How to Write a Change Statement for Your Design Firm
A step-by-step guide to writing a change statement at a design firm, with formats and examples from AEC leaders at DFC's September 2026 Leadership Summit.
A change statement is a short, written declaration of what your firm will do differently in response to a major shift: AI, a new delivery model, a leadership transition, or a change in the market. It comes after the diagnosis. A diagnosis tells a firm where it stands; a change statement says where it is going and what it will change to get there.
Write it in small groups, ideally on a different day from the diagnosis so it has time to settle. Start from the thesis your diagnosis produced, decide what the firm will keep and what it will let go, choose a format, and test the result before you share it across the firm.
Fig. 1 · From thesis to commitment
Select a stage.
Bring the thesis your diagnosis produced, such as an AI SWOT. It is the raw material for everything that follows.
Because a diagnosis on its own rarely changes anything. When the conditions behind a firm’s business shift, the map it has been using stops matching the landscape, and the conversation about that gap tends to stay a conversation until someone writes down what the firm will do. A change statement forces the firm to pick a direction, name what it is giving up, and give everyone a way to see their part in it.
AI is the most pressing example right now. Fee structures, staffing pyramids, and delivery models all assume that time is a reliable proxy for value, and AI is eroding that assumption. Under standard contracts, about 65% of an architect’s fee covers construction documents and construction administration, according to Scott Simpson, FAIA, speaking at the DFC Leadership Summit. Those are the services most exposed to automation. The same method applies to any change of that scale.
What to keep and what to let go
Before anyone drafts a sentence, agree on two lists. What is essential to the firm and must come with you? And what must you let go of to make room for what comes next? The second list is usually harder to write, and more important.
Then sort the answers. Qualities such as professional judgment, ethics, accountability, and responsibility usually belong on the keep list. Tools, workflows, staffing structures, and deliverables usually belong on the list of things that can change. The statement you write should protect the first list and be specific about the second.
Fig. 2 · Sort it: keep or let go
Select each item to sort it. This is a typical sort; your firm’s lists will differ.
Keep
Can change
0 of 8 sorted
How should you choose a format?
Start with what your firm most needs to change, then pick the format that serves it. Agree on the format before you start choosing words; otherwise the session becomes a debate about phrasing. Each of the four formats below does a different job. These examples come from statements built environment leaders drafted at the DFC Leadership Summit on the Business of Design in September 2026, but the formats work for any change.
Provocative questions
What it is: A short set of questions the firm commits to answering. Best when leadership agrees that change is needed but not yet on the direction.
Example: How would you design the company that would put you out of business today, and in five years? How will we use AI to get involved earlier, when project strategy is set? How will we become participants and partners in the business of each building, not just the building itself?
Watch for: questions are not a plan. Give each question an owner and a date by which the firm will answer it.
A single sentence
What it is: One line the whole firm can remember and repeat. Best when the firm needs a shared rallying point more than detailed direction.
Example: “AI will allow us to speed up, enabling us to slow down, let people flourish and care for each other in order to do better work.”
Watch for: one line trades nuance for agreement. Expect some people to want to qualify it, and pair it with concrete first steps.
Principles and a vision
What it is: Principles that hold steady, plus a picture of where the firm is headed. Best when the firm is rethinking its business model, not just its tools.
Example: Principles: stay human-centered, function in ambiguity, and rebalance the designer’s role across creation, curation, and storytelling. Vision: move fees toward the front of projects, manage risk at the back end, build a more value-based model, and become catalysts who orchestrate the whole team rather than wait for the call.
Watch for: principles so general that any firm could sign them. Test each one by asking what work or habit it would lead the firm to turn down.
A goal with measurable steps
What it is: One goal every employee can understand, broken into small, digestible steps. Best when the firm needs everyone to see their own part and track their own progress.
How it works: State the firm’s current position, then set objectives and key results that move each department and person toward the larger goal.
