HMC Architects

Key Takeaway

This case story describes how HMC Architects invested in thought leadership to differentiate its brand, tell its story, and ultimately drive new business.

Founded with the purpose of anticipating community needs, HMC is a 100 percent employee-owned firm that designs healthcare, education, and civic spaces to positively impact communities. Rattleback worked with the firm to develop internal thought leadership capabilities and processes that could help HMC stand out from its competitors and build brand recognition around its unique POV: Design for Good. This work empowered HMC to:

The Obstacle

Overcoming the Content Bottleneck

HMC Architecture is one of seven firms in its market known by an initialism starting with the letter H. Clearly, the company needed something other than its name to help it stand out. With close to 400 talented individuals on staff, the c-suite determined that thought leadership would be the best way to tell the firm’s story, raise awareness of the brand and corporate values, and highlight the innovative thinking and solutions its team brings to bear. After all, the company was in the business of developing and cultivating ideas. The problem was, getting that thinking out of its subject matter expert’s heads and onto paper in the form of compelling prose (as opposed to project briefs, proposals, and building designs) was much easier said than done. After a not-so-successful stint with an SEO-focused marketing partner that pushed quantity over quality, HMC leadership realized what it really needed was a formalized thought leadership process designed to engage experts and make participation less scary and more enjoyable for all the people in the firm with invaluable ideas to share.

The Solution

Making communications a team sport 

Gaining buy-in 

While HMC’s communications director and marketing director had been shouting from the rooftops about the importance of thought leadership for years, they realized their team needed to hear this message from an outside expert. The company engaged Rattleback to lead a half-day in-person workshop during its leadership retreat. Through data and case stories, a group of nearly 30 HMC leaders learned that thought leadership is more than a bonus for a professional services firm; it’s a must for generating revenue and driving growth. Rattleback presented a high-level thought leadership process using a six-point outline. Then the attendees had the opportunity to take the process for a test drive. Working in groups on a list of pre-selected topics, HMC leaders discovered first-hand that the thought leadership process could be enjoyable and rewarding. And, they came away with some well-developed ideas for meaningful thought leadership pieces that could truly differentiate the firm and highlight its unique expertise.

Formalizing the HMC thought leadership process

A workshop can be an enlightening experience. But making good thought leadership a habit requires a more holistic commitment. Rattleback helped HMC benchmark the firm’s existing thought leadership efforts against research-based best practices and hone in on key areas for improvement. ThisworkThis work included substantiating the firm’s POV, Design for Good, by identifying topics to own at a firm level (beyond the typical faster, cheaper, greener messaging) to highlight the firm’s innovative thinking and solutions.

Rattleback then helped with developing the plan for engaging leaders and nexperts and rallying them around the key thought leadership themes. Levering the collaborative process and six-point outline presented in the workshop, each practice area is responsible for generating two to three topic abstracts per quarter. The marketing and communications team can then use these abstracts to pitch story ideas to industry reporters, editors, and the conference circuit or to inform other content assets, such as podcasts, videos, or whitepapers.

Reinforcing the thought leadership culture 

To maintain momentum for its new process and set expectations for contribution, HMC asked Rattleback to extend the training on the firm’s new thought leadership process to a wider group of subject matter experts. Approximately 40 HMC staffers from across the firm’s four practice areas participated in a virtual training program. Participants split into four cross-practice groups to further develop the topics that came out of the training session and to gain experience using the firm’s new thought leadership tool sets, with assistance from the Rattleback team as needed. After 45 days, the groups presented their work and had opportunities to share what they learned along the way.

The Result

Building a Thought Leadership Powerhouse: Achieving Industry Recognition and Impact

“Most architecture firms design beautiful buildings. But people are our greatest asset. Thought leadership helps put the spotlight on that,” explains HMC Communications Director Bruce Boul. By working with Rattleback, HMC has successfully set a whole new standard for thought leadership and brought its team on board. The topic abstracts, collaboratively created by subject matter experts across the firm, are extremely well received, leading to multiple placements in leading industry publications. And those placements are helping HMC secure the introductions, opportunities, projects, and clients it most wants to serve.