Leadership is the key

Effective Leadership

By Lawrence Berry, CPM

The misconception that "people are born leaders," will be debated at depth including the idea leadership is tied to a position or title.  A leader can be a leasing consultant that helps another employee or makes a decision when the manager is not around in order to please or take care of a resident, or the CEO of an organization.  Leadership should be thought as a responsibility...not just a position.  It is not what we do when things are going well that makes us a leader; it is what we do when we are faced with challenges that determine our true leadership ability.  Over the years I have identified what I consider to be 15 traits that are critical to effective leadership.

1.   Willing to take a risk:   No leader has ever been successful without taking risks.  One of the key elements is not staying with the status quo and doing something out of the ordinary.  Whether leading a charge or leading a property management team, achieving objectives includes the element of risk.  We deal with risk management issues, and with that element of our job we try to avoid risks or minimize them.  With leaders, we take them and the key point is taking what I call educated or focused risks.  We may decide to spend funds on a marketing medium or campaign, taking the risk we will benefit from the expense to increase revenue.  As long as we enter the risk with forethought and focus, we minimize the risk we take.  We would have not reached the moon or developed a new piece of vacant land in a new market successfully if we had not accepted the fact that risks are part of the success equation as leaders.

2.       Willing to work smarter, not just harder:  Interviewing candidates for new positions I hear time and time again the statement, “I am a hard worker.”  I will take someone who works smarter; as they will in turn tackle hard challenges with greater success while accepting that some tasks are hard and need to be seen as such.  I also hear them say, “I am a people person, “ which I am glad I am not hiring someone for a veterinary position.  Great leaders learn from the trait of delegating to the right people…the right job.  Great leaders find ways to utilize resources and personnel so tasks are not as challenging.  Great leaders formulate strategies learning along the way and planning during and after the process how they would do it better next time.   Don’t get me wrong, I believe we need hard working people and they are to be admired.  Working smarter also means being able to manage my time and resources intelligently to get the most result from the least amount of hours and people.

3.       Willing to see leadership characteristics in others, even when it could be considered by some to be threatening:  Great leaders check their ego at the door, which can lead to realizing it takes a team of others to meet the goals of a company or owner.  I hire people looking for qualities that have the potential to surpass mine.  It took me a long time to figure out that by finding and keeping people that were better or had the ability to be better then myself, enabled me to be more successful.  I want people that some day can fill my position.  This should not be threatening, however, is often perceived as a threat to managers.  A manager that hires a leasing consultant that is better at sales than they are or an assistant manager that is better ad administrative duties than they are not only compliments them, but will inspire them to do better as well.  The proudest moments in my career have been seeing someone I took a risk on and hired as a leasing consultant, now is acting as a leader as a regional property manager or director of property management for a major company.  I have had several such successes, and with each knew they would some day exceed my abilities…and did.   The adage of, “they are over qualified,” should never apply unless we are uncertain of our ability to lead them. 

4.       Willing to admit they are wrong:  I hope my wife and mother read this.  Ok, I’m a man and the ladies out there may think this is an impossible feat.  Any person in a leadership role, man or woman, that cannot check with reality when they are wrong will quickly lose respect and credibility…period end.  You may try to fool yourself, but since we do not work in a vacuum you will find you will not be able to fool others…at least not all of them.  If you do not think this aspect will not come back to haunt you in your career, you are sadly mistaken.  This is a human characteristic, and is one of the hardest leadership traits to overcome.  Referring back to the previous trait, we need to accept we may not always have the best answer and hiring and keeping others that may have a better solution to a challenge will broaden your efficiency as a true leader beyond your wildest dreams.  Everyone makes mistakes in their career at some point in time.   Admitting your mistakes and learning from them will carry you farther and with more respect than covering them up or denying them.  Just ask a guy named George Washington who did not win a single battle fought from his time of taking over the Continental Army in July 1775 until his first victory in December 1776, and later became one of our greatest generals and our first President of the United States. 

