WorkPuzzle

Staying Alive by Tending the Recruiting Fire

About a month ago I was speaking with one of my recruiters about her progress, specifically as it related to working with her managers to recruit new agents.  In that conversation she expressed some frustration that I have heard from other recruiters.  Her frustration stemmed from some of her managers lack of action with the candidates she was sending for interviews.   She told me that her managers don’t have the time to deal with new agent candidates.  They understand that recruiting is a top priority but they are too busy, and I quote…”putting out fires.”  

Paradigm shift alert….recruiting is a fire. Recruiting is a flame that needs constant attention.   The reality is all around you.

  In “Highlights from the 2013 NAR Member Profile” it was reported that the median age of experienced agents has increased to 57.    If you are not tending the fire to backfill the inevitable departure of the aging agent population you are seriously compromising your own profitability and that of the company at large.

 If the Managers know all of this, why do they not prioritize recruiting?  Is it because they simply do not like it or feel uncomfortable with the tasks associated with recruiting?  Is it because they don’t have any formal system/process to follow and feel lost in this endeavor?    Are they lacking motivation?

Let’s start with some motivational math.  Todd Shylak posted and article,” Recruit Today, Profit Tomorrow,”  that succinctly points to the financial motivation of recruiting.   

“Have you ever taken the time to truly figure out what it would mean to your bottom line if you recruit?  Most, I daresay, haven’t.  The pressure to recruit agents is part of everyday life for a real estate broker; however, the knowledge of what it actually means to your profits, isn’t.

Let’s look at this further.  If every experienced and productive agent you recruit adds, on average, between $10,000 and $25,000 to your bottom line, adding five agents will boost your bottom line by between $50,000 and $125,000 in year one.

Over the course of three years, those same five agents will add $150,000 to $375,000 to your business, while at the same time creating excitement and momentum in your office.”

While these numbers are somewhat outdated, I think you get the picture.   So, we have some motivation…now do we have a comfortable system to execute?  In my next blog, I will discuss more on the topic of a specific recruiting strategy that delineates a recruiting process and the reasons behind the tasks.

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Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. .

How to Take Advantage of the 2014 Hiring Trends

I’m sure most of you are already knee-deep into all the activities that the New Year brings.   I love this season because we seem to approach our professional lives with a new sense of energy.

However, the new energy soon translates into busyness, and there’s a tendency to quickly fall into old habits.  This is especially true when it comes to recruiting.  As we work hard at “doing what we’ve always done,” it can become difficult to recognize new trends. 

However, these trends signal changes that are happening in the world around you.  Making even small tweaks to your daily activities in response to these changes can improve your effectiveness.  By ignoring trending information over time, you may turn yourself into a dinosaur. 

The hard part in this process is finding and recognizing which trends are important.  Hopefully, WorkPuzzle will be helpful in this quest.   As you might suspect, we spend a lot of time reading the recruiting press (most of it from outside the real estate industry).  On either side of the New Year there are hundreds of articles published taking stock of what happened in the previous year and making predictions for the months ahead.

As I sorted through a lot of these articles, I found one in particular that was helpful. The article was published by Chad Brooks at Business News Daily and summarizes research recently conducted by CareerBuilder.

The research was based on recent surveys of more than 2000 hiring managers and human resources professionals.  Here are some of the most interesting and relevant hiring trends for 2013:

Part-time hiring on the rise.

Seventeen percent of employers expect to recruit part-time workers over the next 12 months, up 3 percentage points over last year.  While various factors will influence this trend, 12 percent of all employers stated that they will likely hire more part-time workers in 2014 due to the Affordable Care Act.

If companies are increasingly hiring part-time employees, there are a lot of people who still want full-time positions but can’t find openings.  As we discussed in previous WorkPuzzles (1,2,3), this is a strategic opportunity for real estate companies.  You could be providing talented candidates the full-time alternative. 

There is lots of competition for sales and information technology candidates.

For those companies that are planning to add new staff, sales and technology positions are the jobs they will be trying to fill most. The research shows that 30 percent of hiring managers plan to recruit full-time, permanent employees for sales positions, while 29 percent will do the same for information technology jobs.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but looking for new agent recruits among those who are considering other sales positions will probably be unproductive.  Why?  There is too much competition for candidates.  It will be more productive to focus your candidate sourcing activities among other competencies (ex. customer service, marketing, health care, etc.)

