16 Characteristics of A Great Leader

#1 You can’t want it more for someone else than they want it for themselves.

As they say, you can’t push a rope. What makes it so hard is we often see the best in someone else. We see their God given talents and unique qualities that makes them who they are. Our role is to extract their talents and highlight them as the center of everything we do, especially when it comes to lead generation. We all know as leaders it boils down to their commitment to the process of attaining their goals and having the motivation from within. It can be frustrating as a leader to see so much potential in an agent who is not fulfilling their potential and it makes it very hard for us to ever give up on them. Yet we have to remember that we can throw out the life jacket if someone is drowning, however it is their job to grab on and allow you to pull them safely to shore. It is a hard lesson to learn to meet people where they are at, and yet as long as we can look in the mirror and say we have done everything to encourage, inspire, engage, and pour ourselves into that agent then we can feel good about the efforts and attitude we have control over.

#2 You must have care and candor conversations.

As leaders it may be a learning process for you to implement the candor aspect of our conversations. The reality is, it is not a popularity contest and we must get out of our own way and do what is right for our agents. We must operate on a firm foundation that people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. You earn the right to have candor conversations. It is possible that we “love” on someone so much, that we love them right out of the business. If you aren’t willing to say what needs to be said for the best interest of the agent, then you need to evaluate this area. Oddly enough, when you survey the agents the very thing they want in a strong leader is often times the accountability and willingness to take a stand for their greatness, more than they are willing to take a stand for their own limiting beliefs.

#3 You do NOT have to know it all.

I think many times leaders feel like they have to be THE answer; the end all be all expert to everything that may arise. Your ability to stay vulnerable and admit when you don’t have all the answers makes you relatable and human. Our job as leaders is not necessarily to provide all the answers, it is to facilitate an environment that is conducive to their success. Be resourceful and not necessarily the resource so you are not creating agents who are dependent on you – create agents who are independent business owners. It is a slippery slope if the leader becomes the “product”. Many office leaders understand that their job is not to be the product as to why someone should be successful, but rather simply serve as messengers to deliver the models and systems that we know work and hold people in alignment, so they achieve their goals.

#4 Be the Chief Accountability Officer and drive 3 core items.

In my opinion, a leader’s value lies in holding the agents accountable to the goals THEY had set for themselves. This is done by constantly speaking the language of business which is through numbers. Numbers take the emotion out of any conversation so we can see things for what they are. Serving as their Chief Accountability Officer is a primary responsibility so we can help them get what they said they wanted from this career. The 3 core items we drive in order to do this are: mindset, activities, and results. First, we need to drive the proper mindset. Nothing else matters if the agents do not have the right mindset. Dispelling limiting beliefs and focusing on how an agent should think. As a result, they are more likely be confident and take the right actions. Second, hold them accountable to the proper actions, behaviors, and habits. Are they just caught up in the busyness of the job or are they actually being effective and productive? And third, is results. We can have as much fun as we want coaching towards the first two, however if it doesn’t lead to the desired results then are WE as leaders being effective? The bottom line is the business is supposed to fund their perfect life and I can assure you that perfect life can’t be achieved without results through listings taken, closings, new buyer contracts signed, and other leading indicators. If a leader can master driving these 3 core items and not get hung up in the 80% “stuff”, then I believe they will be an extremely effective and well-respected leader.

#5 Track YOUR numbers, as well as the agents.

People grow into the conversations we create around them, right? So, if numbers are the language of business and most people will do everything in their power to avoid numbers, then it makes sense as leaders that we lead our agents to know their numbers and treat their business like it is a business. After all, if they are not running their business by numbers then that means they are running it out of emotion, and I am not sure how great that will turn out. Our job as leaders is to create amazing small business owners. So, are you treating your agents like a CEO or just teaching them how to put together a contract? It is one of the unique differentiating factors that sets apart The Locker Room. We get to deliver on this cornerstone and by doing so, we are creating an army of responsible business owners who will succeed throughout their career, not just the first year. Our end destination is not just to get them to their goal, it is to flourish and have an amazing business that funds their life. So, by teaching them the core metrics, conversion rates, and leading indicators that lead to the lagging indicators, we are preparing them with a skillset of how to effectively run a business. It all starts with awareness and we are the doctors of real estate businesses. How can you diagnose the issue or prescribe the right medication if you don’t have awareness of the vital signs and health of your agent’s business, let alone your own? Track early, track often!

#6 Ask powerful questions vs. telling them what to do.

