best placed to lead the vision”

In which areas do architects typically need to improve their performance?
Clients are less satisfied with architects’ process management – their commercial understanding, adding value, adhering to the programme, and managing work.

What are the best ways of implementing feedback into architectural practice and what value can this bring?
Conduct two interviews with the client, one around the time of the planning submission and one on completion of the project. The first allows you to check things are on course and the second is for continuous improvement. Identify the best individual in the client organisation to speak to, and then liaise through an external consultant so that the process is depersonalised, helping the client to speak more freely. Keep it simple and for the interim survey ask ‘why did you select us for this project?’ And ‘how are we doing on the project so far?’ Then ask the client to rate a series of aspects of the service on a scale of one to ten, and keep a note of comments they make.

For the post completion interview ask those same three questions again, and add others related to the service you have provided. Ask questions such as how well the client considers you interpreted the brief, how well you resourced the project, how well you performed technically and with regard to sustainability. Ask how you compare to other firms and who they would compare you to. Ask about fees, and anything else they would like to share to cover matters you might have missed. It is important to have a standard set of questions to allow comparison between projects over time.