Evolution in a Broker[age]

Over the course of the past month, with the help of my wife Mari, and using an evaluation system similar to what her teams would use during her tenure in Silicon Valley, we have been meeting with our agents and staff to help guide their self-assessments and goal setting, both within the context of the brokerage and beyond.

The combined effect of these convergences was illuminating, helping us more fully understand and appreciate the range of dreams, hopes and frustrations every one of us experiences along the way. We were reminded of the special connection we get to share with each of these amazing individuals, and we were struck by how different it felt from one session to the next, based on where each individual is in the context of their journey.

My longtime transaction partner shared her vision for building a satellite office to expand our presence in other markets, while continuing to provide the support and infrastructure for the systems required to power the broad range of transactions our brokerage handles, while also expanding her personal book of business.

One of our agents is keeping his focus on building his suite of services offered, setting aside personal relationship goals for the time being with the belief that those will take shape once his framework for success is solidly in place. By contrast, another who is active in Property Management is striving for balance to meet his work obligations and expand into sales while maintaining the necessary boundaries to be present and provide support for his partner at home. 

Yet another particularly dynamic agent is focused on sustaining her professional identity and workload at her other longtime professional role where she has enjoyed a strong record of success, while she continues to build on a very promising parallel trajectory in real estate, by leaning into the deep connections she shares with her clients in both worlds.

We also added a new Assistant Director of Property Management who is actively overhauling operations in that division, preserving the solid culture of service that our Director of Property Management has built, while also joining forces on a few of my projects to build a strong presence or himself in Commercial Real Estate sales and leasing.

And in the relatively brief timeframe since he has come on board, our new Office and Marketing Manager has made strides in raising the standard of our brand, while concurrently working to pursue aspirations of getting his license to leverage his considerable experience of owning and managing properties in his personal family portfolio.

We come away from these sessions with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the identity that each of us represent while also gaining clarity on what it is that makes our company thrive, with new steps we can take along the way to continue improving.