WorkPuzzle

Effective Recruiting: A Microwave or a Crock Pot?

I hope you’ve had the opportunity to participate in the discussion that Dave has been facilitating on WorkPuzzle over the last two weeks concerning the best practices of high-performing recruiters (1,2,3,4).  We’ve had a lot of great feedback on this issue, so it seems to be an area that many of us are striving to improve.

I'd like to add to the discussion by pointing out a mindset that we’ve noticed among many of the highly productive recruiters and hiring managers with whom we’ve worked over the last few years.  This mindset is one of working a pipeline of candidates over time.

My attention to this topic was prompted by a recent errand I was running to drop my son off at a sports practice.  On the way back, I was flipping though the radio channels and ran across a call-in program that was offering financial advice.

The caller was asking the host whether he should replace his older car that had transmission problems with a newer model that was less likely to break down.  To purchase the newer model, the caller would have to take out a car loan.  The host’s ultimate advice to the caller was to pay the repair bill and stick with the car he had (which he owned free and clear).

What caught my attention was not the host’s answer, but how he delivered the information.  He did a great job of articulating what a pain and hassle it is to have a car that breaks down frequently. Secondly, he spent some time reminding the caller of the long-term objective—healthy finances down the line.  With those two issues setting the tone, he was able to deliver the answer the caller needed to hear.

The host summed up the discussion by saying:

“Most of the financial strategies that I teach are 'crock pot' strategies.  They take a long time to mature, but they do work if you have the discipline to stick to them.  There are a whole bunch of banks, financial services companies, and others, who want to sell you 'microwave' strategies.  These strategies are basically designed to alleviate short-term pain.  While they are sometimes effective at accomplishing this objective, they undermine your prospects for long-term financial success.”

Hopefully, you’re seeing the connection already.  Most good recruiting organizations resemble crock pots.  The individuals who work for these companies are willing to treat the hiring process from a long-term perspective, and put up with the hassles that this type of perspective, and ensuing process, entails.

Quite often, we have companies approach us with the hope that we can help them find some microwave strategies for hiring.  They have the short-term pain of diminished revenues and want recruiting efforts to fix this quickly.  While there are some methodologies for making that happen (it typically involves buying a “book of business” or offering commission splits that are unsustainable without very favorable market conditions), the research on this topic shows that the long-term success rate of such approaches is typically below 20%.

Good recruiting companies won’t play these odds.  Instead, they’ll develop a pipeline of candidates who have a high probability of success.  And then they’ll maintain the discipline of proactively working that pipeline with near religious consistency.  The results?  It works every time... 

---

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Lessons from an Expert Recruiter: Part 4

If you've been following the past few editions (1,2,3), you've heard my interpretation of the excellent recruiting work performed by Andy Nazaroff of Guarantee Realty.

The resulting positive responses from the readers left me wondering how helpful it might be to hear directly from Andy.  Fortunately, he agreed to give us a step by step view into his recruiting process.  As you read the below excerpt, keep in mind Andy's philosophies behind each communication (found in previous editions).  Here, in his own words, are the steps he takes to achieve consistently strong recruiting results:

"Here is my approach in its entirety to new agent recruiting with Tidemark.

I begin my day meeting with my assistant to talk about the candidates I met with from the previous day.  We discuss lead follow-up issues, licensing school enrollments, and the current day's appointments.  Then, I spend about an hour each morning making new candidate phone calls first, then 2nd phone calls to older leads in the pipeline.  My assistant handles administering the Tidemark platform and all of the emails to the candidates.

When I call candidates, my script is usually the same every time:

1) I'm looking for __________________ (always use first name, as you will not sound like a telemarketer that way).
2) _________________ (first name) this is Andy Nazaroff, Manager of Agent Development with Guarantee . . . (intentional pause) and I noticed you found us online and completed the assessment on our website (listen for their recollection).
3) I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about that assessment (if they cannot talk, they usually tell you here).
4) What brings you to: the job boards/craigslist/our website (this answer will tell you a lot about where they are at, and how to proceed).

If they are currently working:
5) What do you like most about what you are doing now? (Write these answers down for your interview.)
6) What do you like the least?

If they are not currently working, they may be applying to any job online:
5) What type of work or skills have you exercised in the past that makes you believe you would be a good fit in the real estate business?
6) What type of jobs are you applying to online, and what type of jobs are you avoiding, or not applying to?

