As seen originally in the Colorado Real Estate Journal – Property Management Quarterly – July 2023
The team includes a lot of individuals and organizations. This series to date has focused on the external team of vendors, owners, and service providers. For most of us, there is another team that is integral in making our daily life work like a finely tuned machine. This area can be one of the hardest and most important. This team may be made up of some direct reports, some colleagues, and even your supervisor. This team is your office teammates. It may be the accounting and administrative professionals you work with; or it could be the assistant property manager you have on your team; and it is also your supervisor. This team is one with very different dynamics than all the other teams we have discussed. This team is usually other employees of the company you work for. Your boss is on this team, your direct reports are on this team and your colleagues are on this team. This is the home team, or your work team. This is usually where you are deepest in terms of time, personality and sometimes frustration. It is also one of the teams you play an outsized role of leader in. You make a difference, in all your teams – this one is typically a bit more personal. Sometimes it is easier, sometimes not so much.
Focused. As we have seen, life is full of focus and, in the world of property management, focus is essential and very difficult. One of the most important teams that we work with is our internal team at our company. With this team, you may know more about birthdays, relatives and other personal issues than you really wanted to know about, but you do. Keeping a focus on the right things to discuss and things to skip are easy to get confused with. These relationships can become very personal, which can be good and create an atmosphere of trust, but also can create a smog of fear and misunderstanding. There is nothing more focused than the home team, and nothing that takes more effort or produces more rewards.
Inclusive. Playing favorites is a no-win game. While we may like certain personalities, and some people perform better than others, this is your chance to rise to your challenge as a leader. Everyone on your team at the office needs to see you as the leader you are, with or without the title. Your focus and encouragement of each of the individuals on the team is an important part of growing your team and getting results. You cannot play favorites, and you must be inclusive of everyone. You will find with time that each of these individuals requires a different type of focus or relationship. Not everyone will want to sit with you at lunch or bring you coffee each day. Each of your teammates is an individual, and just like you, they expect to be treated like an individual. This includes your supervisor, your direct reports, and those with a similar job or title. They all expect to be treated with respect and as an individual, just like you do.
Strategic. Looking at the issues of today with the goals of tomorrow in mind will keep your focus a strategic one. While the frustrations of problems that need to be solved now are vitally important, they must be solved with care, diligence and compassion. At the same time, it may also be time to think about the issue and determine if it has a need for long-term change. Maybe this is the time to evaluate a policy, process or even a team member. These items help us see what is important to all and to develop a game plan that fits the whole team. The focus always must be on the current situation and its needs, without forgetting about tomorrow and how you will plan for longer-term needs and issues, they both work together. A focus on the future makes today and tomorrow a better place to be.
Dynamic. The need to be ready for change is imperative. We all like to get comfortable in our skin and make life simple and focused, with our personal needs met. The reality is we have so many different personalities and mindsets we work with, we must have a process to look at all that is coming at us and make strategic long-term decisions. Short-term anger and frustration do not solve problems or build a team. The building of your team comes with a willingness to listen and act. Both skills are necessary. What is the real issue at hand, and what possible range of solutions are there? Once we have reviewed the real issues, the future becomes clearer, and we can make decisions and take action that can make the team a team
David W. Hewett
Executive Director Property Management, Olive Real Estate Group, Inc.