Great leadership is admired by many, especially those that are being led! As a leader you are in some aspects their quarterback. From a team standpoint most football teams would admit the quarterback is the person they look to in taking them to a championship and a winning environment. While it takes a combination of talents at all the positions to win a Superbowl, you will never win if you don't score. Another important part is having the right players in the right positions, and this is no different for a property management leader. Your assistant manager is like the front linemen. Protecting the quarterback, being observant, and holding the line. Your leasing specialists are the wide receivers and runners. They carry the ball in for the score or the lease. Your service technicians are the defense, making sure things are going well and the position on the field is well maintained. Your marketing specialists is the coach in the booth looking down on the team, helping them call the next play and seeing what the other team is doing. Then you have the regional manager or coach, the person who helps develop each persons skills and encourages the team in reaching the next level. We also need to remember success is not usually found in just one play, one quarter, or one inning. Success does not come in an event, but in the process over time whether it be four quarters or four weeks.
As a leader in property management you call the plays, read the opposition, change the play if necessary, set the cadence, make sure the hand-off''s are clean, and the passes are accurate. They are also there to encourage, excite, empower, and educate the other team members from a motivational standpoint. A great quarterback knows how to do these things, just as you as a leader must be proficient at these skills as well. Do you occasionally "huddle" with your team to help them see the plays or goals? Let's look at the how you as your teams quarterback can use the four "E's" to run a successful team.
ENCOURAGE - The first of the four E's! Leaders encourage their teams to exceed and excel, and sometimes to see qualities in them they don't necessarily see. We encourage our team to make the first downs, to reach for the end zone (understanding when they do they need to try to do it again and maybe even better the next time), to keep their chin up when occupancy is down, encourage never being complacent with where they are, and there is always room for improvement. Encouragement can mean helping them see how outreach marketing can be effective, and how it is not just an event but a process.
EXCITE - First let me say this is different than encouragement. While we encourage our teams as explained above, getting them excited about what they do and how they do it leads to a winning team. No successful team in any sport ever went to a championship without having excitement as part of overall feeling within the organization. This was from the water boy all the way up to the owner of the team. What do you to excite your team? Part of this is knowing your team and the individuals involved. What do they like to do for recreation? What are their goals? What motivates them? What can you do to help them be their very best? What environment do your create that makes the task and the team exciting?
EMPOWER - I absolutely love this one. No leader or team was ever successful if they did not empower others. If the quarterback does not have the power to call an audible from the line after seeing the defense or the market in our case, all you have are robots. As a regional manager I always told them I would rather them make a decision and it be the wrong one than no decision at all. As I have written in both of my books, you can learn from your mistakes and you cannot learn from inaction as there is nothing to learn from. This being said the coach and ownership must also understand there are times a leader must make a call on their own (not withstanding violating Fair Housing or other laws). If it is only our way or the highway as the old saying goes, the road they take may be with another organization, and it certainly will not create a motivational environment.
EDUCATE - Everyone that has ever worked with me knows I am a believer that a leader is also a teacher. Read my previous blogs or if you desire read my books and you will see my passion for education. As an example as a teams leader we can drill Fair Housing into our players, however, if we do not make it memorable or understandable as to how important it is they will never remember. If they do not remember, they will not perform. As your team members to give you the seven protected classes as an exercise. I bet 8 out of 10 cannot list all of them. Education also means confirmation at times. A manager that used to call me with questions I knew she had the answer to needed all three of the above "E's" to be educated. I would ask, "What are your options? What do you believe are the right options? And what do you believe is the best option." After a period of time asking this and helping provide confirmation she knew the answer, she quit calling and made the decisions. She also understood how I empowered her by complimenting her on decisions she made or in helping her understand ones that could have been made differently.
So the next time you have your team together or are coaching a team member, remember what leadership truly means and the difference between management and leadership. Management is helping them climb the wall of success! Leadership is making sure they are on the right wall and the ladder is supported! Now go lead.
ENCOURAGE - The first of the four E's! Leaders encourage their teams to exceed and excel, and sometimes to see qualities in them they don't necessarily see. We encourage our team to make the first downs, to reach for the end zone (understanding when they do they need to try to do it again and maybe even better the next time), to keep their chin up when occupancy is down, encourage never being complacent with where they are, and there is always room for improvement. Encouragement can mean helping them see how outreach marketing can be effective, and how it is not just an event but a process.
EXCITE - First let me say this is different than encouragement. While we encourage our teams as explained above, getting them excited about what they do and how they do it leads to a winning team. No successful team in any sport ever went to a championship without having excitement as part of overall feeling within the organization. This was from the water boy all the way up to the owner of the team. What do you to excite your team? Part of this is knowing your team and the individuals involved. What do they like to do for recreation? What are their goals? What motivates them? What can you do to help them be their very best? What environment do your create that makes the task and the team exciting?
EMPOWER - I absolutely love this one. No leader or team was ever successful if they did not empower others. If the quarterback does not have the power to call an audible from the line after seeing the defense or the market in our case, all you have are robots. As a regional manager I always told them I would rather them make a decision and it be the wrong one than no decision at all. As I have written in both of my books, you can learn from your mistakes and you cannot learn from inaction as there is nothing to learn from. This being said the coach and ownership must also understand there are times a leader must make a call on their own (not withstanding violating Fair Housing or other laws). If it is only our way or the highway as the old saying goes, the road they take may be with another organization, and it certainly will not create a motivational environment.
EDUCATE - Everyone that has ever worked with me knows I am a believer that a leader is also a teacher. Read my previous blogs or if you desire read my books and you will see my passion for education. As an example as a teams leader we can drill Fair Housing into our players, however, if we do not make it memorable or understandable as to how important it is they will never remember. If they do not remember, they will not perform. As your team members to give you the seven protected classes as an exercise. I bet 8 out of 10 cannot list all of them. Education also means confirmation at times. A manager that used to call me with questions I knew she had the answer to needed all three of the above "E's" to be educated. I would ask, "What are your options? What do you believe are the right options? And what do you believe is the best option." After a period of time asking this and helping provide confirmation she knew the answer, she quit calling and made the decisions. She also understood how I empowered her by complimenting her on decisions she made or in helping her understand ones that could have been made differently.
So the next time you have your team together or are coaching a team member, remember what leadership truly means and the difference between management and leadership. Management is helping them climb the wall of success! Leadership is making sure they are on the right wall and the ladder is supported! Now go lead.
