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The transition into leadership can be a tricky one for real estate professionals, but there are ways to better navigate the new responsibilities it entails.
In a conversation with REB, business coach and performance expert Michael Sheargold acknowledged that for individuals making the transition into a leadership role, it’s no longer results “by you”.
Instead, it’s “results with others, and through others”.
He argues that one of things leaders need to get over is the control piece of “I need to control everything”, that sees some leaders as struggling with an over-inflated view of being “the only one” able to do their role.
“What happens when you’re not around?” he queried.
“What’s the settlement process look like? What’s the greeting process? What’s that open home like? What’s the auction like?”
If that doesn’t cut through to a real estate business leader, he goes on: “How do you do it in Melbourne? How do they do it in Sydney? How do they do it in Brisbane? How are they doing it in New York? How are they [operating a real estate agency] in London without you being there?”
When leaders acknowledge they aren’t able to be the sole ingredient of business success, it opens up the door for people empowerment – and better employee engagement.
It’s his belief that a leader’s role is to see people as “the biggest opportunity” in business.
Mr Sheargold stressed that it is a leader’s responsibility “to build the talent in this team” – so when the leader isn’t around, they’ll still perform “remarkably well”.
To do that, leaders must be visionary with their culture, which you can read more about here.
But with employees easily able to lose sight of a vision, especially when bogged down with day-to-day tasks, the trainer said it’s a leader’s role to “keep that present and keep that in focus”.
“As a leader, you define what performance looks like in the business,” he advised.
“Are you defining that [as] one sale a month? Ten additional property managements coming in? Or are you saying that you’re wanting to have a market share of this?
“You define what that looks like. And if you haven’t defined it, people are sort of rudderless going through it.”
And when that is the case, he warned that employees will be “just going through the motions”, rather than considering themselves as having “serious purpose.”
Taking that goal-setting one step further, Mr Sheargold encouraged asking the question of your team’s goals: “Am I on track? Am I off track?”
“If you’re on track towards your goals, the coaching is pretty simple, ‘keep going.’
“If you’re off track towards your goals, what are you doing to get back on track?”
According to the coach, it’s often not about being on track 100 per cent of the time.
Instead: “It’s about knowing you’re off track and then getting back on track to the main aim of the game.”
Mr Sheargold’s comments come ahead of The Business of Real Estate ’23 Conference to be held on the Gold Coast on 12 and 13 September 2023.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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