5.       Willing to empower others, and not wield power:  Empowerment is said to be a leaders greatest tool.  In addition to allowing others to be empowered and make decisions comes the risk they will at times not make the right decision, or a decision that was not your first choice.  I once had someone tell me after I explained my position as a Regional Manager, “you must be a powerful person!”  “No” I explained, “I have powerful people working with me that know how to lead.”  Power is not synonymous with force.  Force will never, and I repeat never, allow you to be an effective or efficient leader.  I have heard more times than I can count one of the biggest fears of managers are that of making the wrong decision and failure.  I tell them, I would rather them make the wrong decision than no decision at all.  That is empowerment!  You can learn from decisions both right and wrong.  You cannot learn from inaction, as there is nothing to learn from. 

6.       Willing to accept criticism and contrary ideas:  Whether an annual review or general criticism, we have a hard time being objective because our pride and selfishness interferes with our ability to see reality.  It’s hard for us to be objective and with most people it is almost impossible to accept criticism or contrary ideas without it being perceived as a threat to us personally.  Leaders not only accept criticism and contrary ideas, they seek it and from all levels.  Keeping an open mind to contrary ideas and accepting what may be perceived as a critique in our course of work, will help you sail into a stronger leadership role.

7.       Willing to take corrective action immediately upon its need:  Managers are afraid to address shortcomings or discuss areas of needed improvement mostly because they wish to avoid the potential controversy associated with it, and in many cases not having to deal with possibly hurting someone’s feelings and pride.  We talked earlier about the annual review.  Often we tip toe through employee issues throughout the year, only to deal with a ticked off team member later when we failed to communicate or officially document needed corrective action timely.  A great leader never puts off the inevitable, and understands the importance of addressing sooner rather than later.  The lack of taking timely corrective action not only is not beneficial to the team member, it can have a significant negative impact on the rest of the team.  Leadership should never take joy from having to deal with corrective issues, however, understands the critical need for not putting off what needs to be done.  It also means dealing with the emotional issues of corrective action.  To control emotion when dealing with others, you have to learn to control your own.

8.       Willing to be open about themselves and their goals and objectives:  Most leaders are afraid to let their peers and subordinates get to know them.  In the past, this has been construed as opening the door to identifying potential weaknesses.  They are afraid they will cross the line between friendship and being the boss, and not being able to manage with authority.  There are certain things your team must and should know about you.  These include your personal goals and objectives, the basics of your leadership principles and style (without being intimidating), what motives you, what you like to do for leisure, what excites you (different from what motivates you), how you can help them (without being the know-at-all), and what values you hold.  Being open with your team will instill them to be more open with you. 

9.       Willing to see the abilities of others and able to provide gratitude seriously:  Openness in your ability to see the strengths and abilities of others is crucial to your development as well as theirs.  Focusing on only what I have done and not identifying the strengths of others is shortsighted and self-destructive.  Look for and seek greatness in others. This will not only create a motivational environment, you will also find it self-rewarding.  Give praise where praise is due, not just to give it.  A great leader searches out greatness in others, shares it with others, and instills it through these channels so others desire it.  Leadership encourages people to not do their job because they have to…but because they want to.  Sincerity of praise in their abilities is more important than the praise itself.  If you just say, “good job,” without substance it will more than likely be construed as “lip service.”  Follow the adage of praising in public and reprimanding in private.  A great leader is unselfish and always willing to give credit where credit is due.  Remember, each of us has the POWER to recognize the goodness in others.

10.   Willing to not accept mediocrity, and always striving to excel:  Management skills as we have identified are important, however, not enough to provide excellence.  Excellence demands great leadership.  Our jobs as property managers are not to meet our residents’ expectations…but to exceed them.  Leadership is no different and the expectation of merely doing a good job cannot and will not lead to great success.  Instill this greatness as a leader by both leading by example, and reminding them what greatness leads to.  It is difficult for someone to hit a target they cannot see.  Those that have worked with me have heard this many times and understand the importance. 

11.   Willing to accept new challenges and not judge based on subjective perceptions:  Adapting to change is difficult for many individuals, and even more difficult for teams.  To put this in perspective, it is a human characteristic to resist change.  We do not like change, however, nothing is permanent but to expect there will be change in our lives.  When presented with change we have all heard, “We’ve always done it this way.”  Great leaders struggle with change just as anyone does, but they look at it differently.  If we believe there is always a better way and strive to constantly exceed and excel, we are not afraid of change.  Remember ignorance is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.  I wish the federal government would follow that principle.

