As a real estate agent, interpersonal relationships and sociability are at the forefront of your role.
The ability to negotiate and dissipate tension and stress between buyers, sellers and other agents are essential.
A supportive environment is an indispensable office asset when ensuring a successful and healthy agency.
Being a real estate professional requires high energy levels and an optimistic outlook.
Such a culture inspires a sense of belonging and camaraderie.
When agents feel as though they’re truly part of a team, the feeling inculcates a tendency to assist and encourage one another; the true measure of teamwork.
In an industry that fluctuates with highs and lows in the market, the importance of a strong culture is paramount to ensure you enjoy high points and ride through the lows together, always coming out the other side stronger.
So, what does all of this mean for the atmosphere of your average real estate office, and how can positive workplace culture be instilled across the board?
Knowing your staff members’ personality type is of prime importance.
When you get to know the nuances in personalities of your staff members, you can then adjust and adapt your conversational and leadership style based on what that individual requires.
For example, at Buxton we use the DISC profiling system to establish personality types, which enables all members of the organisation to identify areas of strength and weakness.
Once you establish such a solid understanding of your staff, you can adapt strategies and acquire clarity of understanding regarding the ways different people interpret a variety of situations.
Communication is the most recurring buzz word when it comes to workplace culture in any vocation.
Something as simple as a staff intranet, which allows engagement, interaction and an essential level of praise for each other’s work, can significantly improve internal contact between agents.
Such a level of communication internally manifests a culture of contact and connectivity between the agency and its surrounding community.
The public-facing members of every agency should be transparent and personable, allowing for an active and mutual respect between agents and surrounding community members.
Fair and consistent leadership is the fundamental foundation upon which a real estate agency rests.
Although a pleasant workplace environment owes itself to each member of the team working as a cohesive structure, the elected leaders play a vital role in establishing an encouraging ambience in the agency environment.
It’s important to check in regularly with employees to ascertain whether their attitude towards work has turned sour.
Setting achievable targets, alleviating unnecessary pressures, and taking an interest in any issues outside the office are all critical behaviours when promoting a reassuring and sympathetic relationship between colleagues.
Why is this advice important to your business? As leaders, we want our staff coming into work every day looking forward to being a part of a vibrant and proactive workplace.
When culture is positive, individuals thrive and feel happy during work hours, which carries through to higher quality of care and performance in their role.
Company philosophies which pertain to enthusiastic cultural teachings will naturally retain quality agents for long periods.
We find that when our people truly care about their environment, they put in maximum effort to be the best professional within the business.
In real estate, results are how you are rewarded within the industry, and culture is the key to retention – it’s the reason our employees are keen to work hard for a career of high achievements and longevity of employment.
