At Shive-Hattery, our client experience (CX) strategy flows through the employee experience (EX). Every client experience activity is connected to the culture we build for our people.
As a privately held design firm, we make decisions to make our generational firm better 10, 20, 30 years down the road. Clients can feel the difference. Over 400 clients have partnerships with Shive-Hattery sustained for 10 years or more. In fact, a quarter of our current clients have partnerships spanning 20 years or more.
This client longevity parallels employee retention. Deep roots grow as clients and employees build relationships over years and evolve with new generations of leadership. Continuity of service and career paths weave together to strengthen bonds that navigate constant change.
Here are some examples of how we elevate the employee experience to transform the client experience through understanding, foresight and ownership.
Clients rate partnership as a top attribute of Shive-Hattery project teams
Annual, in-depth employee conversations. An employee and their “people leader” meet to consider “Employee-led Goals” (ELG) for the upcoming year. These career development conversations set goals and adjust sights on career aspirations.
Employees own their career path with ongoing support from their leader throughout the year, including regular coaching sessions. Listening to and understanding an employee’s career aspirations impacts retention. Shive-Hattery’s voluntary turnover is 3-5%.
Annual, in-depth client conversations. The “Voice of the Client” program encourages client interviews that go beyond project conversations and explore their overall experience. We learn how they feel about working with Shive-Hattery, including our strengths, weaknesses and ways to make doing business with us easier.
Understanding how we can serve clients in new ways informs growth planning and new consulting services. Clients rate “partnership” as the top Shive-Hattery attribute.
A Shive-Hattery project team reviews drawings together.
A deep bench of “homegrown” leaders provides stable succession for Shive-Hattery
Employee learning and development. To help employees grow in an uncertain world, we continue to build a modern learning organization. Peers collaborate through structured professional development and accessible knowledge systems, so expertise is shared, leadership is strengthened and every project benefits from the firm’s collective experience.
Learning is not separate from project work. It is embedded in how we deliver for clients, grow our people and improve continuously across offices and disciplines. This creates future “homegrown” leaders for a growing, employee-owned firm.
Employees learning together on a tour during the 2026 MEP Swarm.
Client partnership rooted in learning. Learning is at the heart of our client partnerships. Decades-long commitments to clients are sustained by understanding their organization. Journey mapping how the client navigates projects helps teams anticipate issues and proactively address them.
Employees close to the action can be responsive without the red tape of hierarchy. This builds meaningful, generational relationships and creates high-performing partnerships. Over 400 client partnerships with Shive-Hattery span more than a decade.
Jen Hoffman leads a kickoff brainstorming session for the Van Buren Street Parking Ramp.
Clients rate Shive-Hattery project teams in the top tier of client satisfaction (70+ Net Promoter Score)
Employees own growth opportunities. Employees own their career path and growth opportunities. Entrepreneurial freedom is encouraged at all levels of the firm, where you can try new things, share what you’ve learned and trust the people around you.
In our annual employee voice survey, growth opportunities, confidence in the company direction, feeling included and respected earn top ratings. This includes 95% of employees saying they are proud to work at Shive-Hattery.
95% of employees say they are proud to work at Shive-Hattery.
Annual employee voice survey
Project teams own the client experience. A project manager (PM) and the project team design the experience for our clients and employees. A Project Management Plan sets the vision for a successful experience.
Clients and team members are surveyed during the project so project managers can take immediate action and turn the feedback into lessons learned. This improves current and future projects and makes the experience more valuable and enjoyable. Clients consistently give Shive-Hattery teams a 70+ Net Promoter Score (NPS), the top tier of client satisfaction.
Shive-Hattery team members collaborate at their workstations.
Client and employee relationships span decades and generations of leadership
We are optimistic about the opportunities for AI to create new forms of value. With our clients, we learn, adapt, experiment and apply technology as it evolves. However, we also double down on relationships that foster understanding, foresight and ownership.
Client relationships built over months, years and decades create deep understanding. This opens the imagination to collective intelligence and foresight. Partnerships are better able to navigate projects through an increasingly polarized world. The need for tech-enabled problem solvers and human partnerships is more important than ever.
