The Art of Collaboration & Getting Things Done — Unpacking Culture

TTT4+ [The Project Architect Edition]: The Art of Collaboration & Getting Things Done — Unpacking Culture

This is a virtual event. Zoom log-in information will be emailed to registrants 24 hours in advance from events@aialosangeles.org. If you do not receive a confirmation 24 hours prior to the event, please email events@aialosangeles.org.

CES Learning Units: 1 LU

Scheduled to raise the mental and functional fitness of your firm, this presentation offers learning objectives and the foundations of an A+D business rooted in best practices.

What makes a successful A+D practice? Find out by taking a break from your daily grind and getting into active thinking mode with business strategy consultant, architect and SO|arch founder, Elisabeth Sporer, AIA, CIC.

Elisabeth works with A+D firms — from emerging studios to established practices and legacy firms — to create business plans rooted in the “Four Basics” of Brand, Finance, Operations and Design. Holistic in approach, viable and succinct, these business plans address a variety of goals — from long-terms ones like overall growth, market sector expansion, succession planning or ownership transition, to short-term ones like strengthening leadership teams, improving financial performance, establishing effective operational processes, or defining the firm’s culture.

Who oversees the teams and how? What does collaboration really mean? This session focuses on how topics like thoughtful work and task planning, accurate job descriptions, leadership styles and team building influence an A+D practice’s wellbeing and its success moving forward, as well as the firm culture and its bottom line.

Join Think-Time Tuesdays host, and SO|arch founder Elisabeth Sporer, AIA CIC for the “Project Architect Edition” a follow-up session to a 2021 presentation on design culture that energizes the business of design. Elisabeth will provide an overview of what a project architect needs to focus on to influence the office culture. This spans from job descriptions to the way staff is hired, trained and mentored to the way job responsibilities and deadlines are communicated and how projects are executed in a hybrid work environment. In interactive mode Elisabeth will create awareness on how these factors relate to the essential duties of a PA and show case studies of tools and best practices.

Presenter:

Elisabeth Sporer, AIA, LEED AP, CIC; A+D Business Strategist and SO|arch Founder
Elisabeth Sporer works with CEOs, founders and leadership teams to build successful A+D firms through an integral approach that combines business strategy consulting with leadership coaching. Based in Northern California, she has presented at major AIA chapters in the region, including AIA Los Angles, AIA SF, AIA East Bay and AIA Central Valley, on topics like A+D business strategy [“Blueprint for Success” in 2020 and “Think-Time Tuesdays: Inside the A+D Studio” in 2021 and 2022], ownership transition [“Metamorphosis: Legacy, Transformation & The Business of Design” in 2022 and “Ownership in the Era of GenX” in 2019], entrepreneurship [“The Free Solo Practice” in 2019], mentorship [“High Performance Mentorship” in 2020], and international practice [“Unlearning the Metric System” in 2019]. She holds a Master of Science in Advanced Architecture Design from Columbia University in The City of New York and a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Architecture, both from TU Berlin.

Learning Objectives:
+ Participants will be able to discern how a well-planned office structure influences design culture.
+ Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of job descriptions.
+ Participants will add to their knowledge of best practices for work and task planning, and communication tools.
+ Participants will be able to adapt the best practices in team management for their own firm’s culture.