Teams are growing, changing and evolving rapidly, as new agent ranks swell, prices rise and uncertainty is ever-present. May is Teams Month here at Inman. Come along with us as we delve into teams today. Follow along with our weekly email newsletter Teams Beat to stay in the loop all year, sent every Thursday, sign up now.
If you’re a team leader worried about ‘The Great Resignation,” you have a lot riding on keeping your team engaged, happy and productive through one of the most challenging market disruptions the industry has seen.
Your agents, your team and your brokerage’s future success largely depends on the level of support your staff members provide to your agents.
While you might think, “my staff has stuck around; they will stay,” you’re missing a huge factor that will likely come into play in the next few months. As the market shifts and job demand remains high, your employees might find themselves lacking motivation, feeling unfulfilled and burnt out.
Here are some ways to start shifting your focus to keeping your staff loyal to your brokerage before they start looking elsewhere.
Take a hard look at your leadership style
When things become chaotic or overwhelming, or you start to feel like you’re losing control and you keep losing staff, the first thing you might be thinking is that it is “normal” to lose team members.
There are certainly reasons why employees leave even though they are happy at their jobs. More often than not, though, they’re leaving because of problems that could have been solved by taking a close look at what’s happening within your brokerage.
It might be time to start focusing on your own organizational strengths and gaps, and fill the needed gaps to provide an environment that stands apart from others. If you’ve lost track of these strategies, then now is the time to reimplement them or bring them to the forefront.
It isn’t always financial
Boosting your employees with a raise will not cure a cultural deficit in your brokerage. You may pay them more, but if you fail to acknowledge their needs, give mutual respect and encourage personal and professional growth, you will miss out on far-reaching effects that most leaders underestimate. Survey your team to find out what is important to them and their career.
When you incorporate the human factor into your brokerage culture, you begin to win by fostering a positive work environment for your team. From there, you’ll see a significant positive change in your bottom-line results.
Invest
You might be thinking, “I don’t have time” to focus on employee initiatives and programs to help boost morale and overall support. Still, you’ll be spending more time and money hiring and onboarding if your valuable employees decide to go.
Invest the time now into understanding their motivation and goals and how you can build upon that going forward. It might take some time and resources to create a better work environment that keeps them loyal and feeling valued, but you will be thanking yourself later.
Marion Weiler is a senior business management executive, leadership and business consultant and president at Weiler International LLC, advising brokerage executive teams and real estate professionals during times of business growth as well as crisis. Connect with Marion on Linkedin.
