The Hardest Part About Growing a Real Estate Team

Growth / Carla Thompson
The Hardest Part About Growing a Real Estate Team

The Hardest Part About Growing a Real Estate Team

by Carla Thompson, founder of Agent+ Coaching

 

Here’s the classic dilemma I hear…

I have more leads than I can handle so I know I should get some agents in place to take the leads, BUT I don’t want to manage people!

 

Should you grow a real estate team?

 

Maybe.

When most agents declare that they do not like to manage people, what they are really saying is that they do not know how to clearly guide people to do what needs to get done.  And yet…these same agents are guiding their real estate clients every day.

 

Irony?  I think so.

 

To begin, here are some definitions that can help clarify the difference between managing and leading:

Manage: we manage systems, processes, and the completion of tasks in processes.

Lead: we lead people by setting the direction, stating outcomes, defining the steps forward and articulating the vision.

 

So we manage processes and lead people.  When we feel compelled to “manage” people, we get in trouble because no adult wants to tell another adult what to do.  Or worse yet, no adult wants to tell another adult what they are not getting done!  All of us abhor correcting adults or staying on top of what other adults should be doing.

 

And yet…agents are often “managing” clients every day.  It’s the job of a great agent to guide clients through the complexities of real estate buying and/or selling. So what exactly is the disconnect?

 

In coaching, we guide agents to understand the difference between managing and leading.  When we are running a business, we first have to lead, which means we have to state the outcomes needed to fulfill our vision.  Next, we need to think through our systems/processes to ensure we are setting people up to succeed.  If our systems/processes are set up well, we simply do not need to micro-manage people.

 

Conceptually, this is easy enough to understand.  In practice, it requires thinking every week about how to create the infrastructure of your business.  This is the kind of work that actually catapults your business forward.

 

So should you build a real estate team?

 

If you are willing to work on learning to create systems that set people up for success, and you are willing to learn how to lead people well, then the answer is YES!  And we would love to guide you through this learning process.

 

Visit the Agent+ Coaching Website to learn more!

 

One thought on “The Hardest Part About Growing a Real Estate Team”

  1. InstaFollowFast.com - July 26, 2019 at 5:54 pm

    No matter how easy it is to want to see the best in people, hiring solely on potential is going to set you up for disaster. I’ve made many hiring mistakes. For example, I brought on a real estate agent who extremely talented, especially when it came to their pulse on marketing. My fault as a manager was wanting to blame myself for any discord on my team — I wondered what else I could do to motivate this person, rather than accept that it wasn’t a good professional fit, and I failed to heed the warning signs. Had I conducted a personality profile test or listened to my initial instincts, I probably would have saved myself a huge headache.

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