Skills gap is widening.

Half of human resource managers surveyed said they currently have positions for which they can't find qualified candidates.  Forty-six percent said these positions go unfilled for three months or longer.

In the recruiting industry, a “skilled position” is one where a certain qualification is necessary to even be considered.  For example, not just anyone can be a Registered Nurse—a nursing degree and certain qualifications are necessary for the job. 

Real estate agent positions are unique in the sense they do not require these types of pre-defined qualifications.  Many candidates are considering “going back to school” to earn qualifications for these skilled positions.  For some of these candidates, becoming a real estate agent may be a better option—less expense and a shorter runway to a viable career and substantial income.

Companies building the perfect employee instead of waiting for one.

In light of the skills gap, 49 percent of employers plan to train people who don't have experience in their industry or field and hire them in 2014, up 10 percentage points over last year.  Twenty-six percent of employers are sending current employees back to school to get an advanced degree – and picking up all or part of the cost.

Just before Christmas, I spoke at a manager’s meeting of a major regional real estate company on the West Coast.  During the Q&A period, the CEO of this company stated, “We need to embrace the idea of ‘creating new agents’ from scratch.  This will differentiate us from our competitors and allow us to compete more successfully in the next few years.”  Maybe he’s onto something.

Companies looking for recruits in high schools.

More companies are connecting with future generations of workers to establish a pipeline of job candidates. Twenty-seven percent of hiring managers have promoted careers at their firms to high school students or, in some cases, even younger; 25 percent plan to do so in 2014.

This trend surprised me.  We’re constantly encouraging real estate hiring managers to focus on building recruiting pipelines, but I had no idea “traditional companies” were targeting the high schools to find talented candidates.  Focusing on this age group may not be the best idea for a real estate company, it does validate the importance of building a recruiting pipeline.   Successful recruiting companies know that talented individuals must be engaged and courted over a period of time.

Here’s your homework:  Based on the these important recruiting trends, what changes should you make to your day-to-day recruiting activities?  As you consider these ideas, initially think about small tweaks that are visible and measurable and then build from there. 

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Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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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. 

Coaching Insight: Back to the Basics

Wikipedia defines coaching as a "development process via which an individual is supported while achieving a specific personal or professional competence result or goal."  

By definition, it would seem that any company or organization would embrace the concept of coaching, but not all companies see coaching as valuable.

A variety of studies have found that over 90% of organizations with 2,000 or more employees use coaching, in contrast with only 68% of organizations with 250-500 employees.

It appears that larger companies see the connection between coaching and the increase in their bottom lines while smaller businesses are more skeptical.   Who's correct?  Researchers would probably side with the large businesses on this issue.  

An article by the Staff of the Executive Board of Bloomberg Businessweek had the following comments:

"While the link between effective sales coaching and better sales performance is widely known, the majority of sales organizations fail to realize the full potential of their investments in sales coaching and training. Often times, this means missed opportunities for dramatic improvements in top-line revenue growth, margin enhancement, conversion rates, as well as sales forecast accuracy, and sales rep retention and engagement levels."  

If coaching has been proven to improve these types of important business metrics (especially sales rep retention and engagement levels), why do small and mid-size companies resist embracing the concept at a higher rate?  

I believe it boils down to execution. The reality is that many organizations have great intentions regarding coaching but exercise poor or inconsistent follow-through. 

Here are some of the most common coaching pitfalls organizations make according to the Bloomberg Board, followed by the contrasting suggested approach:

Generic Coaching Training Content 

Effective coaching programs must link to the organization's sales model and address individual sales manager coaching challenges. Programs must be tailored to the sales manager, their team and the go-to-market strategy of the organization.

In a real estate company, this pitfall is usually demonstrated when managers try using off-the-shelf material or a "fly by the seat of your pants" approach to coaching.

Discontinuous Coaching Approach

Managers often see coaching as a sequence of separate events, similar to training, rather than an ongoing, continuous process where one coaching conversation is a continuation of the last. To solve this issue, embed a true coaching process within the normal workflow.

Lack of an Effective Coaching Infrastructure 

Without the appropriate supporting "coaching infrastructure," it is near impossible to sustain long-term coaching benefits. The most progressive organizations actively measure coaching effectiveness on an ongoing basis and fully engage second-line and senior managers in the process to ensure that coaching remains an ongoing priority, not a passing fad.