Then, in either case:
7) Obviously a career in real estate is not right for everyone.  The time it takes to get your license, to go through our training, and to close your first transaction could take at least 4-5 months.  How are you prepared to bridge that gap financially? (listen)

8) I'd like to set an appointment to meet you face to face for an interview.  Are you available to meet this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon?  (I always try to book same day or next day, and in the afternoon, to stay in control of my schedule.)

I then give my address and my direct number.

When the candidate arrives, typically my assistant seats them in our conference room, and then gives them a folder of information and says, 'Andy prepared this for you to look over for a few minutes and he'll be in shortly.' This packet includes the start up costs estimate, recruiting information on Guarantee, our market share graph, a separate local real estate market update, and our pre-listing package.  This typically covers 90% of the questions they were thinking about asking.  This package allows me to stay in control of the interview by asking questions and then presenting how to get their license and our training plan.

At the interview, I usually open with, 'Since our conversation on the phone, what are your thoughts about YOU in the real estate business?'  (This tells me a lot about their fears or excitement - but I do not address them yet.)

After that conversation I transition to, 'Let's say you are licensed today, you have completed our training, and you are ready to start day 1 in this business.  What do you want to see happen in your first year in the real estate business?'  (This tells me a lot about their motivation.)

After I listen to their first year answer I say, 'We are looking for two things in a candidate for this business at our company - personality and motivation.  We can teach you real estate - that's the easy part, but we cannot teach who you are as a person, or how motivated you might be to do it.  I called you and invited you in here because of your personality assessment scores.  The questions I've been asking you today are to understand your motivation, and based on my information I'd like to recommend/not recommend you getting your license.'

'Before I tell you what it takes to get your license, I'd like to know... what does your family and close friends think about you getting into this business?'  (Listen for that person that might be the wind in their sail, or the anchor in their tail - Then address it.)

Then I present that I cannot do anything to help them succeed in this business until they get their license.  I highlight the licensing process, then talk about our Quick Start training program, then our Mentor Program.  I close with, 'Any questions about the licensing process, the Quick Start program, or our Mentor program?'  They usually say no - you covered it.  Then I ask, 'Any questions about our company, the market, or for me?'

Then, my handoff...'Our next step in this process is to have our licensing school counselor contact you.  Her name is Jessye.  She will contact you within a day and give you all the information you need to move forward with licensing.  Once you are ready, pull the trigger and we will be here to get you enrolled in training once you've passed.  Fair enough?'  They usually say yes - after all it's a soft close.  Our licensing school rep is a good sales person.  She praises the candidate for their interview results and says that I recommended them as a good candidate for this business.  She then stays with the candidate until they enroll, or tell her they are not going to do it.  We keep the candidate in the Tidemark pipeline to engage later until we have confirmed they are enrolled.

If you'd like to share ideas, or ask questions, please feel free to connect with me at andy@guarantee.com or at facebook.com/andynazaroff."

Thanks Andy for sharing your best practices.  Please fill us in on any conversations that we can all learn from.

---

Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Lessons From A Talented Recruiter: Part 3

As I mentioned in parts 1 and 2 of this series, Andy Nazaroff of Guarantee Realty has consistently posted remarkable numbers when it comes to converting candidates into interviews, and interviews into hires.

Here are his numbers:  From what we have sourced--approximately 950 total candidates to date this year for them--they have interviewed 232, and hired 48 new agents.  This means they have interviewed 25% of ALL candidates and hired 21% of those interviewed.

As I spoke with Andy, what impressed me (in addition to what I wrote about in the first two editions), was how thoughtful he is about addressing potential problems preemptively and head-on with candidates.  He clearly understands the psychology associated with making life-altering decisions, such as a career change.  I have written about the anatomy of a decision before in previous editions (1,2,3) and have detailed the vital psychological importance of never wanting something more than the person you are talking to.  The goal needs to be: remain neutral, but flush out all sides of the conflict around the decision.

Andy is very skilled at never taking either side of the conflict too far.  But, he takes this a step further... He anticipates that there will naturally be people in the lives of these candidates who WILL represent either antagonistic or overly-supportive input from one or each side of the decision.  It's the recruiter's job, according to Andy, to flush out who these people are and what impact they are having on the candidate.

