Signals for 2026: Insights from Six Conferences Shaping the Future of the Corporate Workplace
RSP’s workplace strategists and designers attended six major conferences over the last few months. Their shared takeaways reveal clear shifts in leadership, communication, generational expectations, sustainability, and the role of empathy in workplace design.
Every autumn brings a wave of industry events, but this year the conversations felt different. Teams from across RSP spent the past months attending IFMA World Workplace, CoreNet Global, Greenbuild, the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, AIA MN, and Interface’s Sustainability Summit. They traveled from Anaheim to Atlanta to Minneapolis and returned with a collective sense that the workplace is in the middle of another major transition. The themes varied, yet a common thread formed across the conferences. Leaders everywhere are searching for clarity, employees are asking for purpose, design teams are navigating new expectations, and the industry is still relearning what the office should be.
The insights gathered by Heather Dunn, Katie Petersen, Liana Jameson, Abby Paul, Jill Carle, Dianna Erickson, Michael Brown, Kristen Conroy, and Linnea Brudenell reveal a profession redefining itself in real time. What follows is a roundup of the ideas that surfaced across these events and how they relate to the future of corporate workplace environments.
Theme 1: Leadership is changing in ways that feel structural rather than cyclical
A clear message came through at the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit and the AIA MN Conference. The qualities that were once considered soft skills have become central to leadership. Trust, transparency, emotional intelligence, psychological safety, and the ability to communicate clearly are now viewed as essential. Speakers described trust as the real currency during periods of uncertainty. They emphasized that leadership is no longer about holding information. It is about sharing it in ways that build confidence.
The Women’s Leadership Summit explored this shift through the lens of equity and representation. Presenters spoke about sponsorship, authentic communication, resilience in the face of external noise, and the need for firms to create space for caregivers. Leaders who want to strengthen their teams must understand the realities that shape people’s lives. This includes younger staff balancing family and work and senior employees extending their careers. The message was practical. Healthy teams create healthy environments, and healthy environments support better design.
At AIA MN, the conversation centered on hope. Leaders have the ability to reinforce optimism through their language and decision making. They can create stability by naming what they see and by encouraging connection rather than isolation. These themes mirror what corporate clients are navigating as they attempt to chart a path forward in a shifting workplace landscape.
Theme 2: Communication has become the most powerful tool in the workplace toolkit
Across conferences, presentations and discussions, no topic surfaced more often than communication. At IFMA World Workplace, the message was simple and consistent. Projects rarely go wrong halfway through. They start wrong because alignment is missing from day one. Corporate real estate teams and senior leadership teams are often working from different assumptions. Those assumptions turn into rework, misaligned expectations, and weak return to office strategies.
Employees are also feeling the gap. Many have spent years working from home and are now walking into redesigned workplaces without context or explanation. They are being asked to adapt without a clear narrative about why the workplace matters. IFMA attendees stressed the need for human language that goes beyond metrics. People respond to stories that show how the workplace supports their day-to-day lives. They also respond to processes that begin with shared understanding. This means identifying stakeholders early, inviting active participation, and building trust through consistent communication.
Return to office success is rarely about mandates. It is about clarity, purpose, and empathy. When these elements break down, employees fill the silence with assumptions and frustration. These insights align with RSP’s experience across corporate accounts, as well as our history of building and maintaining powerful institutional knowledge through long-standing relationships.
Theme 3: The multigenerational workplace is already redefining how companies train, mentor, and grow
Several speakers at multiple conferences noted the rapid evolution of the workforce. People are retiring later. Younger employees embrace new tools and ways of learning. Many organizations are starting to evaluate candidates based on adaptability and comfort with change. The result is a shift in how teams share knowledge.
At the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, presenters described the rise of short-form training modules and AI-supported intranet systems that deliver quick answers. Firms are experimenting with micro-learning techniques that mirror the pace and style of platforms like TikTok. They are also recognizing that mentorship and sponsorship are different. Mentorship helps individuals grow. Sponsorship advocates for those who are not in the room.
This generational mix is influencing workplace expectations. Employees want environments that help them navigate change and support their professional development. This reinforces the need for spaces that accommodate a variety of work styles, learning styles, and life stages.
Theme 4: AI continues to accelerate, but the human role is becoming even more important
As expected, AI is top-of-mind everywhere in the market, and almost everyone has an opinion. Presenters at CoreNet Global, the AIA MN and Women’s Leadership conferences acknowledged the speed of AI advancement along with its limitations. Tools are improving, but accuracy still depends on human oversight. Firms are investing in internal knowledge management systems to ensure that project information is accessible and consistent. Some are creating closed AI environments that integrate wikis, project data, process documentation, and training videos.
The question is not whether AI will reshape workflows. It already has. The more relevant question is how design teams will maintain standards, protect quality, and mentor younger staff in an environment that moves faster than ever.
For workplace clients, the implication is clear. Technology can support efficiency, but it cannot replace experience, communication, or clarity of purpose. Companies will need to help employees balance speed with understanding.
Theme 5: Sustainability is expanding beyond materials to include wellbeing and community
Insights from Interface’s Sustainability Summit, Greenbuild, CoreNet, and the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit show a widening view of sustainability. Conversations covered embodied carbon and new digital tools that support responsible design. They also explored brain health, holistic wellness, and the personal impact of environments shaped by intention. The importance of community and connection appeared again and again. This reflects the growing expectation that workplaces should support physical and mental wellbeing.
These ideas connect directly to corporate real estate decisions. Clients want workplaces that reinforce culture, reduce stress, and support sustainable operations.
Where the workplace goes from here
Ultimately, 2025 was the year that work changed again. Across all six conferences, the message that rose to the surface again and again is that the workplace is still evolving and the rulebook is being rewritten. Companies are searching for guidance. Employees want clarity and purpose. Leaders are developing new skills that prioritize communication and trust. Designers are learning to combine empathy, technology, and sustainability in new ways.
RSP’s teams saw this firsthand in every room they entered. The conversations reflect the work happening across our own client base and reinforce our belief that workplace design is most successful when it is human centered and deeply connected to organizational goals.
The signals for 2026 are clear. The next era of workplace strategy will reward organizations that communicate with clarity, lead with empathy, embrace multigenerational thinking, adopt technology with intention, and approach sustainability as an integrated practice. RSP will continue to engage in these industry conversations and bring these insights to our clients as the workplace continues to evolve.