Managers' Failure to Accurately Observe Behavior

Managers often revert to teaching sales tactics that worked well for them rather than focusing on the new skills required to effectively coach in today's environment. Critical to coaching today is the ability to correctly observe behavior and specify behavior change.

How many of you have counted coaching as one of the keystone pieces for retention and improved revenue? And if so, is your approach consistent and effective? Give it some thought!

In my next coaching article, we'll look at the history of coaching. Knowing the history will help you better understand the underpinnings and rationale as to why this topic is so relevant to growing and sustaining a successful business. 

 

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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. 

Why Your Brain Loves Lists: The Psychology of Digesting Information

About four years ago, I wrote a popular blog on an obscure medical book called the Checklist Manifesto.  Since then, that book has become quite popular and the principles outlined by the author for hospitals have benefited managers and individuals in many industries.  Hopefully, you’ve used it yourself!

Since reading this book, I’ve often wondered why people are naturally drawn to the concept of a checklist. Whether I’m talking with a seasoned executive or my 7-year old, it just seems right to create and follow a list.  I never get an argument on this topic—it’s always, “…of course we’d need to create and follow a checklist, that only makes sense.”

Well, I need not wonder any more.  Best-selling author Maria Konnikova recently wrote a fascinating article in the New Yorker magazine that reveals the science behind the ubiquitous success of the list.

It’s a long and very detailed article (that surprisingly does not contain any lists), but here are a few of the points I found most interesting:

"Your mind seeks organization. “Lists tap into our preferred way of receiving and organizing information at a subconscious level; from an information-processing standpoint, they often hit our attentional sweet spot.

When we process information, we do so spatially. For instance, it’s hard to memorize through brute force the groceries we need to buy. It’s easier to remember everything if we write it down in bulleted, or numbered points.”

Your mind wants to categorize. Lists also appeal to our general tendency to categorize things—in fact, it’s hard for us not to categorize something the moment we see it—since they chunk information into short, distinct components….

Because we can process information more easily when it’s in a list than when it’s clustered and undifferentiated, like in standard paragraphs, a list feels more intuitive. In other words, lists simply feel better.”

Your mind wants to know how long this will take.  “The more we know about something—including precisely how much time it will consume—the greater the chance we will commit to it. The process is self-reinforcing: we recall with pleasure that we were able to complete the task instead of leaving it undone and that satisfaction, in turn, makes us more likely to click on lists again.

The social psychologist Robert Zajonc, who made his name studying the connection between emotion and cognition, argued that the positive feeling of completion in and of itself is enough to inform future decisions. Preferences, goes his famous coinage, need no inferences.”

Konnikova’s insight has a number of applications in the real estate industry.  Here are a few that come to mind quickly:

Recruiting.  During an interview, help the candidate categorize the dissatisfaction they feel in their current job/career by creating a list.   Prioritizing the list will help them feel and remember the dissatisfaction.

Coaching.   You have important concepts that you want your agents to understand during a coaching session.  Present the information in a list.  It will be easier to remember and refer back to later.

Training.  As the Checklist Manifesto taught us, if you want someone to consistently do something, create a checklist. This will be good for your brain and the person you’re trying to train.

Communicating with clients.  Teach your agents to use lists in their communication with clients—especially marketing pieces. As people skim information, their eyes are naturally drawn to lists.

Follow-up emails.  When you’re finished with a meeting and write a follow-up email to those who attended, use lists to summarize.  Here is what we discussed (bullet list).  Here are the action items (2^nd bullet list).

There are many more applications (another hint; done’ make your lists too long), but you get the idea. 

The psychology of digesting information is key to your success as a communicator.  If you think about it, getting people around you to hear, digest, and act upon the information you’re communicating is the main part of your “job description” as a leader.   Make sure you become proficient at using this tool.

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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. 

How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Procrastination

Writing doesn't come easy for me. It's actually one of my least favorite things to do. As many of us do
with tasks that take us outside our comfort range, I usually leave it until the very last minute. It sometimes takes me days to come up with just the right title or the beginning paragraph and often it is still not quite “right."  At times, the task of writing feels overwhelming.

