Change Agent, Norm Taylor, Newmark Canada

Connect CRE Canada has launched a new leadership series in which we interview Canadian commercial real estate industry leaders about emerging trends, keys to their companies’ success and other factors that enable them to be difference-makers.

This interview is with Norm Taylor, Newmark’s president for Canada. Taylor is responsible for Newmark’s day-to-day brokerage operation in Canada, including strategic direction, business development, delivery of client service, recruitment, mentorship and retention of professionals. A top-performing industry veteran, Taylor has three decades of experience in sales, leasing, finance and executive leadership.

How do you navigate the transition from established practices to pioneering new frontiers within your organization? 

I jumped at the opportunity to lead Newmark Canada to affect change and oversee a transition from old, tired and inefficient routines and a dependence on established practice by embracing a mantra of doing things differently. Much has changed in the commercial real estate industry, including leasing and sale practices, estimating construction costs and development timelines as well as the local, national and global players and the way the industry views and develops land with access to more information and technology than ever before. But despite all of this progress, so little has changed on the brokerage side of the business.

As an industry, we have been resistant to change and slow to accept new technologies. The brokerage industry thrives on trust and, maybe, that is what traditionally caused us to shy away from adopting new practices or being early adopters of technology, because we don’t trust the unfamiliar. A silver lining to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic was that it provided a reset for our industry. COVID had a terrible impact, but I believe it had a positive effect in the long run on our industry, and at Newmark we plan to take advantage of those lessons learned and challenges accepted, not just by adopting new technologies, but by evolving our work culture and habits. Post pandemic, clients expect a more bespoke approach to service by an innovative provider, and employees deserve better tools and working environments. By planning to be open to those changes and including it as part of our strategic thinking, I know it will assist us as we expand our business and impact how we interact with both clients and staff.

What are the essential elements for achieving significant progress within your organization and the industry as a whole? 

Progress and growth at Newmark Canada will come from likeminded high-calibre employees working together to develop and innovate a better service offering that meets client demands and exceeds expectations. Old habits can be hard to break and cultural change within an organization extremely difficult, but this is the opportunity that sits before Newmark in Canada as a relatively new entrant in the Canadian market. We don’t have to change. We simply have to develop the culture we want for the future. The market is far more complex today than it has been during the past 25 years. It is more disciplined and detail-oriented with higher levels of sophistication and far more data readily available for interpretation and with way more global players that value and approach real estate assets differently. As for what essential elements are needed to help achieve progress in the industry, I would suggest open mindedness and an acceptance of the unfamiliar. We remain an industry resistant to change that has historically been reluctant to challenge the status quo. Those limitations leave us as an industry ripe for disruption, technologically as well as culturally.   

In addition, as an industry we must work more collaboratively, not just in brokerage, but in all aspects of commercial real estate to help come to terms with real world problems like homelessness and housing affordability and support the use of sustainable building materials and prudent land-use policies. As an industry, we have incredibly smart and capable people who can work together to address these concerns.

As we guide the industry’s rising stars, what guidance can you offer them to become catalysts for positive change? 

My advice to young people is to submerge yourself in the industry, whether it is working and collaborating in the workplace, attending industry events or staying well-informed about your business. Learn and absorb everything you can from those who started before you while asking yourself if there is a better way to do things and questioning how processes be improved. Challenge the status quo and be curious, but be respectful and know that there is no elevator to success in this business.

By getting involved in your industry and your community, you will expand your network of relationships as well as expose yourself to other industries and opportunities that will assist in developing your personal reputation and brand.  Once you start your career, be aware that colleagues, clients, prospects and service providers are watching and assessing how you conduct yourself in business and decide whether you are a person they want to work with. Stay positive and optimistic and avoid getting caught up in the negative.  People want to be inspired and be around people that positively charge them.

Business moves at the speed of trust, and trust is best established face-to-face.

Click here to see the full Change Agents: Leaders Driving Progress series.