He calls this identifying who is their "wind or anchor."  He understands, correctly, that most people will be confused and led away from their own thoughts and opinions of becoming an agent if they have someone at home who is acting as the "wind behind the sails" or the "anchor to sink their dreams."  The importance of uncovering this piece of information, in his view, is crucial to arriving at a conversation that is less influenced by the thoughts of others.

The fact that Andy sets a goal of discussing this, helps him uncover this information and leads him to become, potentially, a more trusted ally in the decision.  If he can get the individual to reveal that they are being, for example, pushed into becoming an agent by their spouse, he might be able to help set the person free from that influence by restructuring the interview to "We want to figure out what's right for you..not for anyone else."  Without this knowledge, Andy would unknowingly become an ally with some unseen force, and further force the candidate to make an overly compliant decision, rather than a healthy, grounded decision.

What is a more typical scenario for most candidates is that they might have several anchors in their life telling them "You can't do this in this market"... or "I don't think you'd be good at that" or "We need the money now" or a thousand other comments.  Andy's objective is never to contradict these individuals (these anchors), but to turn it back to the candidate's own research and thoughts.  He might ask:  "What do you believe?" or "What are your goals?"

To put it simply, Andy never attempts to counter balance someone's anchor with a little wind or vice versa.  He's discovered that simply getting the person to reveal and discuss the source is half the battle to neutralizing that negative influence.

More to come... 

---

Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Lessons From An Expert Recruiter: Part 2

As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, Andy Nazaroff of Guarantee Realty has consistently posted remarkable numbers when it comes to converting candidates into interviews, and interviews into hires.  It is a ratio that is difficult to match.  (Some of our clients and readers post equally impressive numbers and perhaps we can profile their philosophies and practices in the near future...)

One of Andy's primary principles is summed up in the philosophy "buy instead of sell."  Most of you have heard this phrase and practice it in most of your training for sales agents, but have you considered practicing this when it comes to recruiting?  In my experience, people have the tendency to either negative sell or to sell.  Andy does neither.  He conveys an attitude close to absolute reverence around this principle.  In listening to him describe his practices, it was this central under-riding principle that was clearly leading every question, discussion, call, or material dispensed.

Andy says that to genuinely come across as buying instead of selling, you must lead with questions.  He realizes that only the most desperate people will respond when you attempt to sell them on real estate.  By not selling, Andy unconsciously places on the candidate the responsibility to sell to him.

Here are the first few steps of his process as it relates to this principle:

1. He makes ALL the calls to the candidates and initiates each first interview.  He sets aside ample time to do both well.  (We understand that this may be unrealistic for many of our larger clients who source more candidates.)
2. Before the interview, he hands out a packet of information that answers the most common questions he has been asked before. (Keep track of most questions asked and do the same.)
3. He begins the interview with the question:  "It's been awhile since we talked and you have had a chance to research the real estate business.  What are your thoughts so far?"  He gets them talking.  Recruiting anyone worthwhile is rarely accomplished if he doesn't know what problem he is solving for the person he is speaking to.  (More on this in a future edition...)
4. By the end of the interview, he asks:  "Obviously being in real estate isn't for everyone, and it often takes 6-9 months before you see much cash flow; How are you prepared to bridge the gap?"  After asking this there is often a very long pause.  He has learned over time to let that pause linger as long as it takes for the person to respond.  By letting them come up with the answer, or at least say "I don't know," he shifts into being the buyer, yet never the negative seller.

Psychologically, this produces what's called "self activation."  When a person carries the weight of the creative process of a decision, does the research and leg work to research opportunities, and takes the action that should naturally follow...one is "self activating."  That is, they are taking the bull by the horns from the very beginning.  This is best accomplished when the recruiter is an ally who is pulling for them, rather than pushing them to make a decision that is not right for them.  Andy has a gift when it comes to establishing this non-sales, interested and engaged inquisitor approach with candidates.

In the next edition, I'll share with you what Andy believes is one of the most vital components of recruiting....uncovering the "anchor or wind."

---

Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Lessons from an expert Recruiter

We at Tidemark have had the privilege of working with over 40 real estate companies, some of which have been with us for several years.  Guarantee Realty, of Fresno, California is among these companies.  Guarantee has consistently proven to be one of the best executing companies we have ever worked with.  They seem to, month in and month out, squeeze out some of the best efficiencies from the numbers we source for them.