I would guess there are many candidates who feel this way about their goal of becoming an effective and successful agent. For example, they might love selling because they are socially adept, but find studying and taking tests more difficult.  Trying to pass the licensing exam may seem like an unreachable goal, they leave the studying until the last minute.  In turn, procrastination causes many people to fail.

What can we do to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination? I recently read an article in Psychology Today that spoke more about laziness than procrastination, but the solution proposed works well for both. The following is an excerpt from the article:

"Dealing with our own mind is a bit like dealing with a small child. It doesn’t always know what’s best, and our job is to take it by the hand compassionately and set it on the right path. With practice, inertia is relatively easy to overcome – at least compared to other mental roadblocks. The key, in my experience, is to stop arguing with the mind.

Most minds, like children, don’t switch gears easily. “Time to go to the gym,” you might say to yourself, to which your mind answers, no thanks, I’m fine where I am. The gym is far away, and it will take too much time, and everything there is really heavy, and do you really want to spend your day lifting heavy things?

And by the way, says your mind, you should be ashamed of yourself for laying on this couch.

It’s easy to get drawn into an argument with the mind, and it can stymie us with that bizarre combination of sloth and shame. Sometimes arguing works; sometimes it doesn't and you feel awful. But there’s an easier way – a lazier way: don’t engage in the argument.

When the thought of going to the gym (for example) seems overwhelming, try shifting your attention to something more manageable, like the first small step that starts you down the path. We may not be able to prevent lazy thoughts and urges, but we can control whether or not we focus on them.

You might tell yourself, "I don’t have to go to the gym right now, I only have to put on my shoes.” Once your shoes are on, the next task is simply to get to the car, and so on. Momentum will often take over if you can get your body moving in the right direction. Don’t worry that your mind isn’t in the mood, it will catch up later. Before you know it, you’ll be working up a sweat.

It takes practice, but I’ve found this approach to be quite effective. While you’re in the process of ignoring the bigger picture and taking small steps, it helps to divert your attention to something external, like music. It also helps immensely to frame your goals in terms of what you want (I want to be physically fit) rather than what you don’t want (I don’t want to be fat).”

I vividly remember reading about Ed Viesturs (a famous mountaineer) who would continually break down each climb into 25- 50 yard segments. He would look ahead and find a rock or a snowdrift, and focus his attention on only reaching that landmark. He would then celebrate his small accomplishment and repeat the process.  After doing this again and again, he would eventually find himself standing atop a 30,000-foot peak. 

I am going to try this when writing my next blog. Ironically, this is the same advice I frequently prescribe as a psychologist, but I had not thought about it in broader terms.

If we can help agents (and ourselves) see the goal as a process, it sets us free to break that process down into small, manageable steps. The security of knowing that we’ve successfully completed one small step makes it much easier to take the next step.  Like Ed Veisturs, we’ll also be amazed at the significant things we accomplish!

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Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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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. 

You’re Talking, But What Are Your Candidates Hearing?-Part 2

As we discussed earlier in the week, there is no such thing as an “active candidate” (someone that needs a job from your company) in the world of real estate.  By default, all prospective agents are “passive candidates.” 

Since passive candidates don’t need a job at your company, they are evaluating if working with your organization is better than what they are currently doing.  Often, their easiest option is to do nothing.

To treat passive candidates (especially new-to real estate prospects) as if they are active candidates is a mistake.  It destroys your chances of convincing high-quality individuals to join your organization.

With this foundation in place, Peter Weddle addresses one more issue during telephone screening that commonly derails the passive candidate recruiting process. 

The issue is inconsistent messaging. 

Peter puts it this way in his recent newsletter:

“In order to engage and effectively influence passive prospects…the recruiter begins the call and continues the selling effort for an opening that was begun in the recruitment ad to which the applicant replied.

This short but carefully orchestrated period should not be used simply to restate the information in the ad, but rather to highlight the key elements of its value proposition. In other words, what makes this opening a special opportunity and what makes the employer a special place to work?

The purpose of this initial interaction is "re-recruitment." It's done to remind the passive prospect why they applied for the job and to reinforce the position's potential advantages for them.”

Notice how the telephone screening builds upon the message the candidate “heard” when they responded to the initial sourcing event.    Typically, a sourcing event would be a job advertisement, but it could also be something like an agent referral or a visit to the career page of your company’s website.

If the initial sourcing message and the next contact (the telephone screening) do not complement and support each other, the candidate will typically sense the disequilibrium.  When this happens, the red flags go up in a prospect’s mind. 

