What if we treated our colleagues, team members and those we work with the same way we treat our clients—and we did it by serving them relentlessly and always helping them achieve their goals?
For instance, in one of my businesses, I’ve always believed that real estate brokerages should be structured in a way where the principal or managing broker isn’t involved in sales or production as a competing broker with the agents and associate brokers within that firm.
The reason behind this, I believe, is that principal brokers and owners should be treating their agents as the clients. Let the sales agents in the field treat buyers and sellers as the clients of the agents, and by extension, clients of the brokerage.
The best model to run a brokerage doesn’t lead to conflicts of interest.
Competing skims the best leads and clients from the top and creates disenfranchisement and disunion between agents and brokerage.
By treating agents like clients, it also allows the broker to then be better at providing best-in-market and best-in-class agent support, training, technology and service so agents can perform at a high level. The brokerage can then attract more and more of the best talent in the marketplace.
Now on a team structure, this is a little bit different. The team leader is typically the rainmaker or the highest producer, and the team was formed to support the amount of volume and business the team leader generates and brings in.
Eventually this evolves and grows with time into an ideal, mature team where the team leader is not involved in much of the production, sales or the servicing functions of the team.
It becomes the face, brand equity, and generator of leads with marketing and reputation in the field. Those leads are then distributed to agents on the team to service and work.
With this realization, I learned a very important lesson about the best way for me, as a team leader, to focus my energies.
I’m seeing that by simply laying down a very large vision for the future and career of my entire team, it is not necessarily encompassing nor supportive enough of the individual goals and visions of every member on my team. It is a much broader vision.
I need to spend more time treating each and every one of my team members as my clients, where I’m servicing them and their needs and making sure that they have the best tools, the best marketing, technology and administrative support.
When they win and achieve their goals, the team wins and achieves its goals.
Whether you are on a team or a team leader, this can be a principle and a practice to use with anybody you work with.
When you serve and help others achieve their goals by building their skills, their experience and their confidence, it lifts everybody up around you and will help you achieve your goals in the process.
Remember, we can only drive and take things so far.
We’re only as good as those around us that we build up and help grow as well.
Spend time focusing on ways in which you can better serve your colleagues and those that you work with in the same fashion, and ways that we serve the interests and the goals of our clients and customers.
When we do this we will truly create a culture of reciprocity, mutual benefit, loyalty and growth that we would not be able to achieve otherwise.
Let’s GO!
Power Quote
“Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat people – your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way.” —Barbara Bush, Former First Lady, U.S
Key Insight
I’m realizing I need to spend more time treating each and every one of my team members as my clients as well, where I’m servicing them and their needs and making sure that they have the best tools, the best marketing, technology and administrative support, so that they can achieve their goals. When they win and achieve their goals, the company wins and achieves its goals.
Tactical Tip
How are you empowering the people around you? Are you doing everything you can to give your team or colleagues what they need to achieve their goals?
Day Check
How did you empower someone today? What did you do that helped someone else accomplish a goal?