The Human Connection
At a recent industry event, we met a couple of designers and asked:
“How do you find most of your clients?”
The reply:
“Terrible.”
We laughed as it was not the answer we were expecting. Then they followed up with,
“Sprinkled with a few good ones in between.”
It was not the answer that we would offer, either, but this conversation led to an ah-ha moment for our team. We believe that you attract what you put into the universe - love brings love. When we live our core values of compassion, generosity, and trust, those traits come back to us exponentially - from our clients and our colleagues to our family and friends.
The interior design business is an ever-evolving challenge - with supply chain issues, construction delays, risings labor costs, budgetary constraints, installation delays, and a thousand other details that can go awry and are often out of our control. We’re not perfect, and we don’t expect our clients to be perfect.
What we do expect is for clients to be reasonable and understanding, as well as to practice patience and compassion when situations arise. What helps the most? A sense of gratitude, a sense of humor, and making that simple connection - the human connection. While we have high expectations of ourselves and our projects, more and more, we learn that humor and humility go a long way.
LESSONS OF VULNERABILITY
The author Brene Brown has written extensively about the power of vulnerability. She gave a TED Talk about the topic. Understanding the power of vulnerability is one of those life lessons often stumbled upon or hard learned. A confusing experience with a client led to a new step in our process - the heart-to-heart check-in.
Rather than midway or waiting until the end of the project, the heart-to-heart check-in will occur after each step in our 15-step process. This heart-to-heart conversation is an opportunity for clients to share what’s on their minds, share their feelings and emotions, and get things off their chest. It also allows us to prepare you for what’s to come next and course correct as needed. If you don’t want to talk about your feelings and emotions and tell us what’s going well or potentially going wrong, how else will we be able to help you to have an even greater and more enjoyable experience?
We learn from our clients every day, on every project. We are avid students and genuinely curious listeners. Deep listening and understanding help us to learn and grow as professionals and as human beings. The alternative–holding it in and bottling it up until the simmering emotions boil over—accomplishes nothing. Clients should know they can trust us to clear the air. We are your trusted advisors and design guides. We often joke that we are eighty percent therapists and twenty percent designers as so much of our job is relaying bad news: project delays, cost increases, discontinued items, damaged goods, and the list goes on.
An interesting element of being a design professional is that you can hone your skills as an artist or a business person. Still, if you don’t take the time to relate to another person truly, you’ll be missing out on one of the most important aspects –cultivating a long-lasting relationship.
We learn from our colleagues as well. Whether participating on a panel or moderating one, attending an event, or working with a business coach, the DADI team is completely open to soaking in new information and experiences. We gravitate towards like-minded industry professionals who embrace positivity, share willingly, and welcome authentic human connection.
CLIENT-DESIGNER RELATIONSHIPS
We’ve written about the emotional roller coaster ride that can occur during construction and renovation, and having been through several personally, we understand all of those ups and downs. Please entrust us with your feelings. The act of listening is an act of confidence and compassion. It is important to us.
The client-designer relationship is unique. Well, maybe it’s a bit like other intimate, trusting relationships such as your therapist, doctor, attorney, trainer, or stylist. These are professionals you relate to regularly.
We know we’re on the right course when we can freely exchange information, without egos, without recriminations. We look forward to our heart-to-heart check-ins. It is the DADI way of connecting with our clients in a heart-centered, human way.