Researchers have frequently demonstrated that the human mind doesn’t like disequilibrium when it is trying to assimilate new information.  If candidates can’t quickly find equilibrium during the telephone screening (“This makes sense based on what I initially heard…”), they’ll eject themselves from the recruiting process to find that equilibrium (“Changing careers was probably not going to work for me anyway.  What was I thinking?…").

By the way, the same principle applies to the interview stage of the recruiting process. 

If the messages at these three recruiting junctures (initial sourcing event, telephone screening, and interview) do not match and support each other, your recurring success with passive candidates will be greatly diminished. 

If you remember the take-away from part one of this discussion—all prospective agents, new or experienced, are passive candidates—you can see why it’s so important to master this technique.

Here is some final advice from Peter:

“The telephone pre-screen is often implemented as a mechanical element of the recruitment process - a pass-fail test that is all about what the employer wants to know. By [being consistent in your messaging] you can both assess applicants more effectively and get more of them - especially those elusive passive prospects - to accept any offer that is made.

Consciously or unconsciously, passive prospects believe that the way they are treated in the recruiting process mimics the way they will be treated as employees, so it's essential to optimize their experience from the beginning to the end.”

Exactly.  

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Already of a member of TMOC?  If so, join the WorkPuzzle Dialog Group by clicking on the WorkPuzzle Group icon on the left side of your TMOC homepage.  Questions?   Email the WorkPuzzle editor (workpuzzle@hiringcenter.net) and we'll walk through the process.

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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. 

You’re Talking, But What are Your Candidates Hearing?

One of the purposes of WorkPuzzle is to aggregate recruiting information and best practices from traditional recruiting industry sources.  While many of the topics that corporate recruiters and staffing companies discuss do not apply to the real estate industry, there are occasional parallels that are instructive.

Peter Weddle, an author and popular recruiting columnist, recently addressed such an issue in his bi- weekly newsletter.   The topic was telephone screening, but the application for the real estate industry has broader implications.   

We’ll discuss not only the nature of the candidate (who are you talking to?), but also the message your candidates are hearing as they progress through the recruiting process in your organization.

Nature of the Candidate.  For traditional recruiters, candidates come in two flavors—active candidates (those who need a job) and passive candidates (those who are already employed and would consider changing jobs if a better deal came along).

Depending on the nature of the candidate, the initial phone contact (often called a telephone pre-screen) is handled differently.  Peter makes the following distinction:

“Traditionally, the telephone pre-screen has primarily been used to verify the qualifications of candidates and determine if they should be invited for an on-site interview. The assumption behind this approach is that every applicant has already been sold on working for an employer.

While that may be true for active job seekers, it's not true for most passive prospects.  This difference occurs because passive prospects have a choice, and active job seekers don't.

Active job seekers are almost always unemployed, so their application for a position signals their genuine interest in it and, more often than not, their intent to accept an offer made for it. They have applied because they need the job.

Passive prospects, in contrast, are almost always employed, so they can choose to stay with their current employer or to accept any of the offers they have likely received from other employers. They have applied because they are interested, but not yet sold on the job.”

In the real estate recruiting world, there is no such thing as an active candidate. 

Whether you’re recruiting new or experienced agent candidates, they are all, by default passive candidates. 

Why?  Due to the independent contractor nature of the agent/broker relationship and the fact that your competitors are always hiring, no one “needs” a real estate agent job.  Any candidate can easily find a broker at any time with which to hang his or her license.

While this concept probably seems simple and self-evident, it’s amazing how many real estate recruiters treat prospective agents (especially new-to-real-estate candidates) as active candidates.

In the initial telephone pre-screen, they make the assumption that most candidates are unqualified and need to prove themselves worthy of evaluation by the company. There is also a secondary (more subtle) belief that most candidates don’t have other compelling employment options, so they’re considering real estate.

Peter points out that this attitude greatly hinders the recruiting process if the objective is to hire talented individuals:

“Why worry about the different responses active job seekers and passive prospects have to a telephone pre-screen? As the Golden Rule of Recruiting acknowledges: what you do to recruit passive talent will also recruit active talent, but the converse is not true.

In other words, if you configure your telephone pre-screen for active job seekers, it will work just fine for them, but will turn away many if not most passive prospects. On the other hand, if you design the pre-screen for passive prospects, it will have a positive impact on them and on active job seekers as well.”

