CEO and Founder of Collaborative Real Estate Hosts Closing Session at AURP’s 2022 International Conference

Over the course of three days, more than 200 research park and innovation district leaders from around the world joined together in Toronto, Canada to engage in high-impact knowledge sharing, participate in interactive sessions, and discuss trending and emerging ideas at AURP’s 2022 International Conference. And none other than Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Collaborative Real Estate, David Tyndall, was requested to deliver the closing remarks.

Aptly titled “Park Operations in Post-Pandemic Environment – The New Ever Evolving Normal,” Tyndall took the podium at the MaRS Discovery District to discuss the “operator’s perspective” and share a plethora of information surrounding how to move forward in today’s climate. From highlighting predictions to rethinking expectations to overcoming barriers, Tyndall didn’t shy away from the tough-to-tackle topics while exploring the notion around what’s on the minds of many today – “Has technology taken the ‘place’ out of ‘workplace?’”

FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE

When contemplating what’s to come, it’s human nature to generally start with the momentum of the past. But sometimes there are events that turn everything on its head. Suddenly, the future is even more unfathomable and the past seems obsolete as a predictor.

So, how then do we know what tomorrow brings? As Tyndall explains, in uncertain times like these, predicting the future does not so much involve studying what the past was like, but rather asking why the past was like the way that it was. When applying this mindset in order to truly ignite collaboration in our communities, it’s important to understand five key takeaways:

TAKEAWAY #1: AUTHENTICALLY COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN RARE AND CREATING THEM HAS ALWAYS BEEN DIFFICULT

This insight should come as no surprise. Even in the most robust and curated collaboration spaces, meticulously designed to spawn, catalyze, and amplify collaborative activities, actually fostering a collaborative environment has always proven difficult. The mantra “if you build it, they will collaborate” is a fallacy. It takes intentionality, persistence, and focus on collaborative activities more so than merely creating “collaborative” spaces.

Tracing back to the advent of the internet, workers – most particularly technology workers – increasingly have became untethered to a central workplace, making it even more difficult to get them to attend work in-person. And even when an individual is physically “present” in the office, do the same modern communication programs that allow working-from-home also allow “homing-from-work?” Compounding the problem, even when technologists or researchers are both physically and mentally on the premises, too often the majority of these individuals seem to be so busy and focused that they are still de facto siloed and don’t interact with anyone else at all.

That’s because, notwithstanding lip service to the benefits of collaboration, many humans naturally skew toward a more solitary lifestyle. So, it’s no wonder that workers’ default condition is not to wander through collaboration spaces looking for someone to connect with – you have to be intentional about how to get colleagues to collaborate. Being in-person is just one of many factors surrounding the understanding that collaboration can’t thrive in isolation.

TAKEAWAY #2: ALL THE CHANGES CAUSED BY COVID HAVE, AND WILL CONTINUE TO, FADE AWAY   

Within weeks of COVID-19 hitting the masses, changes to our everyday lives were immediately implemented: lockdowns set in place, the requirement of wearing N95 masks, the constant reminders to stay six feet apart. In the commercial real estate realm especially, new procedures and projects were also executed: daily fumigation, modified HVAC systems, plexiglass installation – the list goes on and on. 

Now, more than two years later, today’s buildings look about like they used to – albeit still with less people. But Tyndall emphasizes that COVID-19 didn’t cause these changes in the “work”place – it revealed them. He likens this to how recently in Texas a severe drought exposed 113-million-year-old dinosaur tracks, noting that the drought didn’t cause the footprints, it merely highlighted what was already there. Zoom is another great example he shares. The video conferencing platform wasn’t invented because of the pandemic, it was used on a widespread basis because of it.

Over time, the world’s response to the Coronavirus confirmed the efficacies of technologies and work structures that challenged the previous assumptions regarding the net positive value of physical congregation. Companies were forced into experimentation with “decentralized human resources” – AKA, employees working from home – and it worked, pun intended.

But this revelation suddenly shifted the entire workforce dynamic, resulting in the economic trend known as the Great Resignation – where over 47 million people voluntarily resigned from their jobs. According to Wikipedia, possible reasons for this mass exodus included wage stagnation, job dissatisfaction, safety concerns, and the number one reason: remote work opportunities.

Enter, “the Great Re-negotiation” – Tyndall’s nomenclature for the current tug-of-war toward a new equilibrium between the mutual costs of work attendance (workplaces cost money to maintain) versus the costs of working completely remotely. With this, both employers and employees need to find an agreed-upon balance moving forward. To him, the larger story isn’t COVID-19, but the workplace changes that it highlighted.

TAKEAWAY #3: THE CHANGES REVEALED BY COVID ARE THE LATEST EVOLUTION OF THE CONTINUOUSLY EVOLVING WORK ENVIRONMENT

Speaking of changes, evolution is also a key player in this revelation. As the history of work evolved, so did we. The business models of many of the tech companies that occupy the very research parks that are operated by the majority of AURP attendees are founded on the use of technology to achieve automation, which facilitates previously unattainable business scales and productivity factors. Effectively, by structuring themselves and their workforces as complex machines, companies have surpassed many prior limitations on output.

So, what does that mean for buildings that make up research parks and innovation districts? Tyndall breaks it down using the following equation:

f(Knowledge) = FUTURE

Further explaining that “if one first notes that which one of a myriad of possible futures will actually come about is largely determined by our collective knowledge, and next that knowledge is gained and enhanced by the work carried out in research parks, then it stands that the product produced in research workplaces is ultimately the future.”

Furthermore, if research can be thought of as work and if modern enterprises are evolving more and more into “machines” themselves, it follows that parks can be thought of as the machines that produce knowledge.

And as with any “machine,” research facilities have many “parts,” including scientific researchers, entrepreneurs, administrators, students, and even coffee shop operators. So, it goes without saying that all these different components have to work together in order to be successful under one effective operating system. And we call that system “collaboration.”

In fact, collaboration by definition has shown up in different ways throughout the history of the workplace: assembly lines, joint publication, joint research, brainstorming, and mentorships, to name a few.

So, in an effort to further drive collaboration within a modern professional office environment, companies “adapted” by building lobbies and collaboration rooms, operating coffee lounges and maker spaces, and buying bean bag chairs and ping pong tables. Again, Tyndall reaffirms that these amenities, while nice to have, don’t actually cause collaboration to happen – and that’s the biggest challenge facing employers and building owners today.

TAKEAWAY #4: PROMOTING EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION IN A POST-PANDEMIC FUTURE WILL NOT REQUIRE US TO INVENT ANY NEW THINGS TO DO

What’s the remedy, then? According to Tyndall, it’s plain and simple – as there are no COVID-caused problems, no COVID-centric solutions are required.  All the things we’ve always done to facilitate collaboration will still work, but…

TAKEAWAY #5: WE DO NEED TO DO ALL THE OLD THINGS MUCH BETTER!

While today’s problems aren’t novel, they are more profound, meaning solutions must be more robust – AKA, better. The path to better? Well, it all starts with getting intentional. Tyndall advises in order to do better, companies must have a plan, build a culture, be relentless, and yes – spend some money.

Solutions also require getting tactical and using a “yes, and” approach. After all, collaboration is founded on communication and there are multiple, competing channels to accommodate.

Lastly, Tyndall touches on accountability. The key, he shares, is to measure against the metrics of a well-defined plan, be specific, and ultimately, be honest. “You don’t get better by patting yourself on the back and denying that better exists.”