Trendy vs. Traditional

Trendy or traditional? At first blush, these two things may appear to be opposites, but the truth is that it all depends on what traditions you establish in your own company culture and brand appearance. If, for example, you establish a tradition of keeping up with the trends and innovating at every turn, then trend and tradition would go hand-in-hand for you.

But you don’t have to pick one or the other or even necessarily pick both. Each of these adjectives can be applied to your vision by degrees. You also have the freedom to decide what each of these very subjective terms means, and they can likely mean different things in different contexts, in order to serve your purposes. It all depends on the kind of portrayal you want to have both within and outside of your company walls.

Different features may benefit from one or the other of these approaches, or both. It is important to apply them with discretion and to always keep in mind what your broader, long-term goals are and to realize that adjectives will probably be the least of your concern in the long run; you should be concerned with results, and playing toward adjectives can simply be one way of achieving them.

Where trendiness finds traction

Trendiness can serve your business in areas where tradition might act as a roadblock. For example, it is usually a good idea to stay abreast of the current technologies in communication and research, so that you can keep up with your competitors and give yourself the best edge in the marketplace. Doing so will also ensure that your employees have marketable skills that can transfer as they move forward in their professional lives. This, in turn, has the opportunity to boost company morale.

Keeping up with trends can also be a good motivator to stay aware of and informed of local and national real estate news. It can inspire you and your colleagues to hone skills that may otherwise have gone the way of atrophy. You should also remain apprised of where business is evolving in general, because this places you within the larger context of the economy and broadens your scope outside the confines of the real estate market, allowing you to be as competitive as possible.

The truth within tradition

Tradition, however, can serve as the glue that holds a company together and allows it to build from a solid foundation into the emerging trends it seeks to adopt. You will find evidence of tradition in office policies, individual and departmental routines, and social traditions that have been upheld for weeks, months, or years and have a significant impact on office morale.

Tradition is how people know who they are and who they represent when they come to work each day. It is a central part of your company culture, and allows you the solidity and solidarity to move forward in other areas.

Where the two collide

Trends and tradition cannot live without each other. As previously discussed, tradition enables trends to be realized from a solid foundation. Trends, intern, can become traditions. But experimenting with them and remaining aware of them is what allows a company to select the best new ideas and incorporate them into a long-standing vision and culture.