The Practice of Architecture helps individuals and firms identify opportunities for leadership & growth, building careers & practices that prosper in today’s changing world.
The Practice Community + Lab is a launchpad for anyone in architecture. It fuels thriving careers, drives the entrepreneurial spirit in practice, and sparks innovation through collective learning and cross-industry insights.
Providing a platform for collective learning
Create innovation through collaboration
Embolden the entrepreneurial sprit
Sharing Cross-Industry Insights
Lifting-up Global & Diverse Perspectives
Launching new careers
The world of architecture is undergoing a remarkable transformation.
Our community is all about embracing the change together.
We’re a group of forward-thinking architects who are determined to shape the future of our profession.
Fellow Disruptors
Our community is a thriving network of real people working hard to evolve the profession. We don’t have time to look backward; only move things forward.
Private Network
Peers from the field alongside you. Genuine experts are ready to support you. Our team is with you at every turn. Welcome to our private network.
Shared Experiences
Our members share and celebrate wins together, but also learn from one another’s failures. We learn together.
Honest Feedback
Growth thrives on quality feedback, a principle our members embody and champion. They actively seek and provide constructive feedback, fostering continuous improvement.
Exclusive Discounts
We recognize the importance of every investment in your entrepreneurial journey, offering exclusive discounts to ensure essential resources are even more accessible.
In addition to everything the community members receive, Lab members have access to the following additional support and resources.
Monthly Meet-ups
Each month, we host a series of events designed to spark innovation, foster connections, and propel your entrepreneurial ambitions.
Building in Public
Offering a safe space for both public innovation and experimentation, our platform empowers you to actively contribute to and shape the development of new resources.
Free Resources
Those exclusive discounts the community enjoys? They’re yours at no extra cost.
Premium Savings
Gain access to exclusive rates on courses and comprehensive resources designed to enhance your expertise and drive meaningful progress.
Profit from Partnership
Lab members enjoy rewards for each referral they make to the Community or Lab, with the chance to earn as much as 20% for every new member who joins and remains active in the Practice Community + Lab.
Our pathways are designed to maximize your growth—whether you’re an individual looking to advance your career or a firm leader seeking a new direction. Each quarter includes specific exercises, challenges, and milestones to help you grow and achieve your aspirations.
Our yearly plan helps you grow steadily through quarterly themes, ensuring you thrive at every stage. From resetting and building strong foundations to scaling impact and thriving as a community, each quarter has a specific purpose to guide your development.
Connect with like-minded peers who support each other’s growth. Our monthly check-ins, led by Evelyn Lee, FAIA, provide opportunities to share your progress, discuss challenges, and celebrate achievements—keeping you connected and inspired throughout the year.
Within our community, members engage with weekly prompts for discussion, monthly check-ins for sharing progress, and a supportive network for advice. This space fosters best practices, celebrates wins, and tackles challenges—creating meaningful connections and offering actionable insights to grow together.
The first quarter is all about laying a strong foundation for the year ahead. Whether you’re looking to grow your career or run a firm differently, Q1 provides the tools and space to reflect on the past, redefine your mission, and set actionable goals for 2025. This quarter emphasizes aligning your work with your values, focusing energy on what matters most, and creating systems to track progress. Together, we’ll ensure you begin the year with clarity, purpose, and a renewed sense of direction.
Focus |
Growing Careers |
Running Firms Differently |
|---|---|---|
1. Exploration and Reflection |
Reflect on key career milestones from 2024 and identify growth areas. |
Reflect on your firm’s wins and challenges last year. Identify priorities for the new year. |
2. Vision Crafting |
Define or refine your personal mission and values. |
Revisit or draft your firm’s mission and vision statements. |
3. Goal Alignment |
Set one career goal and break it into actionable steps for Q1. |
Develop a list of priorities for Q1 focused on operations, growth, or innovation. |
4. Energy Boost |
Identify one skill to strengthen this quarter. |
Conduct a team-wide energy audit to identify strengths and areas of burnout. |
5. Strategic Networking |
Network with one new person in your desired career path. |
Host a team reflection session to align on 2025 goals and clarify roles. |
6. Tracking Milestones |
Develop a system to track career progress (e.g., journal, mentoring sessions). |
Create a framework to track team or firm performance quarterly. |
7. Value Connection |
Identify one opportunity to align your work with your values. |
Review current projects or clients to ensure alignment with the firm’s mission and values. |
In Q2, we’re pushing boundaries and exploring creative opportunities. This is your time to think differently—challenge traditional approaches, experiment with new ideas, and explore untapped potential. Whether it’s designing a career experiment or piloting innovative firm workflows, this quarter encourages bold thinking and small, impactful steps toward transformation. By collaborating and sharing insights, we’ll help each other move from ideation to implementation, turning possibilities into meaningful progress.
