What do wedding dresses have to do with EY wavespace?

The other day, I watched the last episode of the captivating series “Say Yes to the Dress with Tan France”.

If you’re not familiar with the show, let me explain:

The host’s clients are there to make a decision: Which dress they choose for their wedding day.

They want something that represents them and their personal brand. They need something that makes a statement. They want to feel confident in their choice.?

But they need help.

Because making an important decision is influenced by a number of things:

• There are key stakeholders that have their own opinion about what is right.
• They have cultural and familial boundaries that they need to consider.
• They have had a bad experience with a previous provider.
• They lack confidence in themselves and their decision making.

This isn’t just a dress. It’s a reflection of who they are and how they are celebrating their day. It’s a tool which boosts their confidence. It’s a statement of what they believe in.

This is a really important decision.

With each episode I watched I realised that my role as an experience lead at EY wavespace isn’t too dissimilar from the host in this show.

Clients in our EY wavespace session make complex decisions faster by co-designing an environment which brings the right people together to discuss the right things.

The decision each bride makes is influenced by whether they have the right stakeholders (family and friends) agreeing on what’s important. ???

When we first connect with our clients, they often bring with them a raft of issues which they need to unpack before we collectively agree on the root cause that needs to be addressed in the session. ?

Just like in our EY wavespace design process, much of the show is listening to the wants and needs of their client, and then playing it back, weaving in their perspective and our expertise.

In our design phase we start with the same approach. We listen to our client and ask open questions which lead to a much deeper understanding of why they need our support.

There’s a level of playfulness and experimentation that happens in the show too. Host Tan and his team create such a comfortable environment for the bride, that they aren’t scared to push boundaries and try something new and are open about how their stakeholders might react.

They are given space to talk about their purpose and anxieties: Why they were marrying their partner, why they haven’t yet said yes to a dress, why they feel overwhelmed.

It's so important to make room for this exploration and vulnerability, and the environment we create for our client has a similar approach. When attendees are comfortable enough to expose their vulnerabilities during a session, the outputs are far greater and more productive overall.

At the end of the show, an important question is asked directly to the bride: “Are you saying yes to this dress?” ,. It brings the client back to their purpose of the session and whether collectively, they have been supported enough to finally make their decision.

Through our Scan, Focus Act methodology, each session is focused on both tangible and intangible outputs that accelerate decision making, relationship building and momentum. Every element of our experience is centred around our client’s need to solve their problem. This is my favourite part of a session, where our clients commit to decisions and changes they will be making following on from their session.

Because just like the brides in the show, for our clients, making their design decision is just the start of their journey.