Watch for: a goal set too far away. Without near-term steps, teams flounder, and a plan people did not help shape will not hold.
How do you write one people can act on?
A change statement fails when no one can act on it. Check every draft against six points:
Make the firm the actor. Write “we will,” not “the market will force us to.”
Name who decides. Agree up front who makes the call, and how ties are broken.
Attach first steps. Name the first two or three things the firm will try.
Give everyone a place in it. Each team should be able to say what it asks of them.
Separate what stays from what changes. List only changes and everything feels up for grabs; list only what stays and nothing changes.
Reach the business model. Say how it changes the way the firm creates value and gets paid.
Fig. 3 · One statement, run through the six points
The single-sentence example above, drafted by built environment leaders: a strong rallying line, but not yet a plan.
“AI will allow us to speed up, enabling us to slow down, let people flourish and care for each other in order to do better work.”
Passes 1 of 6
Keep and change are separateHas itIt protects people, care, and better work, and names speed as what changes.
The firm is the actorNeeds workAI is the subject of the sentence. Starting with “We will” puts the firm in charge.
Someone decidesNeeds workNothing says who makes the call when priorities conflict.
First steps attachedNeeds workNo near-term actions.
Everyone has a placeNeeds workIt speaks to everyone but asks nothing specific of anyone.
It reaches the business modelNeeds workIt does not say how the time AI frees up will show up in fees, roles, or services.
The fix: keep the line as the headline, and add what sits underneath it: who decides, the first steps, and what the freed-up time will change.
How do you know it is working?
Check the statement at three points: before you share it, while you put it to work, and at a scheduled review.
Fig. 4 · Three checkpoints
Select a checkpoint.
Draft
Before you share it
Does it pass all six points, and can people outside the drafting group say what it asks of them?
Before you share it: test it beyond the drafting group
Check it against the six points above, then ask a few people outside the drafting group what the statement asks of them. If they cannot answer, rewrite it.
While you put it to work: pilot one commitment
Pick one commitment and try it on a real project or pursuit. Before you start, name an owner and decide what you will measure: hours, fees, client response, or staff time freed up. Some leaders also watch revenue per employee as a signal of whether the change is reaching the economics, not just the workflow. Treat the result as information, not a verdict. Most progress comes from a series of small attempts, some of which will not work.
At four to six months: review and revise
Put a review date on the calendar when you publish the statement. At the review, ask what changed, which tests and prototypes the firm actually started, what it learned, and which parts of the statement no longer fit. Then revise it. A statement that has not changed after its first review probably has not been tested.
“A change statement that is never tested is a slogan.”
Design Futures Council
Frequently asked questions
What is a change statement?
A short, written declaration of what a firm will do differently in response to a major shift, such as AI, a new delivery model, or a leadership transition. It turns a diagnosis into a commitment.
Why should a firm write a change statement?
Because a diagnosis on its own tends to stay a conversation. A change statement makes the firm pick a direction, name what it is giving up, and show everyone their part in it.
Who should write a change statement?
Firm leadership should own it, but draft it in small groups, with leadership making the final call.
How do you write a change statement?
Start from your diagnosis, agree on what the firm will keep and what it will let go, and choose a format. Then check the draft: the firm is the actor, someone has the final call, first steps are attached, every team can see its part, what stays is separate from what changes, and it reaches the business model. Add owners and a review date.
What should a firm do after writing a change statement?
Pilot one commitment on a real project or pursuit, review progress at four to six months, and revise the statement based on what the firm learned.
No firm has a map for the changes ahead. The Design Futures Council convenes built environment leaders so they do not have to draw one alone. The next DFC Leadership Summit takes place in La Jolla, California, April 14 to 15, 2027. Follow DFC on LinkedIn for more on leadership and the future of design.
Sources
Design Futures Council. (2026, September 16 to 17). DFC Leadership Summit on the Business of Design [Session recordings]. Cambridge, MA.