From this discussion, there are two questions worth considering:

How does your organization treat candidates during their initial phone contact with the organization? 

If you don't know the answer to this question, find out by asking some questions of those making the calls and listening to some of those calls as a third party observer. 

Does the messaging in the telephone pre-screen (positive, passive-candidate messaging) carry over into the other part of the recruiting process (interview, post-interview, etc.)?

We’ll cover this question in Part 2 of this discussion.  As you probably guessed, starting off on the right foot is an important part of connecting with talented individuals, but communicating consistently also plays an important part in shaping the candidate’s perspective. 

 

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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. 

I Dare You.....

In past blogs I have focused on the relational aspect of recruiting.  There is another aspect just as
important, but perhaps not as intuitive, and that is the habitual side of a recruiting strategy.  It is one thing to identify a strategy or process, but another to commit to the execution of said strategy.

The single most important aspect of any recruiting strategy is engagement, be it prospecting, interviewing or following-up.  It is the foundation of any recruiting process, without it you cannot build and sustain a recruiting pipeline that will convert to hiring talent.    Paul Castain, Vice President of Castain Training Systems, wrote a blog extolling the pitfalls of inconsistent prospecting relative to sales, but I usually see parallels in the wonderful world of recruiting in general.

To summarize, Paul pointed out three problems with inconsistent prospecting, two of which stood out to me:

1. You’re visibility is severely diminished.  Without consistent contact your prospects won’t really know who you are or feel connected to you in any meaningful way.   People want to work with people they know, like and trust. If you are not engaging with them they won’t engage with you.
2. You’re giving your competition the advantage. You could have the best brand in the world, but if you aren’t talking with a prospect, you know your competitors are.

I would say the number one complaint I hear repeatedly from managers regarding the task of recruiting, is that they just don’t have the time.  There are meetings to be had, fires to be extinguished, agents/staff knocking on doors… This is where the habitual side of recruiting comes into play. 

Schedule your “engagement time” (yes, another feeble attempt at re-framing the term recruiting).  I mean, literally put it on your calendar like any other appointment.  Put on the proverbial “do not disturb” sign and shut your door.   Make this a recurring “appointment” as many times per week as you can to:

1. Make calls
2. Send emails
3. Document your action for the day, including a date for follow-up contact or scheduled meetings
4. Rinse and repeat

I don’t know if I have any “dare devils” out there, but like Paul did for those in sales, I challenge you to open up your calendar and schedule your “engagement time(s)” and kick-start your recruiting habits.

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. .

Lessons from Harvard Graduates

Earlier today, I found myself mesmerized by an online book named If I knew then: Advice on careers, finance, and life from Harvard Business School's Class of 1963.

As the name describes, a list of Harvard Graduates from the class of 1963, on their 50th anniversary of graduation, offer advice on a number of topics ranging from careers, business, marriage, leadership, happiness, wealth and several others. I thought this might come in useful as a resource in leading and inspiring others. 

Business

Ralph Linsalata

"Never use the pronoun “I” except when taking responsibility for a problem or mistake. When success occurs, it should always be “we” or “they.”

Communication with all employees is critical. Strategies must be explained repeatedly — as many as 20 times — before most people really understand them.

The right culture is also critical. It takes a long time and an exceptional amount of effort to change a bad culture. Most companies fail because they do not have the right culture. 

All competitive advantages last for a very short time. You have to be paranoid to stay as the leader of a successful company."

Judy Ley Allen

"Surround yourself with the smartest, most ethical people you can find. Set clear goals, communicate them clearly, and delegate."

Happiness & Success

Artie Buerk

"When I entered Harvard Business School, I was staggered by the ability of classmates (especially Ivy-Leaguers) to talk. Everyone seemed trained to be very articulate. In my mind, people were given two ears and one mouth for a reason: one should listen many more times than one should talk.

Active listening requires understanding what you are hearing, asking follow-up questions, and watching body language. The better one listens, the better one learns.

As one ages, it seems that people tend to talk more about themselves and less about the people they are talking to. Listen more and talk less for success."

John A. Fabian

"The most successful lives are those people who have had a very positive impact on a great many other people."

Marriage & Family

Ralph Linsalata

"Tell your spouse and children that you love them every day, no matter how you feel.

