How to Conduct Better Real Estate Team Meetings

The most common reason for a real estate team’s failure is a lack of communication. The responsibility to instill a team environment that fosters regular and systematic communication falls squarely on the shoulders of the team’s lead agent. Effective communication doesn’t just happen, it must be purposefully initiated on an ongoing basis. Therefore, it takes a true leader to create this successful team environment and not simply dismiss the need to communicate for a lack of time. The best way to foster open communication is to hold regular real estate team meetings.

KEEP REAL ESTATE TEAM MEETINGS DATES & TIMES SACRED

Time must be blocked, protected and enforced to ensure that team members ask questions, update, brainstorm, create and receive direction and feedback. For a group of individuals to truly be considered a team working towards a common goal, they must regularly communicate with one another. The minute real estate team meetings are cancelled or rescheduled, the importance of future meetings are immediately diminished. Leadership reflects attitude, so a lead agent can never be too busy to facilitate a team meeting or members of the team will begin to view meetings in a similar fashion.

CARVE OUT TIME FOR GROWTH

Real estate team meetings can quickly become irrelevant, burdensome and ultimately unnecessary if the majority of meeting time is devoted to handling existing business rather than focusing on growth. It is too easy to fall into the trap of endlessly discussing the details of each listing and transaction under contract until time runs out. The meeting consists of nothing more than problem solving. Since what you focus on always expands, a team focusing on problems will simply find solutions that lead to more problems. Team members ultimately leave these meetings deflated after an hour of examining negative issues.

Instead, at least half of the team meeting’s allotted time should be protected for growth-oriented topics. Typical growth agenda items might include ideas for generating more business, skill development, training, accountability, education, role play, scripts and dialogues, technology training, organizational behavior exercises, round table discussions and even personal growth topics like health, fitness and wealth building.

BE LEARNING BASED

Fostering an atmosphere of growth creates self-managed individuals that take greater ownership in the team’s outcome. Self-managed team members are learning based individuals who understand that in order to grow they must first get uncomfortable to get comfortable with a new task or skill. This often becomes a matter of attitude. They need to optimistically seek solutions with an abundant mindset that welcomes the difficulty associated with learning new things. If team members are instilled with this positive philosophy of achieving personal growth by tackling tough problems they will avoid stagnation and develop a greater stake in the team’s results.

COME FROM CURIOSITY

Real estate team meetings should never be lectures. Lead Agents of successful real estate teams facilitate regular real estate team meetings by continuously asking questions of the group. Coming from curiosity promotes better involvement, ideas and engagement. Team members that are encouraged to contribute to the team’s development and growth plan take ownership of those activities required to get the team where it wants to go. If they author it, they will own it. So try conducting your next team meeting without using a statement that ends with a period. Instead, use only questions to communicate in all real estate team meetings.