Asking powerful questions is an art form that takes roleplay and script practice just like we expect out of our agents. It is very tempting for a leader to want to know it all and, therefore, tell your agents the answers. Keep in mind, what worked for you may not work for everyone. It is important to remove our personal opinion and bias out of many of our interactions. Instead, come from curiosity and ask questions that leads the person to their own self-discovery. When they are the author of the commitment and strategy, then they are the owners of the outcome. Yet, if we are telling them what they should do then they may not have complete buy in or may end up faulting us for lack of results. Granted, just like many leaders, we sometimes have to call the plays from the sidelines, but it doesn’t mean they can’t audible and change the play before snapping the ball. We want to lead a team of quarterbacks who are able to adjust accordingly based on the flow of the game. Keep in mind, the coaches are standing on the sidelines and it is the players who are actually playing the game, day in and day out. Games are won during practice and off-season, so how are you preparing your players during this time? Are they coming up with their own strategies and game book based on their personal goals, strengths, and behavior styles? Stay in a neutral state as much as possible and not emotionally attached to the outcome. This will assist you in being a third party who can ask powerful questions leading them to self-discovery vs. the temptation and impatience creeping in on just wanting to tell them what they should do.

#7 Know the difference between coaching vs. training.

So, what is coaching? Coaching is all about development. It is unlocking people’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them learn rather than TEACHING (or training) them. It is asking powerful questions leading them to self-discovery. The underlying intent of every coaching interaction is to build awareness, responsibility, and self-belief in the mind of the agent. We know that true leadership is teaching people how to THINK so they can get what they want, when they want it. A leader has the uncanny ability to light the fire from within someone, instead of a trainer who may light the fire underneath someone. Here are some key distinctions to consider: 1) coaching enhances knowledge, training transfers knowledge, 2) coaching focuses on what to DO with a skill, training focuses on how to do a skill, 3) coaching is usually 1-on-1 whereas training is in a group setting, 4) coaching is usually conversational whereas training is usually formal, 5) coaching is more development focused and training is more learning focused, 6) coaching depends on asking, whereas training depends on telling, 7) coaching facilitates central thinking and decision making whereas training usually has no follow up accountability. At the end of the day, coaching uses a “carefrontational” approach which may mean uncomfortable conversations about bad habits, limiting beliefs, or anything else that may be a roadblock to your success.

#8 You can’t motivate, you can only inspire.

A common question leaders ask is, “How are you going about motivating your agents so they stay engaged?” The hard truth is, unfortunately we can’t motivate them. We can only inspire them. It is tremendously important when you first meet with an agent that you dig deep into their goals, dreams, and current realities. It is through this process that we learn what their BIG WHY is and what the “pain” associated with not achieving that big why can result in. Through coaching, we can ask powerful questions to re-align that person with their purpose and Big Why. By doing so, this will lead to motivation that comes from within them and therefore, translate into action. As a leader, if you can understand the pain vs pleasure conversation then you can inspire ANYONE to get into production. Remember, logic makes people think and emotion makes people act. We need to use this principle by getting agents emotional about their goals and especially what it means if they fall short. This emotion will drive them into activity. The pain vs. pleasure conversation is important to master because if you understand the human mind and how we are operate behaviorally, then you can lead accordingly. For example, many leaders ONLY spend time on the warm fluffy stuff like setting goals and envisioning how great their life will be in 5 years. Rarely do many go to the negative pain points and what we know is usually people are moving away from pain towards pleasure. So, if we are only coaching and leading to the pleasure aspect, then it is still not enough. We must incorporate the pain associated with lack of achievement because this is the fundamental truth as to what will get someone moving in the right direction. Avoidance of pain vs. attainment of pleasure.

#9 Have a coach. Do you have a coach for yourself?

How can we ask our agents to engage in coaching and training if we are not doing it ourselves? Remember that care and candor stuff I talked about earlier? Every leader must also have a coach and remain coachable themselves. We must role model the behavior we expect of our agents and when we have a coach, it shows that we are human and learning and growing just like they are. It shows we are willing to get vulnerable and be held accountable by someone else too. It lets our agents know we are right there in the trenches with them and it brings authenticity to the conversation when you can comment around what your coach is having you work on. Short and sweet – every leader needs to have a coach, period.

#10 Use coaching models – stop winging it.

Success leaves clues. Follow the breadcrumbs! Many of the great leaders out there use models in their approach to coaching and leading their people. We constantly tell our agents to “follow the model” and yet, what models are we following to lead and coach agents effectively? After all, if you are going to do something two or more times, then you should create a system for it. It is important to work on mastering your craft as a leader in order to have effective conversations. We have a huge responsibility to lead and serve agents and if you are only leaning on your past real estate sales career to guide them, you are missing a huge part of the picture. Your experience and raw knowledge alone won’t serve them to the capacity they deserve. Following coaching models allows you to dig deeper and follow an outline so you go from winging it to being more intentional as a leader so you can guide the conversation to the outcome necessary in order to advance the person’s business or action items to complete. Are you following a model as a leader during your meetings with an agent? Follow the model.

#11 Agents love recognition and appreciation.

