While we deal in the technical worlds of value, land tenure, planning, the environment, tax, compulsory purchase and much else, our profession is fundamentally about people and so about how people interact. Our clients, often longstanding, are overwhelmingly individuals and families in all their variety. Markets are interactions between people, as prices balance the interplay of their appetites, fears and hopes with the forces of supply and demand, applied to individual assets in the real world, out there to be seen. In negotiating with others, there are relationships with clients, other advisers and the other party who will in their turn have a similar network of relationships. All turns on how these relationships are handled.
At a conference some years ago on the past and future of land agency, a former banker warned of the primrose path taken by much of banking, turning individual clients into commodities to be exploited. The personal touch is key, achieved by direct communication using conversation and meetings to understand and serve the client and context better – indeed to understand the world better and develop as a professional.
All that might seem obvious but discussion at recent AGMs and elsewhere has highlighted the importance of meetings and conversations, of making the most of them for the future of the profession, members and clients.
Much in the modern world has become more office- and computer-bound. Economic and time pressures are compounded by the legacy of the lockdown. Electronic communication brings convenience but loses the immediacy of in person meetings. Its effectiveness relies on clear and effective expression, conveying meaning in the way that best suits the purpose. Is the e-mail crafted to be apt for its purpose? How will the recipient interpret what has been written? Where an exchange of e-mails risks becoming sterile or even counter-productive, the human interaction of a telephone call or meeting can use a more fluid format to find ways forward. Direct communication can sort so much more out, allow other avenues to be tested and build confidence between the parties.
The wide use of artificial intelligence (AI) is now added to the mix, even the first item of a Google search. Despite the speculation, we may not yet know its true effects on work but see the challenge to professional services. The expectation is that we will need to retain, develop and assert the essential qualities of being human with practical, critical judgment and interactions with other people to negotiate effectively, convey meaning, and assure clients and others.
AI systems are neither magic nor people, just statistical tools to be used appropriately and with understanding; they do not displace responsibility. They scour the files of the world to produce an answer, sometimes invented in their desire to please. AI can be used to provide a draft or working materials, the better by asking questions in segments and by asking for the advice it would give the other party. As with drafts produced by human assistants, professional skills then check it and apply necessary critical judgment for the opinion that will be the personal responsibility of the professional on which others will rely.
How do universities and firms then train future professionals, developing the entwined practical skills of human interaction and critical judgment required for a career? Recent thinking promotes teaching “with and without AI”, recognising it will be widespread but ensuring the independent skills that support appraisal and judgement – the ability to think for ourselves and remain actively curious about the world.
Once in work, experience has long been gained with supportive work. Where that work comes to be done swiftly by AI, how might professional experience good for the future be gained with least professional risk? How might we develop the judgment founded in experience that can be communicated with assurance to clients or defended in court? One route is for earlier involvement in more active client-facing engagement and meetings, developing understanding with skills in meetings and communication. If that requires more supervision, how might this be done on a commercial basis?
Personal interactions in the office develop training. Hearing others make difficult calls, the informal discussion of issues, the sense of professional culture all help professional development. Such immersive training has been limited by the rise of home working. Seeking external meetings and so conversations with clients but more generally from professional meetings to grassland and other societies, is a way to build contacts and networks for the future, gaining skills, knowledge and insights.
Work concerning utility and infrastructure projects can be difficult, even impersonal, the acquirer being a corporation with statutory powers often driven by public policy and acting at scale. Whether acting for an acquirer or a landowner, agents’ professionalism on both sides can be reinforced by the deeper contacts that come with meetings, both on the case and in wider professional contexts giving more confidence in relationships. aiding each client’s understanding of practicalities and enabling mutual insight into each other’s problems. Those taking rights or land need to know they are taking them from people, who will continue to live and work in conjunction with the scheme and understand their concerns. Landowners’ agents protecting their clients’ practical interests should be aware of the drivers for the project. Each can think of what would most help the other agent with their client. Fraught e-mails can add to acrimony; a meeting in the right spirit can take matters forward.
As with the agricultural landlord/tenant sector, we have increasing guidance on behaviour, whether the statutory code on the exercise of statutory powers of entry, the electricity code or the court’s decision in Barstow v GreenGen Cymru. All point to mutual respect, insight into the issues of the other party, with the understanding and effectiveness of good communications. The way the conduct of a party can influence the later award of costs has just been seen in Samra v Sandwell where the claimant was awarded indemnity costs.
As a profession founded on local valuers meeting to resolve their issues, it is as important now as then for us to meet – not to live only behind screens.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 8th October 2026. The archive of Jeremy's Blog is available in the Resources section of the website.