12.   Willing to share information and provide guidance to inspire greatness:  This is one I absolutely love.  Anyone that knows me understands I believe in the principle of sharing information and the importance of sharing from an educational standpoint.  Share everything you know, and see what sticks.  With every training session, workshop, NAA and local association event, I would share with my teams my highlights and notes.  With any event, I would find what I called, “Take-A-ways!”  What can I take away from what I have learned that will benefit others?   Don’t look at your next site visit or team meeting as just what they are called.  Find a way to make them learning experiences.  A great leader will take a property inspection and turn it into a treasure hunt to find ways everyone can excel.  I remember one time closing an office and taking the entire team to view ready apartments and walk the site.  What came out of that was a bond and understanding of the services we were providing and the product we were producing.  One of the leasing consultants said, “What if we miss a prospect?”   I replied, “I would be happy to miss one prospect if it means finding ways to keep hundreds of our existing residents happy about where they live and working as a team for the benefit of our community or the chance of losing ten prospects because we did not have the best product to show them.”  Show them the way, share with them the why, provide guidance to inspire greatness, and they will follow.

13.   Willing to not dwell on issues, but look at the big picture in reaching goals:  A great leader will not dwell on small issues and challenges, but will delegate them to someone else.  Leadership is for all intensive purposes a disciplined passion and balancing act.  If we think about it, it is not the small challenges that usually come back to haunt us, but the big ones.  It also means taking on the big issues first as we manage our time.  When I interview someone, I always ask them what they would do if coming into work they found they had six projects for the day; Two were very hard, three had some difficulty and sensitivity, and one was exceptionally hard.  I then proceed to ask how they would manage their day?  About eight times out of ten I hear, “I would get the easy stuff out of the way first.”  This answer is not the leader I am looking for, and for many reasons.  Great leaders tackle the larger issues and here is why.  First, studies show the more difficult challenges we are faced with involve some aspect related to finances.  If it deals with cash flow, deal with it now.  Second, difficult issues are usually more time consuming.  If you put them off, you will find yourself running out of time and more than likely taking the problem home or loosing sleep over it.  Remember the section on working smarter, not harder?  Third, if we have the difficult task hanging over us like a black cloud, our ability to make good decisions on the easier issues is jeopardized because we are always thinking about the hard task we will have to confront later.  Leaders will look at difficult challenges as opportunities, and other issues as manageable interruptions. 

14.   Willing to make decisions, even when it may not be the best-accepted decision:  Leadership is having the courage to make tough decisions knowing they may not be popular (but best for the team).  Many times people are afraid to make decisions because they have the fear they may be proved wrong later.  Leaders or managers who put off making difficult decisions usually do so because they lack courage to make them.   There is no escaping the fact that all leaders will have to make some very difficult decisions in their career or fame, and when and how they make these decisions many times will set the stage for whether or not the team is willing to follow them.  At times people look for excuses to put off decisions including saying the need to “evaluate” to make the best decision, or let’s form a task force or committee to look into this.  Sounds like the government again, and we know how efficient they are in their decisions for us.  Ineffective leaders are usually insecure and try to find avenues to protect themselves by not making decisions.  Team members will follow a decisive leader, they will never follow someone who is afraid or does not have the courage to make a decision…no matter what direction the decision may need to be in.  A poor decision made decisively is better than no decision made at all!

15.   Willing to give their people the time necessary when something is important to them:  Basically, leaders are willing and effective listeners no matter what is being discussed.  Leadership is listening effectively, even when the idea or suggestion is lets say, “out there.”  Not listening can be considered “exclusionary,” and one of the primary basic principles of leadership as we have learned is inclusion.  Relating to all people at all levels is not a gift it is a learned behavior.  Great leaders involve and engage their people, and everyone matters and they know it.  It’s not about creating an environment that makes them happy, but to create an environment that makes them want to excel at what they do. 

Listening, coaching, recognizing peoples efforts, and giving people decision making authority.  We have been conditioned to believe the customer is number one.  I believe there is another alternative and that is to treat our employees as number one…and they will in turn treat our residents and customers as number one.  Leadership is never really completed or done; rather it is an evolutionary process.  Find the leader in you, and you will no doubt find leaders in those that work with you.