Despite the fact that we have sourced approximately 950 total candidates to date this year for them, they have interviewed 232, and hired 48 new agents.  This means they have interviewed 25% of ALL candidates and hired 21% of those interviewed!

I asked the CEO of Guarantee, Scott Leonard, if I could spend some time asking his Manager of Agent Development, Andy Nazaroff, if he could share with me some of his secrets.  Here is Mr. Leonard's response:

"By all means, we would be most happy to participate.  I'll have Andy coordinate with you.  It's a very tough time in this real estate cycle.  We all need to help each other as much as we are able.  Sincerely, Scott."

I spoke at length with Andy earlier today.  In the next few blogs, I'll try to boil down what I gleaned regarding what Andy does that makes his process so successful.  Let me begin by saying that in speaking with Andy, what struck me first, was how easy he was to speak to.  Andy is the first contact for each of their candidates.  He calls them personally, and has a clear philosophy regarding how to approach the entire process.

Andy is mindful of changes that can be made and applies them as he goes.  Some techniques stay, and others go, but there is a consistent process with a personal flare.

Over the next few editions I'll share with you how Andy interacts with each candidate from his first question, through referral to licensing school.  I hope that we can begin an ongoing dialogue with all of you as a result.

---

Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement—Part 4

Hopefully, over the last week you’ve had an opportunity to join the discussion (read part 1,2,3) we’ve been having regarding how the real estate industry has the opportunity to exploit the weaknesses of traditional employers to hire talented new agents for the future.

Last week, I made the following observation:

Many young people are willing to exchange a high income (or the potential at earning a high income) for job opportunities that offer flexibility, mental/social engagement, adventure, and a little bit of security.

Since the ability of real estate companies to offer high-income opportunities has been significantly reduced, it only makes sense to become proficient at focusing on the second half of this statement.

To help us understand this topic, I’d like to revisit the research compiled by Tony Schwarz in his recent book, The Way We’re Working Isn't Working.  Schwarz does a great job of identifying three arenas where managers and owners can improve the engagement those on their team will experience.

1.  Physical.  If you’re a leader or manager, creating a new way of working begins with recognizing that physical renewal serves performance.  You need to model physical renewal in your own behavior (discussed previously).  At the same time, organizations must create policies, practices, and services that support and encourage people to eat right, work out regularly, renew intermittently, and get enough sleep.

For example, what if a part of your recruiting message just focused on commuting?  Commuting can take a significant physical toll on peoples' productivity, draining their energy during the early-morning hours when they might otherwise be effective.  This is an annoyance to thousands of people and something that you can easily solve by allowing off-hour commuting and work from home opportunities.  As you know, this is not a big stretch for a real estate company.  There are many more ideas like this, but it’s up to you to find, highlight, and live them out in your organization.

2.  Emotional.  Every organization has a distinct emotional climate, and typically it’s set from the top.  A leader is effectively the “chief energy officer.”  The core responsibility of great leaders is to mobilize, focus, inspire, and regularly renew the energy of those they lead.

Leaders who default to negative emotions to motivate others may get the short-term performance they’re seeking, but the costs over time are high.  It is better to act like a doctor and propose to first “do no harm.”  This means avoid devaluing emotions such a anger, intimidation, disparagement, and shame.

The antidote to negative emotion is showing recognition and appreciation for the real accomplishments of those on the team.  It also helps to handle conflict correctly—keeping in mind the value of the other person.  A balance must be maintained between honesty (you need to improve) and appreciation (you’re doing great in some areas).

As you might imagine, it is difficult to promote a healthy emotional environment in your recruiting message because it has to be felt and experienced to know it’s there.  But, that doesn’t mean it’s not important.  If your team operates in a negative emotional environment, you’ll be swimming upstream on everything else you’re doing to attract high quality individuals.

3.  Mental.  As human beings, our attention is under siege.  There is an inverse relationship between the increasing volume of information available to us and our ability to prioritize and make sense of it.

Take email for example.  How many emails do you get a day that don’t contribute to something meaningful you’re trying to accomplish?  And, how often do you respond to the little “ding” letting you know that an email or text message has arrived?  Each of those events is an interruption to your focused attention.

