Remember what it was like to learn how to drive a car? The freedom it would bring was going to be incredible! But first, you had to learn how NOT to crash. It’s the same for you and your Real Estate Admin.
When you’re learning how to work well together, there are certain rules of the road that you both need to master.
Here are 5 things you should provide in order to help your Real Estate Admin succeed:
#1: Transparency
When learning to drive, first you need the Owner’s Manual for the vehicle and the Driver’s Manual from the Department of Motor Vehicles. They set your sights on what to expect. In your business, this transparency starts with your vision (where are we going?) and your expectations (what does ‘doing it right’ look like to you?).
Real Estate Admins are able to perform at their best when they know where the target is and what the boundaries are so they can get to work!
Imagine learning to drive a car without lines on the road, traffic signals, signs, or a driver’s test. How would you know that you were achieving the standards that are most important?
Having accountability standards like checklists, daily/weekly meetings, standardized filing systems for transactions, and marketing calendars helps you ensure that the Admins’ activities are making a difference and moving the business forward, one task at a time.
Having a destination and a roadmap can ensure a successful journey. It’s also possible to get to the same destination by going on different routes. Allowing Admins to use their own judgment when working towards a goal maximizes the benefits of having a team!
As an agent or team leader, your greatest resources are in the collective intelligence of all the talented people around you. When you have clearly stated goals, standards, and a vision, you can build the trust to allow your Admins to zig and zag as they see fit. This flexibility enables them to expertly handle the variety of challenges that arise during Real Estate transactions.
Remember when you first got your learner’s permit and someone always had to be in the car with you while you practiced? It was comforting at first, and then it was, well… kind of annoying. You wanted to ‘fly on your own’ and really do it! This is autonomy.
When a Real Estate Admin is new and needs training, it’s appropriate to have them shadow you or others on the team. Then you ‘inspect what you expect’ and check their work frequently. Once someone has shown their competence, it’s time to let them build their confidence and foster trust in the relationship.
As the lead agent or owner, it’s important to ‘audit’ how the business is running periodically, but allowing your Admins to have autonomy in their areas of responsibility frees you up to be in your zone of genius – sales!
Driving on a busy highway goes well when people obey the speed limit, use turn signals, and give courtesy to the other drivers on the road. Similarly, your team members, agents and admins, will perform at their best when there is cooperative teamwork.
Once you’ve set the expectations, clarified the roles, and provided transparency that team members can see the status of transactions and projects, then they can support each other. With accountability, they learn to trust each other. As competence and trust grow, people build confidence, which frees them up to perform with autonomy.
All this provides a roadmap and systems for your team to handle a variety of challenges, use their best judgment, count on each other, and come to you with what you need to make decisions or celebrate with them!
Ultimately, you have a great deal of influence over whether or not your Real Estate Admin thrives, survives, or fails in their role. Providing transparency, accountability, flexibility, autonomy, and teamwork sets you both up for the greatest chance of success!
KATHLEEN METCALF
Coach, Hiring & Retention Consultant, Hire LAB Co-Founder
Continue the conversation with her here.
TALK TO KATHLEEN