Collaboration

Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively in teams and exercise leadership skills on projects.

Collaboration is the driving force of the real estate industry. With so many specialized parties working in different parts of the industry, it is crucial that these parties join forces. As good as a developer is, even if they have years of experiences and a vision as clear as day, they simply cannot development a property by themselves. A developer needs help from engineers, architects, contractors, financial analysts, lawyers, and many other industry professionals. One of our many roles as a developer is to facilitate that collaboration. We have to be the catalyst to get a development off the ground, and without extensive collaboration, it never will.

Every course in this program has highlighted the importance of collaboration. Every course had a group project or assignment at some point in the semester. It can be nice working alone, but it’s better for us to get used to working in groups now, because we will be working in groups for much of our careers. In LDEV 688, our capstone course, all four members of my project team had a different idea of what to do with the property we had been given. We needed to make sure we were all on the same page throughout the entire process. Other groups in our class separated the workload by section, as in one member did the site analysis, one did the market analysis, and so on. Our group decided to complete every section together, partly as a way to ensure we were all on the same page, but also to give each of us exposure to every section of our project. Because of this collaborative effort, we were able to create a land plan that reflected each of our ideas for the property, and one that flowed cohesively. Group projects like these have really taught me that you won’t get very far in this industry without a willingness to collaborate.