Here’s something you may not know:  Most corporate environments promote distraction and fragmented thinking.  This “status quo” is a major source of irritation and dissatisfaction among many people who work in traditional jobs.  Is it possible for you to create a work environment where distractions are limited?

There are some small things that you can do on your team to change this dynamic.  For example, clarify what timeframe people are expected to respond to email, ban email during meetings, encourage firm start and stop times for meetings, and encourage intermittent rest and renewal during the day.

If you can create a work environment where agents are allowed (and even expected) to work uninterrupted with focused attention on high-return tasks, you’ll be offering something that is valued by many talented people.  And, it’s something that can be easily promoted in a recruiting message.

I know that much of what I’ve discussed above would require some cultural changes to your organizations.  Changing ourselves in hard enough, and changing a company’s culture is even more difficult!  With that said, I encourage you to not shy away from the difficult things.  The challenges that the real estate industry faces are significant.  Some drastic retooling may be needed to continue to compete.

---

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement—Part 3

Last week (1,2), I suggested that you will need to become proficient at competing for new talented agents in the months and years ahead.  Your competitors are not so much other real estate companies, rather, they are other traditional companies who have a difficult time offering work environments that employees find engaging. This is a major competitive advantage that very few real estate companies use to their advantage.

As we discuss this topic, the elephant in the room that I know many of you are thinking about is traditional pay and benefits — Most “normal” companies offer this nicety, while most real estate companies do not.  Granted, 78% of the global workforce is dissatisfied or disengaged in their jobs, but at least they are getting a paycheck!

For years, real estate companies have chided people for this behavior.  In fact, I can think of numerous discussions with owners and managers where candidates were mocked (typically behind their backs) for not having the “guts” to step out of their comfort zone and assume the risks of full commission work in the real estate industry. 

This bravado attracts some when the risk to reward ratio is in balance, but as the “reward” part of equation has started to diminish and become significantly less probable, the “make it big in real estate” engine that drives recruiting success has stalled.  The traditional real estate compensation paradigm is on life support and the prognosis for future success is not good.  It has obviously been strained because of economic circumstances in the last couple of years, but there is also a generational component that is adding to its demise.

Here’s the generational component that most real estate companies are missing:

Many young people are willing to exchange a high income (or the potential at earning a high income) for job opportunities that offer flexibility, mental/social engagement, adventure, and a little bit of security. 

Let me share a story that illustrates how this reality is playing itself out in industry today.  A few weeks ago, I met with the general manager of a large auto dealer on the east coast.  During the discussion, I asked him how their recruiting process has changed in the last couple of years.  To my surprise, here’s what he said:

"We used to have a lot of success with offering people a way to make $200K per year if they were willing to work 80 to 90 hour weeks.  We have a sales formula that reliably produces this level of income if a person has a reasonable amount of sales talent and is willing to put in this level of effort.

Problem is…no one wants to do the work anymore!  I can’t get young people to engage this value proposition.  They’ll often say, 'How about you give me a way to earn $40K a year, and I’ll put in 30 hours per week.  I only need $40K because my girlfriend earns about that much and that’s enough money.  I don’t want to give up my personal activities and flexibility for more money.' "

This general manager went on to confirm that this happens so frequently that he has given up trying to hire the $200K producers.  Instead, he hires more of the $40K producers (which he probably earns better margins on).  He has learned to embrace the generational trend, rather than putting energy into trying to recruit the increasingly few people who match his previous hiring framework.

This is not an isolated case.  I’ve seen this trend mentioned and documented in numerous research studies and articles I’ve read over the last five years.  Many projected that difficult economic times would reverse this trend, but it hasn’t happened.

So, how can you make changes to the way you hire in order to align yourself with this generational trend?  Here are some ideas.

1. Highlight flexibility in your hiring value proposition.  It’s not uncommon to see real estate companies highlight flexible hours and work conditions in recruitment ads, but it is usually alongside phrases such as “Unlimited Earning Potential!” and “Be Your Own Boss!”  If candidates are skeptical about any portion of the recruiting message, they discount it all.  It is more effective to construct ads that convey nothing but flexibility.  If you need to say something more, talk about how highly efficient and competent individuals thrive in a flexible work environment.
2. Replace the “all or nothing” compensation framework with something that offers a small amount of security.  I know that I’m treading on sacred ground by mentioning this, but it is worth putting some thought into this idea.  The auto dealer example demonstrates this principle:  Many very talented people will exchange money (i.e. work for much less than they can get working for other employers) for flexibility.  But, when you also ask them to take all the risk in the employment arrangement (full commission), it becomes too much.  I believe it is worth investigating a modified employment model where a modest commitment (such as $2,500) is made to a talented prospective agent with the expectation of receiving a return on that investment.
3. Learn how to truly offer engagement and adventure as an organization.  This is where things get really exciting because most traditional companies and teams are not adept at addressing this issue.  I’ll elaborate on this topic and wrap up this series in my next discussion.  

