Next Gen Real Estate Office…
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Ok, so I am going to ask for your forgiveness up front. What I am about to write may fire some up, confuse others and turn some of you off. The bottom line is this, I am looking to start a conversation.
As most of you know, I work for the MOST AMAZING real estate company in the world (yes, I am biased) Keller Williams Realty. One of the things that I admire most about this company is the core foundation on which this company is build… The Associate.
Being in the real estate industry I am hearing a lot about the “Next Gen Office.” I am challenged with that right from the get go. Who ever called it the “Baby Boomer Office?” The reality is this, the way we work has been evolving from day one and that simply isn’t changing. So we are not looking at the next gen office, we are simply allowing ourselves to flow with the times and not get caught like some car and airline companies have in the past.
What does this new workforce look like? Interestingly enough, they look a lot like the people that are currently in our workforce today AND those that will join our ranks in the future.
When I look around at some of our mainstream real estate conventions they feel an awful lot like when I launched my first dot com in 1999. We raised $4 million on our passion and were set on changing the status quo. We found ways of doing things that hadn’t been done before on the simple fact that nobody ever told us we couldn’t. And if they did, we simply didn’t listen.
We were out to change the way people think and enlist people to challenge our thinking. That is what I LOVE about our current environment in real estate. Like I said, it feels a lot like the good ol’ Dot Com days where creativity and innovation ruled. People were collaborating and sharing ideas which only caused us to create even cooler products and services (some of which were shut down and are only now seeing the light of day).
When I founded my tech company (that’s what I called it for many years after the dot com bust) we rented executive suites complete with a cyber cafe and all. So when I hear chatter about the Starbucks feel, I cringe because that is so 1999.
The new office environment combines the best of both Jack Welch and the dot com era. Think of a virtually flat hierarchy for the organization with collaboration occurring at all levels.A friend of mine and his close buddies have launched a successful Coworking space in Santa Cruz called Next Space (www.nextspace.us). Wikipedia defines coworking as “the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values, and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.” To me this sounds a lot like the environment that already exists within a Keller Williams office. So we have the cultural environment and now we need the physical environment. (p.s. the culture was there at Next Space early and strong to the point that people were working on milk crates and doors on saw horses until the real furniture showed up… they couldn’t wait to be a part of it!).
This is much greater than a simple cyber cafe, being wi-fi and mobile, or going green. This is an ENTIRE OFFICE that is built around the collaboration of people that believe “People have walked before us, so why reinvent the wheel.” Space that not only supports masterminding, but encourages it at every turn. A place that associates truly believe that a rising tide raises all ships.
Keep in mind, the next generation doesn’t buy a Prius because it is better for the environment. They buy it because it is better for the environment AND is also more fuel efficient which saves them money. Try selling a Prius if it only got 1 mile per gallon at $3.45 a gallon! Smarter, not harder…
While all the ideas I have heard are great, most of them I have had for years (even in my own home). So it’s not so much where is the workforce heading as much as where we already are.
After all the greatest point of creating a collaborative environment is not to make it easier for real estate agents to be more mobile, but to do that and create an environment that the truly believe their business is better because of where they work and who they surround themselves with. Where are they getting fed, building relationships and growing their business?
In closing, what I really want to know is this… How do you see a real estate office truly embracing the innovation that is occurring RIGHT NOW? What gets you excited about that? Let’s not simply talk about it, let’s be about it! Let me know (good or bad) in the comments!
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One of my goals is to be totally mobile. I met a very high producing broker at NAR last year whose office consisted of her laptop, cloud architecture, and a small hard drive for on the fly backups when she didn’t have internet access. She was almost totally paperless, encrypted and the most mobile person I’ve ever seen and she ran her business that way. She said even her office was nearly paperless and they were very high producers. So, there is a way to run lean and mean and the common collab-space is something I’d like to learn to operate from because then I know that I could operate from almost anywhere and that’s the end goal. Liberation. I’m glad I found the SacMetro, I like the way the leadership thinks. Forward. I want to have the tools and abilities of a road warrior with option to be in the office knowing that I can hit the road fully equipped any time. If anyone can help me get there, I welcome the input and advice. Thanks.
Patrick
I agree with your analogy for working groups who are truely interested in working together. I think the idea is found in small groups or teams but have yet to see it working as well in whole offices. It is the goal, yet some people are still afraid that some one will “steal” their idea and be more successful than they are not realizing that when one is successful every one is. Human nature or What? Sharing ideas is a Win Win function.
The bottom line is that Keller Williams has the most AMAZING people! No one truly knows how that “feels” until they become a part of the family. Love our “family” – thanks for the forum to express that. I spend little time in our office, but it is like coming home whenever I come in. Our environment gets better all the time.