Colliers International is Living its Values

Verish Sita, CIO at Colliers International, describes the global real estate firm as a “100-year-old, $2 billion start-up company.” In addition to experiencing double-digit growth, Sita says technology is accelerating cultural shifts at Colliers. “We’re in the midst of the largest social and cultural revolution of all times.” Sita points to the rise of social apps, mobility, cloud processing and big data as game-changers. High-speed connectivity and accelerated collaboration are expectations from customers and employees. “The new customer is always connected, and they expect highly personalized content and collaboration,” said Sita.

So how is Colliers responding? CHRO Mindy Geiser said, “We’re asking ourselves ‘Who do we want to be? Why do customers choose us?’.” Part of the response is that Colliers wants a culture of collaboration—to enhance their referral program, innovation and client engagement. A book by Adam Grant, Give and Take, helped shape Colliers’ decision to be “a giving organization.”

The result is the creation of a collaborative project dubbed Everyone Gives. In addition to launching the charitable giving program at Colliers, Sita says the project “must be a platform for the world.” To that end, the company has created an independent 501(c)3 organization as a platform for giving. Both companies (employers) and charities can register. “Charitable giving is highly personal,” said Sita. Individuals can support local projects through one-time or recurring giving or through volunteer hours. The easy-to-use, intuitive program can even work on a tablet, providing users with a personal dashboard and allowing them to share with their social network.

Colliers expects the platform to go live later this year, bringing life to the Everyone Gives project, with its tagline—Give. Share. Change the World.