Creating a Nurturing Culture

By Robyn Hardy

RISMEDIA, Nov. 20, 2007— There is a fine line between dependent and interdependent agents. One of the things I did wrong when I started hiring new agents was I tended to create a dependency on me personally. This was not in their best interest since I am only one and they were many. It is a big mistake to tell a new agent that you will be there for them 24/7 365. It is impossible. The best scenario for the new agent, yourself and the brokerage is to create an environment that nurtures interdependence throughout your entire organization.

Nurturing new agents starts with you, your staff and the cultural foundation of your company. If you have a very independent organization where agents don’t openly help each other and support staff is tucked away in a back closet assuring minimal interaction with your agents, bringing in newly licensed agents may not be the best idea. The key is to create a culture of support and interdependence between agent to agent, agent to staff and staff to staff. It is a beautiful thing when you can tell a new recruit they have many people who will help them including their own experienced peers. This takes a lot of pressure off you and will entice them to come to the office to absorb shared knowledge thus shortening the learning curve.

How to Create an Interdependent Organization

It starts with a serious evaluation of your and your staffs’ attitudes towards your agents. Do you even like your agents? Does your staff roll their eyes in disgust when an agent leaves their office or when they hang up the phone after speaking to an agent? Do you hear you staff snickering about or berating agents amongst themselves? Do you do any of the above? Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to love everyone. I had my favorites and I had agents I barely tolerated. Key is, they never knew it and my staff would never have known it.

There were very basic rules in my organization. First and foremost respect and service for all no matter what their personality differences. Second, my staff was very clear on two things:

1. Their job was to play well together, make the company look and feel good and help agents make money.
2. For their dedication to the above, I promised to protect them from all evil and pay more than fair wages! By evil, I mean agents who are abusive and disrespectful in any way. I didn’t care what their production was or how much they brought to the company bottom line. If they stepped out of line with my staff, they were immediately boxed up and booted out the front door. This showed my staff and agents that our company was not just about money.

By being vigilant in my protection of my staff, they in turn were protective of me and the company. Their attitude of servitude helped our agents make more money which in turn helped me share more money with my staff and that is what this business is all about.

To assist my staff in developing interpersonal skills that would help them understand and nurture agents and each other no matter their differences, I consistently invested in their personal growth by providing life coaching and seminars that helped them be the best they could be. I think most brokerages invest way more in their agents than the people who are their front line.

I gave my staff two safety zones where they could share anything they wanted even if it was a string of expletives about a certain agent. My office was one and a yearly staff holiday breakfast was the other. At our breakfast, the staff was given permission to poke fun at and share silly and upsetting stories about the agents. All shared information was left on the table with the leftover pancakes. It was by far the most fun event we had all year.

Will there ever be issues amongst staff and agents…of course. We are human. If it is an isolated case then it is dealt with and monitored for future infractions. But in my book, two strikes and you are out.

Be very selective in your hiring of staff. They are your eyes and ears. Respect their insights and intuitions. I never hired an agent without approval from my front desk gal Tonna. She is the one who has to interact with the agents every day. Every recruit that came to my office for an interview was introduced to my entire staff. I would walk them around and my staff would interact with them asking a couple questions each. After the interview, I would ask for my staffs’ feedback. If your staff is going to be helping these people make money, they have to play the whole game with you.

Once your staff exudes their nurturing nature to agents they become the model by which your agents will emulate. A simple thing like taking an agent by the hand and showing them around tells them that your culture is warm and welcoming. In my company, if an agent approached a staff member in need of something that staff member was not in charge of, that staff member would personally escort the agent to the dept/staff they needed to see. They would introduce the agent and explain what the agent needed then ask the agent if there was anything else they could help with before leaving them with the appropriate person. Sometimes this was challenging considering my offices were spread out over 3 levels of an office complex and three geographic areas. If it was a phone inquiry, it was handled the same way with a warm hand off to the next staff member. In the end, it saved time and energy because that agent then knew exactly where to go without interrupting other staff members’ duties. You will also witness agents emulating this behavior with other agents.

Things to do with your staff to create the culture you desire:

• First and foremost empower them to be the “Leaders” of their position. Give them the skills and ability to make decisions on your behalf.
• Relay you’re coaching and leadership skill set to each and every one of them.
• Take them to lunch individually as often as possible.
• Bring them together every week to discuss what is going well and what needs correction.
• Put them in charge of a training class related to their skill set and/or their position. One class shared by my front desk staff was titled “Your Personal Appearance.” They researched the subject and gave this class to agents, new and experienced, once a month. It also helped them understand the importance of their own front desk appearance.
• Bring them into your recruiting and hiring process. They know a lot more than you think.
• Have them part of the interview process with any new employee.
• Encourage them to research ways their department/position can assist agents in creating more business and help the company retain more money.
• Reward them for bringing and implementing successful ideas to the company. If the coffer is low, try giving them a little PTO.
• Praise and thank them often and always, always acknowledge them in meetings and any publications your company creates.
• Post their pictures, bios and their personal mission statements for all to see on a company wall and website.

One thing I am very clear on, the average length of time employees are with a company is a direct reflection of that companies’ culture, standards and principles. When I sold my company two years ago I had staff that had been with me for more than 12 years. Some, like my front desk aficionado, Tonna, are still there assisting those agents they are truly dedicated to.

Nurturing this interdependent cultural foundation will assist everyone in your organization. Once in place, you will know if you have made a wrong hire or recruit. Peace and flow will be immediately disrupted. If you do make a poor choice, or one of your managers misses the clues of a bad hire, correct it immediately. If you hang on and wait to see if it will clear itself up, you are disrespecting all those people who have helped in supporting your cultural endeavors. You will lose your footing rapidly.

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