WorkPuzzle

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.

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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.  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.

The Science of Giving Thanks

After stuffing yourself tomorrow with turkey, gravy, and pumpkin pie... and perhaps after winning the family betting pool on predicting when Aunt Marge will unbuckle the top few buttons of her pants, I want you to put some time aside to consider a brand new habit... Celebrating Thanksgiving every day.  What do I mean by this?

I mean the Doctor is prescribing a dose of daily gratitude...either in the morning with your vitamins or at night before going to bed.  Why?  Because science has discovered that it may aid your health and well-being beyond what we have ever known.

You see, gratitude has only recently been put under the microscope from a scientific research perspective.  Prior to the last 15 years, the subject was left to philosophers and religious leaders as the appropriate experts to extol its benefits.  However, once scientists began studying gratitude, they were so impressed by the findings, that research in this area has exploded.  Take a look at some of the findings in the below paraphrased list from a research project on Gratitude and Thankfulness.

1. Studies show that those who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercise more regularly, report fewer physical symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and are more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who record hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
2. Young adults who are taught self-guided exercises for daily gratitude report higher levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to other groups, who tend to focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants think they are better off than others).
3. Study participants practicing gratitude are more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to someone, compared to a group focused on hassles or social comparison condition.
4. In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high-energy, positive moods; a greater sense of connectedness to others; more optimistic ratings of one’s life; and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.
5. Children who practice grateful thinking have more positive attitudes toward school and their families (Froh, Sefick, & Emmons, 2008).
6. Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, and optimism.  In addition, they report lower levels of depression and stress.  The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions.  Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.
7. Prosociality:  People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathetic and to view the perspective of others.  They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).
8. Spirituality:  Those who regularly attend religious services and engage in religious activities, such as prayer reading, are more likely to be grateful.  Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life, and a commitment to, and responsibility to others (McCullough et. al., 2002).  Gratitude does not require religious faith, but faith enhances the ability to be grateful.
9. Materialism:  Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others' success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of others; and are more likely to share their possessions with others, relative to less grateful persons.
10. Goal Attainment: Gratitude is linked to significantly improved personal goal attainment.  In one study, participants in one group kept gratitude lists.  This group ended up more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period than subjects in the control group, who underwent other exercises toward goal attainment.

There are many ways to develop a practice of daily gratitude.  You can create a gratitude journal.  Or, if you have an Iphone you can download a gratitude app.

What's clear through the research is that if you don't lean more towards gratitude than complaining, you and those around you will most likely suffer as result.  So, follow the Doctor's prescription and begin a practice of gratitude, starting today.  You won't regret it... 

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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.  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.

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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. 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.  

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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. 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.

Reading and Leading

Over the past several articles, Ben has written some excellent content regarding vital components to the present state of hiring in real estate.  I am interrupting his series on engagement at work momentarily to share an article that has impacted me.  It's an article detailing the importance of reading for those in positions of leadership.  This article, by Michael Hyatt, resonated with me enough to include it in its entirety below.  I hope you are moved to more deliberate reading in the same way I was.  Enjoy...

"Widely considered to be one of America’s greatest business philosophers, Jim Rohn, the late Dallas businessman and dynamic public speaker, is well known for his commitment to lifelong personal development.  During his talks on the subject, he is fond of pointing out that every house that costs over $500,000 (adjusted for inflation) has a room in it called a library.

'Why do you suppose that is?' Rohn challenges his audience. 'Doesn’t that make you curious?  How come every house over $500,000 has got a library? Does that tell you something?  Does that educate you at all?'

There is no doubt that Rohn is right; successful people do read more.  Leaders, in particular, seem to read more than almost anyone else.  After all, curiosity is often cited as a common characteristic of great leaders.  Lincoln was famous for reading both the Bible and Shakespeare; Franklin Roosevelt loved Kipling. 'Every great leader I’ve ever met has been a great reader,' says Rohn.

For most of us, books were where it all began.

Usually a person finds they were infected with a love of books at an early age, usually by a fellow carrier of the disease, more often than not a parent or teacher.  That wonderful ability of a great book to transport our minds to new and unexplored places can have a tremendous impact on us.  For the truly fortunate, a love of reading can easily lead to a love of learning—a gift that will well serve both leaders and those who simply aspire to leadership.

Too often, however, leaders allow themselves to get out of the reading habit. When it comes to learning, the brain can be likened to a muscle, and so like a muscle, it has to be regularly exercised.  As we get older it will be increasingly important for us to continue exercising our brains, and there is nothing that compares to reading for keeping the brain in top shape.  Additionally, as we progress through the leadership ranks within our organizations, we will need the increased knowledge and skills that only reading can provide.

The challenge to continue to grow and learn is one that each person must accept for themselves.  Personal development is just that—personal.  What works for one person may not work for someone else, and success may mean continually trying different strategies.  But regardless of how we learn, reading will still be the primary method, and books will still be the primary tool.  The key is to get yourself back to the books and you may find that you need some help getting back into the habit.

