Houston BOMA Highlights Q2 2020

Feature
We Have Now Entered the
Twilight Zone
The immense changes we’ve been forced to adapt to at the speed of light have us looking forward to a
return to normalcy. With that return will come even more change that we’d do well to think about now. Here
are a few food-for-thought items to consider:
Feature
By Tammy K. Betancourt, CAE
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President
• Employee return to the workplace, expectations, and communications
• Tenant return to the workplace, expectations, and communications
“It’s all very strange, isn’t it?” In reaching out to friends and family over the past few weeks: an understatement
to help us handle a pretty scary situation. The situation at hand is reminiscent of an episode of The
Twilight Zone. Those of you old enough will remember the classic opening line of every show (which was in
black and white), “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as
space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and
superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension
of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.” In other words, a new and unimaginable world.
I think it’s safe to say we have arrived.
Barely weeks ago, many of us working
in the Houston commercial real estate
industry were still kidding ourselves that
Now, our reality is determining the
overall impact of the crisis and how to
return to “normal.”
the situation was mostly ‘business as
usual.’ How wrong that turned out to be.
The spread and evolving impact of the
coronavirus was happening faster than we
could mentally process. No sooner had we
adopted one position and taken steps to
change; we had to shift again and accept
another new reality.
The timeline escalated like nothing any of us have ever seen, in any lifetime. It’s not ‘just a pandemic,’ and
it’s not ‘just an economic crisis’. In just one quarter, coronavirus has challenged the very foundation of modern
life — the way we all work and play — and it’s proving a challenge to accept and deal with in human terms.
In January, we were distant observers of the virus, as news of its emergence in China reached us. At the
start of March — just eight weeks ago, but my goodness, it seems like another lifetime already — most
calendars were still full of in-person meetings, lunches and events.
Now, our reality is determining the overall impact of the crisis and how to return to “normal.” With
best-guessing all we have right now, our focus has been on the day-to-day: the practical and technological
solutions to working remotely and continuing to keep our employees and buildings safe, operational
and functioning.
With all of life’s present distractions, focusing on the job is hard. We’re concerned about our members,
customers, and clients, but we’re also concerned about the elderly parents we can’t look after. We’re working
alone in unfamiliar environments. And for the parents of young children, being a working parent was hard
enough with childcare and an office to escape to. They’re now wondering how they can simultaneously be
good parents of children who need home-schooling, let alone morph overnight into untrained teachers.
• Tenant financial health and remedies
• New cleaning standards (deep cleaning, public space cleaning)
• New government mandates and requirements
• Financial implications of the new environment
As we fight our way out of the Twilight Zone, we as Houstonians, will adapt to the new normal and come
up with great new ideas, new ways of working, and new ways of supporting our customers and we’ll come
back stronger than ever.
Hang in there and see you on the other side. n
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page 8 Houston Building Owners & Managers Association Q2 • 2020 Houston Building Owners & Managers Association Q2 • 2020
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