Last week we talked about vision. Vision is your beginning, middle and end all at once but it's the 10,000 mile view. At ground level, vision gives way to the day-to-day decisions that are necessary in keeping the business running smoothly. One of the reasons mediocre companies fail is a result of bad hiring processes. Any HR representative or recruiter could attest to the sheer cost of making a bad hire. Therefore, many organizations have adopted core competencies to aid in the hiring process. Core competencies decide who will be the best fit, help you understand who people are and how they align with your corporation.
What makes us special? The teams are "we" teams not "me" teams. We each have a spoke on the wheel, or a lane on the highway and we take our careers really seriously. We are intense about the achievement of our goals, we keep as much balance as we can, we work in our top 20% and we do all of this so we can have the lives that we want to lead.
The "we" I speak of is a specialized group formed specifically from the creation of core competencies. We don't have a "we" to speak of if we hired every bright smile that wanted to get into real estate. (Believe me, I wish it worked that way, though) Instead, we knew exactly the type of person we were looking for, pre-screened, screened, interviewed and interviewed again. We had to make sure this future team member was not only a good fit for us, but to make sure we were a good fit for them.
This is a serious business we're trying to run here! But we like to make sure it's a fun environment for success. Taking care of our team is priority, so we share many things. We share a common vision. We share our values. We share a belief system that we can all get better with practice.
In the demanding world of real estate and working for a top producing real estate team, we believe that each team member needs to meet the following 10 core competencies.
- Resourceful. Thinks outside the Box. Proposes alternative solutions.
- Modifies approach and schedule as needed.
- Knows when to push and pace while being comfortable with lack of immediate closure.
- Systematically and thoroughly completes a set of activities with multiple tasks.
- Actively engages multiple parties.
- Prioritizes and organizes work to achieve timely resolution / completion.
- Values being a contributing member of the team or collective effort.
- Works well with others to achieve a shared outcome.
- Actively engages others with respect and appreciation.
- Shares knowledge and expertise.
- Truthful, genuine, candid, sincere and motivated to do the right thing.
- Accountable. Honors commitments.
- Believes in one's own abilities while maintaining an open and approachable nature that reassures others and reinforces credibility.
- Easily able to handle rejection and difference of opinions. Translates into strong communication skills, particularly with influencing, negotiating and conflict management.
- Positive, results oriented achiever. Eager. Passionate.
- Initiates without waiting to be asked or told what to do.
- Puts forth exceptional effort. Desires to exceed expectations / standards.
- Ability to influence and negotiate.
- Possesses excellent written and verbal communication skills that demonstrate professionalism, responsiveness and ability to listen and align needs with recommendations.
- Recognizes value of leveraging technology as a tool to aid work and communication efforts.
- Actively seeks new technological programs, apps and/or systems to improve efficiency.
- Engages others in ongoing, frequently long term relationships thru active partnership and communication.
- Desires to support others in achieving their goals.
- Frequently leverages technology to enable relationship based on the desired communication mode of client / colleague while striving for efficiency and expediency.
- Thinks strategically and creatively while managing change effectively.
- Expands boundaries through networking and expansion of personal database.
Understanding if potential team members have these 10 core competencies and getting commitment these will be executed, has lead to dynamic results, authentic relationships and a tight knit team that can take on more than we ever thought we would!