Here are three strategies:

1. Read more than one book at a time.  If everything we should be reading had the same plot and pace as an episode of The Bourne Trilogy then learning about search engine optimization or social marketing would make reading to learn an easier sell.  To truly grow we will need to learn to dive into subjects that can often be as dry as a west Texas summer, and we will need to learn to stay with them until the very end. 

Continue with the goal of reading so many chapters or 'x' number of pages in mind, but if you find your mind wandering before reaching your reading goal for the night, try dropping one book and picking up another.  Continue reading to your goal, but allow your mind more choice in the subject of the moment.  If you find the new material interesting, keep working through it, but if not drop that book too and either go back to your original book or try out a third title.

2. Try reading in more than one place.  On a similar theme to reading more than one book at a time, have books set aside to read when you are at different locations.  A book stored in your briefcase, backpack, or carrying case can insure you are always able to take advantage of down time in your schedule.  A doctor who is running late can add a chapter to your reservoir of knowledge. 

Similarly, a book stashed in your desk at work can be a great way to recharge your batteries.  Consider reading for ten or fifteen minutes at least once during your work day.  You may find that not only do you reach your goal of using reading to learn, you are also more excited about the work you were doing prior to your brain break.

3. Make use of the latest technologies.  By now everyone is aware of the benefits of using an e-Book reader similar to Amazon’s Kindle or Apple’s iPad. These technologies make carrying a number of books with you at all times much more convenient, and anything that makes reading easier is always a good idea. 

Books on tape were a wonderful invention, allowing what Zig Ziglar called Automobile University.  Today books can be recorded as MP3 files, greatly reducing the size of the files and allowing you to keep a number of audio books on your iPod at any one time.  Your phone can be another great place to keep an audio book, and you can be sure you will usually have it, and so them, with you most of the time.

No matter what, don’t stop.  Using these or other strategies to increase the number of books you read each year will help you grow both as a person and as a leader.  Think of the value you could bring your organization if you could speak another language.  Think of how much more valuable you will be in the marketplace if you bring a deep understanding of accounting and finance to the work you perform.

Reading can be the key to all knowledge, and having the discipline to regularly read a number of books on a wide range of subjects can be the key to success."

 

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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.  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.

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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. 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. 

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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. 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...

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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. 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.

Why focusing on One Goal can beat the Competition

Stop everything you are doing right now, and ask yourself:  What is the ONE most important thing I should focus on?  What is my KEY objective?  Next, ask these questions to someone in your office.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how this type of simplification can lead to improved results.  I used the example of the Seattle Seahawks, who were predicted to do poorly and not return to the playoffs anytime soon...primarily because they have far too many new players playing together for the first time, and no one considered to be the best at their position.

Despite going up against better competitors (on paper), as I write this, the Seahawks are in sole first place in their division with 4 wins and 2 losses.  But HOW?

Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times answers this question:  

"Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is not what he used to be.  That statement is not a critique of his performance nor a commentary on the caliber of his arm.

It's the reality of how the quarterback's role has changed under coach Pete Carroll.  It's not just the throws he makes, but the turnovers he doesn't.  Valor isn't as important as discretion.

'In our offense and our football team, it's about taking care of the ball,' Carroll said.  'Matt is the first guy who has to do that.'

It's not like turnovers just now became important under Carroll, but avoiding them is now the number one priority.  And for the past two weeks, Hasselbeck has done a first-rate job.  Seattle has one turnover in the past two games as the Seahawks have won two in a row to gain control of the NFC West.

Hasselbeck hasn't been picked off for 10 quarters, throwing 97 consecutive passes and counting, without an interception.  That's quite a change from a player who was picked off 10 times in the last four games of 2009 and at least once each of the first four games this season." 

What is your primary objective?  Can it be measured? 

For the Seahawks, it's turnovers.  This is measurable.  At the end of each game, achievement of this goal is definitively apparent, both for the offense and the defense.  By focusing on this goal, it's not as if the team forgets to focus on play development, strategy, play calling, tackling etc... They work to execute all of those tasks.  But, they hold one task above all others - avoiding turnovers.  In fact, by establishing this as the priority, the team can feel fairly assured that they'll succeed in this regard...and getting that right can lead to wins.

What about your business?

In the new agent category: Perhaps for recruiters, you could focus on number of manager appointments set each week with quality candidates.  Managers could focus on number of interviews converted into hires.

In the experienced agent category:  Perhaps Managers could focus on number of contacts per week within their agent pipeline.

Whatever the goal, measure and broadcast the results.  Pick something that all other objectives hinge on and drive toward it.  I can almost guarantee that few of your competitors do this.  Focusing on too many objectives leaves you ignoring them all.

By the time you read this, the Seahawks will have played the Raiders.  Whatever the outcome, check out the turnover ratio.  Also remember, perfection isn't the goal...improvement over last year is! 

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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.  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.