Focus |
Growing Careers |
Running Firms Differently |
|---|---|---|
1. Identifying Gaps |
Identify an area where you could innovate in your career. |
Pinpoint one inefficiency or bottleneck in your firm to address. |
2. Trend Exploration |
Explore a new trend or skill impacting your desired career path. |
Research an industry trend or tool and discuss its potential impact with your team. |
3. Vision Building |
Create a vision board for your ideal career growth over the next 3-5 years. |
Brainstorm with your team on new services or products to offer. |
4. Small Experiments |
Test a small experiment, like using a new tool or technique in your work. |
Run a pilot test for one new idea, service, or workflow within your firm. |
5. Feedback Loop |
Share your career experiment outcomes and insights with a mentor or peer. |
Gather team feedback on the pilot test and refine the process. |
6. Strategic Planning |
Plan your next steps to integrate learnings from your experiment into your career. |
Develop a roadmap for scaling or refining the pilot innovation in your firm. |
7. Creativity Boost |
Set aside one day to focus solely on brainstorming and creative exploration. |
Host a creative workshop to explore unconventional approaches to challenges. |
Q3 is about building strength and scaling your impact. For career-focused individuals, it’s a time to sharpen your skills, streamline your workflow, and expand your professional network. For firm leaders, the focus shifts to enhancing processes, delegating effectively, and scaling operational impact. This quarter emphasizes feedback, systems thinking, and celebrating small wins as you build a solid foundation for long-term success. Together, we’ll channel our progress into measurable impact and sustained growth.
Focus |
Growing Careers |
Running Firms Differently |
|---|---|---|
1. Process Audit |
Audit your daily workflow to identify time-wasting tasks. |
Audit firm processes to identify inefficiencies and opportunities to streamline. |
2. Skill Development |
Identify one skill that would help you advance your career and create a learning plan. |
Choose a leadership or business skill to strengthen and find resources for development. |
3. Delegation |
Delegate one task or responsibility to free up time for higher-value work. |
Create a delegation plan for key team members to focus on leadership and growth. |
4. Peer Feedback |
Seek feedback on your progress from a trusted mentor or colleague. |
Host a mid-year review session to gather team feedback on operations and strategy. |
5. Partnerships |
Research partnerships or collaborations to expand your professional network. |
Explore potential partnerships to expand the firm’s reach or capabilities. |
6. Systems Thinking |
Organize your career tasks into a system for efficiency (e.g., Kanban, automation). |
Build a firm-wide system to improve communication, efficiency, and project tracking. |
7. Celebrating Wins |
Share a personal success story and lessons learned with the community. |
Share a firm milestone and reflect on the systems or decisions that made it possible. |
As the year comes to a close, Q4 focuses on reflection, celebration, and preparation for what’s ahead. It’s a time to acknowledge achievements, draw lessons from challenges, and express gratitude for the connections and progress made throughout the year. This quarter helps you articulate a vision for 2026, ensuring your work—whether personal or firm-wide—remains purpose-driven and impactful. By sharing our stories and aligning on next steps, we’ll enter the new year inspired, prepared, and ready to thrive together.
Focus |
Growing Careers |
Running Firms Differently |
|---|---|---|
1. Annual Reflection |
Reflect on the biggest wins and challenges this year in your career. |
Reflect on firm-wide successes and lessons from the year. |
2. Lessons Learned |
Write down lessons learned and how they’ll shape your goals for next year. |
Document key insights from the year to guide next year’s planning. |
3. Gratitude Practice |
Express gratitude to mentors, colleagues, or collaborators who impacted your year. |
Host a gratitude meeting to celebrate team contributions and achievements. |
4. Vision for Next Year |
Draft your career vision or theme for next year and share it with the community. |
hare the firm’s vision for next year with the team and align on next steps. |
5. Planning Ahead |
Create a personal roadmap for achieving your next year’s vision. |
Develop a strategic plan for the firm’s next year’s objectives. |
6. Storytelling |
Share a story of how you overcame a challenge this year. |
Highlight a client or project success story to inspire the team and reinforce values. |
7. Celebration |
Celebrate your progress and set one small action step to kick off next year. |
Celebrate team progress and set a kickoff action plan for early next years initiatives. |
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