 Do not bring your problems home with you.

Realize the joy that comes from helping your spouse and children excel in their fields of interest and enjoy themselves.

Develop within your family a sense of obligation to help others.

Spending quality time with your family — not just time — is critical.

Choose a spouse who will understand and support you, and one for whom you will  do the same. Life is much better if you can help each other grow and expand your  knowledge, experiences, friends, and capabilities."

Gerald (Jerry) Wolin

"When raising children, make sure they grow up to be independent. Too many of us want to make life easy on our kids and save them from anguish. That is not always the best course of action."

Donald P. Nielsen

"Marriage is an 80–20 partnership, on both sides. If you each understand that, you always go out of your way to please your spouse. When both partners do that, you have a happy marriage.

The greatest gift you can give your children is to love one another."

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It's hard for any of us to imagine 50-years into the future--especially when we're young and inexperienced. This is one of the reasons it's so important to learn the lessons of those who have more experience.  As you lead and coach the young agents under your care, share these insights and the insights of others who have gone before us.  It will not only enrich your coaching experience, but it may also make you a better person in the process.

 

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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. 

Become a “Talent Gatherer” and You May Forget You’re Recruiting

In my quest to encourage, promote and assist our clients in their recruiting efforts, I often find myself trying to find a new way to approach the work of recruiting. 

Most all of the managers with whom I have worked understand the need for consistent recruiting results, but they really languish in the execution of that task.   In helping them overcome this common state of mind, I often find myself trying to reframe this experience into something less objectionable.

I have written in the past about changing one’s mindset from the concept of recruiting to the reality of relationship building, which most managers do naturally well. 

I have also discussed the idea of the recruiting process mirroring that of the sales process.  In any sales process, it’s common sense that one prospects, identifies a client, and nurtures that relationship consistently and thoughtfully until it closes. Looking at the recruiting process from that perspective should not feel objectionable—especially to those managers who love to sell.

So here I am again, trying to playfully trick hiring managers into falling in love with the recruiting process.  Margaret Heffernan, an entrepreneur and author, brought this new vantage point to my attention.   Consider how she has learned to find and engage talented individuals for her business:

“Every CEO I know worries about people and talent. How do you find and keep the right people? Why is it so hard to find employees when you need them? Why does recruitment take so long and cost so much?

These questions contain the answers. Most leaders fill slots as they arise--and that's the wrong way around. What more creative leaders do is collect talent, all the time. At conferences, visiting other companies, at community events, talking to the parents of their children: they scan the horizon constantly for energy, talent, and drive.

Then, when they find those qualities, they can do one of three things.

They can notice and move on--and remain frustrated.

They can notice, develop a relationship with the people who've caught their attention, and keep lines of communication open. (They're like casting agents who watch every movie, see every play--even school plays--and know immediately what to do when a spot opens up.)

But the boldest of these CEOs go even further: they just hire the talent in the confidence that great people make themselves useful. This doesn't always look efficient but it can be terrifically productive. How many business owners can seriously afford to keep talent out?

Talent gatherers are, in effect, impresarios. They are always recruiting because they just love finding new talent, connecting to it, and nurturing it. It's their nature, not just their job. Everyone else is just trying to catch up.”

From Margaret’s perspective, real estate owners are indeed bold because they understand the need to constantly be on the lookout for potential talent.  They encourage both their managers and their agents (in the form of referral programs) to be constantly performing the recruiting function as they go about their normal business duties.

But in Margaret’s description, most real estate hiring managers get stuck on points one and two.  It’s all too easy to see opportunity and take no action. 

But, it’s also too easy to only consider those “actors” who seem to be close to a “role” you need to fill. This is equivalent to a hiring manager only taking notice of those who are already licensed or in school for real estate.  Those candidates are perceived to be the most visible and easier to communicate with since you most likely run in the same circles, but this is a limited source for recruiting.

For me, the third point relates to opening up the hiring aperture to hiring new agent talent.  By beginning a dialog, (i.e. starting a relationship) with highly skilled individuals in your community you open up the door to on-boarding a new pool of talent that could convert at any point in time. 

Does this type of recruiting seem time consuming to you?  Even if your efforts don’t directly produce a hire, might they become your next client or referral?  It seems to me you are already building these relationships…why not explore the possibility of a career in real estate with them as well?

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. .