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Adam Hergenrother is the founder and CEO of Livian. He believes that business is nothing but a conduit for personal growth and embraces the company’s vision to Love How You Live. When he’s not leading and growing his organizations, you can find Adam either in the mountains or out in nature with his wife and three children.
The current economic climate is less than favorable for many of us — mortgage rates increasing, layoffs, a slowdown in the real estate market, recruiting challenges, etc. I’ve been getting an increasing number of calls and texts from business owners, leaders, real estate agents, and professionals who very clearly tell me there is a heightened sense of fear, worry and stress in their lives.
Lately, one of the big fears real estate team leaders have is around investing time and money into training new agents who may eventually leave. The fear is that they are training their future competition, all while wasting time and resources.
But let’s look at it a different way. What’s wrong with training your competition?
Don’t lead with fear
I will assume that you have spent the necessary amount of time recruiting and hiring to ensure you are bringing on agents who are a great cultural fit and appropriately motivated to get results that align with your team’s goals.
If you have spent time partnering with new agents who will be contributing to your team and bottom line, then it’s your responsibility, in turn, to invest time into training and coaching them so they are the most highly skilled and productive real estate professionals.
I mean, there is no way to know what the future holds. If you enter into a partnership with an agent, why would you start it off with fear? That may lead to withholding your time or expertise. You may not help them grow as much as you could. And you may be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you are afraid that they may leave, you will likely not invest as much as you could into them, and then, guess what? They may leave to get the support they need! And can you really blame them?
What if you simply served the moment and the agent in front of you? You spent time bringing them onto your team. You are best served (and the agent is best served) to assume that they are going to be on your team in perpetuity.
How might your approach to their training change when you weren’t operating from fear? How much better would it feel for you (and them) if you knew you were giving them all the tools and resources they needed to be successful now (on your team) and in the future (whether they were on your team or not)?
Good for you, the agent and the industry
Sure, an agent may still leave, but when they do, you will know you fulfilled your duty as a leader. And you have helped grow a professional real estate agent.
Yes, they may be your competition, but they may also be a great co-broke to work with; they may send referrals your way, and, at the very least, they will continue to help elevate the reputation of real estate agents because you have trained them well. And that is good for business for everyone.
So, let’s talk about this fear for a minute. It’s completely understandable that you would feel fear around the possibility of training your competition. And yet, you don’t have to stay there.
What you are experiencing is psychological fear — fear based on needs, preferences, and your desire for the world to be a certain way (training an agent who will never leave your team). When you are stuck in fear, you convince yourself that the fear is real (but it’s really just a construct of your mind).
You need to stop and realize that the fear is just a problem. The problem is that you are still looking for some external event or thing to make you OK. The minute you recognize that these psychological needs do not need to be met to be at peace, have joy or creativity, you are free to live fully in this world and watch the world do its dance.
Until then, you will always suffer from not getting what you want or getting what you don’t want.
In the end, the only way out of fear is to be aware of this. Watch your psychological fear unfold. Accept it. Surrender. Let go.
You can watch a part of yourself get nervous or scared. But you are the one watching. Soon enough, the fear moves through you, and you regain your seat of consciousness. You have accepted that life will do a dance, and you are OK with everything. It’s truly the way out. And it’s the best way to run a business and serve the agents who you bring onto your team.
Adam Hergenrother is the founder and CEO of Livian, the author of The Founder & The Force Multiplier, and the host of the podcast, Business Meets Spirituality. Learn more about Adam’s companies and culture here.