---

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement—Part 2

Earlier this week, I made the case that the real estate industry faces major challenges in articulating it’s recruiting message to potential candidates.  I wrapped up the discussion by suggesting that your company or office find an answer to the following question:

Why would someone with good resources, education, and competencies want work in your company or office, knowing that they have limited (not necessarily poor) income potential?

If you’re willing to abandon the old paradigms of real estate recruiting (most of which either no longer work or will continue to produce a diminishing return), you may free yourself to recruit and compete in some new and more effective ways.

How do you make this happen?  That’s a tough question, and there may be many great answers.   I certainly don’t have a corner on all the great ideas, but here is one answer that I believe has some significant potential:

Create a unique and compelling work environment where individuals working on the team find engagement in their day-to-day tasks.

Let this statement sink in.  Read it a couple of times.  Now ask yourself:  Why would this issue be something that could have an significant impact on recruiting in the real estate industry?  I think there are two reasons: 

1. This is the major weakness of traditional employers.
   In a previous discussion, I documented that about 78% of the global workforce is either dissatisfied or proactively disengaged in their jobs.  While much of this dissatisfaction is self-imposed, most employees don’t see it that way.  It’s much easier to just blame your employer than to take responsibility for yourself!  People want to know... "Would I be happier if I worked somewhere else?"  It only makes sense to position your company or office as the compelling answer to this question.
2. Most traditional employers have no way of fixing this problem.
   In a well-publicized story at Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters, company executives decided to test the concept of designating a room where employees could rest and take a short respite between meetings or project work.  This practice has been shown to increase productivity and the engagement employees feel in their jobs.  The room was even equipped with soft couches, dim lighting, and other features intended to make it peaceful. 

As you might have guessed, no one would set foot in the room.  Why?  Because the setting was contradictory to the high-intensity Wal-Mart culture they were accustomed to.  Within a few months, the room was converted into an office for a young executive.  Try as they may, most traditional employers cannot deliver on the promise to make the workplace a more engaging place for employees.  And most employees have given up on the possibility of this happening in a traditional work environment.

So, back to the original question:  Can the real estate industry (or more specifically, your office or company) deliver something that traditional employers are missing or intentionally avoiding in their employment value proposition?  I believe it can.  Let me say that a little stronger….I believe it must. 

Real estate companies must exploit the weaknesses of tradional employers if they desire to hire the next generation of talented and effective agents.  If you don't acquire your share of talented individuals in the near future, you'll be stuck with the misfits and B-players.  And there's a good chance that abnormal market conditions will not compensate for such missteps in the future.

To create this compelling work environment, there are two issues that need to be addressed:

1. The pay and security of employing individuals in the real estate industry
2. Understanding what causes people to feel engagement, both individually, and as a team.

We’ll cover both of these these issues in our next discussion.

---

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Competitive Advantage: Creating an Environment Where Your Agents Will Find Engagement

Quick disclaimer on this discussion—I’m going to address some issues that are unique to the real estate industry today.  (This is the arena where the majority of our clients reside.)  Those of you who read and subscribe to WorkPuzzle who are outside the real estate industry may have to cut through a little jargon and real estate framework to grab the concepts today.  But, I encourage you to hang in there, the core ideas do apply to all industries.

Convincing someone to become a real estate agent is a tough sale in today’s environment.  The value proposition for years has been that almost anyone can earn a substantial amount of money by selling real estate.  Granted, realty rarely met the hope of that value proposition (even during good times, 80% of new real estate agents left the career field within one year of starting), but there was always a small group of new agents who were successful.

And some of them were wildly successful.  These are the people whom real estate companies commonly tout during recruitment marketing and presentations.  As a result, a consistent influx of new agents would consistently engage real estate companies with the hope of making it big.