I know what you may be thinking, and we all have them. There are certain agents who claim they don’t need the recognition or “atta boy” moments but who are we kidding, everyone appreciates recognition and the feeling of being appreciated. As they say about recognition, babies cry for it and grown men and women die for it. When leading agents, come up with your own systems and recognition strategies. It is not uncommon that someone will work harder to see their name on the wall or on a trophy than they will for a commission check. Our culture of productivity needs to appeal to all. How are you going to honor those agents in your office who deserve it? For a long time, I heard agents mumble about team meetings and how the top agents always got the recognition. So do a variety of things to honor those agents who produce, had a great week with activities, or maybe have just shown tenacity and commitment with no result so far. Mix it up and have fun with this!

#12 It is just as much about life coaching as it is about real estate.

A lot of people have different styles and approaches to leading others. However, a lot of real estate leadership is disguised as life coaching. Typically, we can take a scenario that someone is going through and identify the greater principle to which it applies. For example, an agent who is consistently not meeting their goals or showing up late to appointments, a question I may ask is, “Where else might this be showing up in your life?” It is true that how they participate here is how they participate everywhere, so we can relate it to other areas within their life in order to speak through analogies, so it connects with them on a human level. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in lead generation or time blocking language, so we have to keep the human element to what we do and relating it back to life principles is a great way to do this. A lot of the agents we get to work with start working on things internally first, such as mindset. It is an inside out project. They all say they want to have an amazing life or certain level of income, yet are they willing to do the things someone has done that has achieved that level of success? It goes back to personal growth. Who must they become first? Then what does a person of that success level do in order to have the things that they have? Don’t miss the opportunities to listen for what your agents are saying, as well as what they aren’t saying during your time together. Examine the life lessons that can be pulled from a real estate experience and coach them on it. This is just as much of a personal growth quest for many as it is being successful in real estate.

#13 Create your productivity culture as a team.

Everyone likes to be a part of something bigger than themselves. By joining your brokerage, it is vitally important that you share your vision and goals for the office with the agents. It allows them to feel a sense of community, belonging, and significance to a greater mission. As leaders, we must realize we ARE responsible for creating a magnetic culture that others are attracted to. Your culture should demonstrate a shared vision, purpose, and goal while creating a sense of community and an overall level of accountability where agents are pushing other agents and willing to share successes and failures with one another for the overall good of the team. Never forget, together everyone achieves more.

#14 Agent engagement will typically be your biggest struggle.

It goes without being said that getting agent engagement relates to an earlier point about not being able to want it more for someone than they want it for themselves. Data proves that agents who are engaged earn more income than those who drift into isolation. Thankfully, there are systems you can implement as a leader to enhance engagement across the company. It all starts with expectations. You must constantly communicate the importance to agents about staying engaged, tracking numbers, showing up to training events, scheduling their appointments with you, etc. The two evils in life are boredom and isolation. Boredom should be impossible in real estate since each day and transaction is different. So, I don’t worry about the boredom factor as long as agents are showing up and doing the right activities. However, I DO worry the most about isolation. It is the #1 biggest downfall and it comes in a couple different forms. Many agents slowly drift away from the pack and become a lone wolf because they soon realize this business is NOT HGTV and it requires hard work. They often quit before they even get started and they stop showing up to meetings, appointments, and engaging in the office due to throwing a pity party for themselves or they fall victim to their own success. All of a sudden, they experience success and have 4 closings right away, so they think they are a real estate ninja. The reality is, unless they can teach the material for others to understand, they have not mastered anything. As leaders, we must watch out for signs of dis-engagement and be proactive in reaching out to get them plugged back into the flow of the culture.

#15 Take a stand and believe in them.

Sometimes the 4 most powerful words an agent needs to hear is, “I believe in you.” It goes back to asking ourselves the question: Am I willing to stand up for their greatness more than they are willing to stand up for their own limiting beliefs? I remind agents all of the time that it is not a popularity contest to me and there WILL be days that they don’t like me and that is okay. I care more about them than I care about our relationship. Think about that for a second. We must be willing to say what needs to be said to protect the best interests of the agent. Even if that means being unpopular or the feeling like you are standing alone on an island. Your agents should never question if what you are saying is coming from the right place or not, regardless if it is what they want to hear. Stand by them through the hard times and the good times and loyalty and trust will be contagious in your company. If your agents ever need to borrow some belief in themselves, they should first turn to you and you can loan them some.

#16 Follow the models.

We have no need to re-invent the wheel or get creative here. We are simply the advocates and messengers for what already exists. A good leader sounds like a broken record on purpose! Agents will get sick and tired of hearing you say the same things over and over again, yet we know what works and what will always work. Stay the course. You will get feedback and temptation to be creative, however, you just need to continue to press on them that the systems and models provided work. It is okay to re-package the same thing in a different way, so it becomes interesting to your agents (i.e. lead generation). But we do know success is boring, repetitious, and mundane. It is submitting to the boredom associated with mastery. As we have said, for most agents we lead, they just need the basic principles of the business without any fancy sauce put on it. The blocking and tackling of this game are fundamental. Real estate is a contact sport, your agents just need to get their jersey dirty!