Not sure if you’ve noticed, but this way of recruiting is dead.  I regularly talk with real estate owners in all parts of the country, and I hear the same thing:  Very few people are attracted to the real estate industry in today’s economic environment.  Why?  The traditional real estate value proposition for new agents is no longer resonating with people.  Big new agent successes are increasingly rare and the media is relentless at painting a dreary real estate industry landscape.

Many companies have resigned themselves to this reality and have changed their primary focus to recruiting experienced agents away from their competitors.  While this is not a new idea, the intensity of this practice has increased.  And, with many more companies focusing on this strategy, a new realty is quickly becoming established.  In essence, real estate companies (particularly in large metropolitan areas) are now competing for their share of a very limited pool of candidates (productive agents).  In many companies, this type of recruiting has become their exclusive focus, and they’ve given up completely on new agent recruiting.

As you can imagine, this strategy has some limitations... The first limitation is that the pool is constantly getting smaller.  There has been a significant amount of attrition over the last three to four years because the easy money dried up.  (Many of these individuals probably should have never been real estate agents in the first place.)  The second limitation is that the remaining productive agents in the industry now have the upper hand with regard to negotiations.  These agents know they can negotiate better deals if they’re willing to change companies.  Of course, this drives margins down for the companies who are doing the hiring.

So to summarize, new agents are difficult to recruit because the traditional real estate value proposition no longer makes sense.  Experienced agents (who are working for a competitor) are also becoming increasingly difficult to recruit because the pool of potentials is limited.  And even if a company is able to have success in that arena, the profitability of that success is diminished.

Do you feel like jumping off a bridge about now?  Well don’t…at least not quite yet.  The challenges are significant, but they’re not insurmountable.  And, by working to find a viable solution, the real estate industry will start to fix one of its most limiting deficiencies—a workforce that is generally unproductive (as measured on a transaction/agent basis). 

How do we get there?  I believe the following things need to be considered:

1.  Cutting off new agent recruiting is a mistake.

The real estate companies who figure out how to recruit young, talented individuals into their companies will soon out-perform those who only focus only on experienced agent recruiting.  No matter how you look at the scenario, it is difficult to get the demographics to predict a different outcome.  Focusing on experienced agent recruiting only results in more and more work with a diminishing return.

2.   The traditional “get rich selling real estate” message is dead.

The housing bubble produced all sorts of odd behavior in our society.  Not the least of which was the notion that someone with limited resources, education, and competencies could generate large sums of money by standing around taking housing orders.  Yes, that happened in some places and to some individuals, but it’s probably not going to happen again.  Betting on things "returning to normal" in this regard is really a bet that things will return to abnormal.

3.  The real estate industry needs a new recruiting message.

Seriously ask yourself this question:  Why would someone with good resources, education, and competencies want work in your company or office, knowing that they have limited (not necessarily poor) income potential?  Your recruiting message needs to answer this question.  But, before you answer this question in your recruiting message, your company or office needs to live up to this reality.

So, here's the WorkPuzzle manifesto:  Create a unique and compelling work environment where individuals working on the team find engagement in their day-to-day tasks. 

In our next two discussions, we'll cover how to create an environment like this, and then how to tell your story to the candidates who will become the future of your company. 

---

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.

Becoming Engaged in Your Work: Don’t Try to Sell Something You’re Not Doing Yourself

Every hiring manager is, at some level, a salesperson.  You’re selling the idea that a candidate will experience a better quality of work life in your organization compared to staying with their current employer.  But, it’s difficult to sell something effectively if you’re not experiencing the “better quality” yourself.

Last week, I mentioned that I’d focus my next few WorkPuzzle discussions around the topic of engagement—how to experience engagement yourself, how to make sure that those on your team are experiencing it, and how to make this topic a key component of your recruiting message.  Today, we’ll work on how you can feel more engaged in your role as an owner, team leader, or hiring manager.

Researchers have well-documented the notion that in order to find engagement in a job, your personal strengths have to be aligned with the tasks that you’re doing on a day-to-day basis.  For employees who work in structured jobs (typically below the middle manager level), this reality tends to have a significant impact on the engagement they feel.  This is often referred to as job-fit.  If a person does not happen to fit the structured tasks required to perform the job, it is difficult to be excited and engaged in the work.

But, for most positions middle-manager and above, a person can adapt the job to match his or her own strengths.  So, job-fit tends to have a diminished impact.  Instead, the way the job is performed by the individual (and how that work integrates into the rest of life) is more predictive of the type of engagement a person will experience.  In essence, if you can figure out how to work well, you’ll find engagement in your work.

Researchers have invested heavily in this subject over the last ten years, and best-selling authors, Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr, have done a great job of summarizing much of the research on this topic in a best-selling book called "The Power of Full Engagement" (2003).  As I previously mentioned, Schwartz recently completed a follow-up solo project with updated information called "The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working."

Schwartz describes the lack of engagement problem this way:

“We live in a world of infinite distractions and endless demands.  Many of us juggle several tasks at a time and struggle to focus on any one of them very long.  Lack of absorbed focus takes a toll on the depth and quality of whatever we do, and it’s also an inefficient way to work, extending the time it takes to finish any task…. 

Most of us work long hours and feel a restless sense of urgency.  We juggle multiple demands without feeling we’re devoting sufficient time to the most important tasks.  We arrive home in the evenings with little energy left for our families.  We spend too little time thinking strategically and long term, too little time taking care of ourselves, and too little time simply enjoying our lives….  Is the life you’re leading worth the price you’re paying to live it?”

If you’re in any type of leadership role in your company, I’m sure this resonates with you because it is exactly the type of disengagement that leaders struggle to keep under control.  If you want to attract the best talent to your organization, you must address the issues that cause this type of disengagement.  People are inspired to work for a leader who has his/her own life in order.

How do you fix these problems in your own life?  Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts or quick answers. Schwartz describes the process as “transforming the operating system” of your life.  This means creating an inventory of the habits that drive your poor behaviors and then systematically replacing those habits with new rituals that produce the desired behaviors and actions.

This is easier said than done!  In the last few weeks, I’ve tried to change just a couple of the harmful habits in my personal workflow, and I’m amazed at the internal resistance I’m facing.  I’m not going to give up, but I also don’t want to come across as unsympathetic as I suggest you address these issues.  I do believe that it's worth the effort—both for our personal well-being, and our ability to recruit.

Here are two new things I learned as I worked through Schwartz’s book:

1.  The body and mind work best in rhythms.

All systems in our body pulse rhythmically when we’re healthy—heartbeat, brain waves, body temperature, blood pressure, and hormone levels.  Our fundamental need is to spend and renew energy.  The mind works on the same rule.

This principle has all kinds of implications.  Every area of your life—eating, movement, sleep, relationships, and work- functions optimally if it has a rhythm to it.  For example, your workflow will be most productive if you are able to work intensely (without distractions) for a period of about 90 minutes.  This 90 minute period is then best followed by a period of low mental intensity (emails, most meetings, errands, etc.).  By repeating this cycle several times during the day, your overall productivity and engagement will increase.

2. Physical routine has significant impact on your performance and sense of engagement.

There are three important components to a physical routine:  (1) sleep, (2) exercise, and (3) diet:

Sleep is the foundation of all physical energy.  No single behavior more fundamentally influences our effectiveness in waking life.  Sleep deprivation takes a powerful toll on our health, our emotional well-being, and our cognitive functioning.  The only viable solution to insufficient sleep is to go to bed earlier.

Secondly, regular exercise, especially intense energy expenditure followed by deep recovery, dramatically increases our capacity, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.  Ideally, we should be doing some sort of moderately intense physical activity six days per week for twenty to forty-five minutes a day.  That time can be split between two or three sessions over the course of a day, so long as each is at least ten minutes long.

Finally, how we eat (not just what we eat) has a significant impact on overall performance.  The key to nutrition is maintaining a stable level of blood sugar.  Food is our primary source of glucose, and it fuels not just our bodies, but also our brains.  Small, frequent meals serve us better than two or three large ones.  To maintain a steady source of energy, it’s best to eat something at least every three hours—that is five or six “small meals” a day.  Avoid the foods that provide a quick hit of energy but dissipate quickly.  And if you feel like you really need at least one big meal a day—eat a big breakfast.

As you can tell, I’ve just scratched the surface on this topic. There is much more to learn and implement.  Hopefully, this information will jump start your efforts toward finding engagement in your work.  Next, we’ll discuss how to lead a team that is just as engaged as you are...

---

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.