Search Results for: morning routine
Intuitive Leadership
I am not a teacher.
I have great admiration for teachers. They have the ability to take complex concepts and break them down into small components. Using those skills, they bring learners with varying levels of native proficiency to a place of understanding and application.
I have made a valiant effort, studying, preparing, and over-preparing for those times when it fell to me to teach, but it is not my natural skill. And that’s okay. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Some of us are birds and others are fish.
I love the book The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life by Boyd Varty. In it there is a quote by fellow tracker Renias Mhlongo; “I don’t know where I’m going but I know exactly how to get there.” That statement comes much closer to describing my leadership style.
I fall into the category of the intuitive leader in that I may not be able to explain every step along the way but I am confident in how to get there. My belief does not lie in my own personal ability to execute every component of a goal because any business’s success is tied to the work of the many. My trust is in how I understand my personal true north and in the intentional practices and the pole-watchers that I keep in place.
Intuitive leadership starts with personal development. For me, that involves a host of personal practices, morning, and evening routines that center my thoughts, examine my emotions, and set my intentions. My personal faith grounds me. These practices help soften my heart, sharpen my sword and prepare me for the day ahead. The people closest to me hold me accountable.
Intuition without deep personal work can be catastrophic. Without constraints, intuition can easily devolve into ego. It can blur the lines and divert your focus. It is easy to get lost in understanding your authentic values – making money without making a difference, confusing pleasure with joy, and creating goals that aren’t tied to purpose.
Intuitive leadership is most effective when tied with personal values. People trust a leader who leads from the heart and the gut. One without the other misses the mark. Everyone finds their own path to connect their personal values to their leadership style but if you want to lead with intuition, start with deep, committed, personal work.
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You’re Surrounded. Surrender
On December 22, 1944, at about 11:30 in the morning in Bastogne, Belgium, a group of four German soldiers, waving two white flags, approached the American lines carrying a letter demanding the surrender of the US to Germany. The letter warned that the American troops were surrounded and that failure to surrender would result in their total annihilation. When Brig. General Anthony C. McAuliffe was awakened with this news; his initial and written response was “NUTS!” It wasn’t exactly elegant, and the colloquial terminology was lost a bit in translation, but a few other choice words eventually got the General’s point across. Although he couldn’t have been certain of the outcome, his fortitude that the US would never surrender to the Germans under any circumstance proved him right in the end.
There are more reasons than we can tackle that support the importance of a strong anti-surrender stance in wartime. Still, I think the term surrender takes on different importance when considering the workplace. It can play a critical role in company culture.
When a company stresses the importance of work/life harmony as a core value but ignores obvious evidence of team members routinely working late into the night, that may create a cultural problem. If we believe that team members are more productive, happier, and healthier when they have the freedom to leave work at the end of their workday, it’s important to reinforce those cultural expectations. If we fail as leaders to correct behaviors because they benefit us, it weakens an organization’s culture.
I encourage you to engage with team members who routinely send late-night emails, make commitments they can’t keep, and seem to be running at a pace that is not sustainable. The goal is to seek to understand, provide resources to support, and coach the team member to succeed within the standard workday. Making it safe for an employee to admit to feeling overwhelmed without fear of negative repercussions is fundamental to aligning stated culture with actual practice.
Leaving cultural misalignment unresolved leads to burnout and chronic stress, one of the most common health issues related to the workplace. It can even lead to hypertension, digestive difficulties and is linked to a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
Surround your team members with support, resources, respite, and candor. Correct behaviors that don’t align with values early on. Pay attention to the clues that a team member is struggling with. Listen for the discordant notes of “busy-ness.” Model raising your hand for help. Come alongside and help a team member unpack the load they’re carrying to get to the source of the problem. Please encourage them to surrender whatever they are holding onto so tightly that it doesn’t serve them.
Some questions/conversation starters:
- What is one thing that we can eliminate that would make your work life more balanced? It’s surprising how often the answer is an easy fix. The team member may be laboring for hours over a report that is no longer needed but was never fully phased out. Any duplicate work needs to be surgically removed asap.
- Does your current schedule work for you or does it contribute to your stress? Sometimes, a shift of fifteen minutes makes a huge difference in traffic patterns or school drop off/pick up timing.
- Your happiness and success are important to me. What can I do to better support you?
Create relationships and systems that surround your employees with resources and allow them to surrender when stuck. Doing so helps maintain a healthy culture and permits your team members to flourish on and off the clock.
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Open the Store
Mike Brewer · · 1 Comment
Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash
My stepfather often recounts the practice he held dear – opening his farm supply store 30 to 45 minutes ahead of time each day. The motive? Preparation. He loves being ready for the day, ensuring he doesn’t face surprises or last-minute scrambles.
His routine is meticulous: cleaning windows, dusting mats, sweeping the entryway and aisles, adjusting signage, setting the sales counter, confirming adequate cash in the register, sharpening pencils, and ensuring inventory are aptly stocked. He finds satisfaction in these morning rituals, and they set the tone for his day.
A recent Ellis Shopping Report struck a chord with me – a brilliantly laid-out reflection that lost its sparkle when it mentioned two apartments infested with dead bugs. Not an ideal image for a prospective resident.
This is not a critique of our team’s efforts but a reminder of the importance of preparation. Consider your apartment like a store. You should be eager to open it for business every day. Whether you prepare early in the morning or later in the evening doesn’t matter. The essential part is readiness.
One might argue that they don’t have time to check the units they are leasing multiple times daily meticulously. However, let’s reflect on the value of a customer. In our market, the first-year value is upwards of $20,000. And remember, a single dissatisfied customer can sway the opinion of several others with their negative experiences.
We’re in the battle of our lives every day. Every detail matters. It’s all marketing, all the time. Every element of your property, from the curb to the commode to the lease contract, is part of the show, and you’re the star.
Being the star requires world-class preparation. Stellar performers don’t wait for problems to surface; they prepare to prevent them. They open their ‘store’ every day, in every sense of the term, making sure everything is in order, and ensuring their customers always come first.
So, embrace the role and show the world that at your ‘store,’ Customers Mean The World to Us. With meticulous preparation and unswerving dedication, you can make every day a spectacular performance.
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Exaggerated Response
To the point: over-communicate
Do it in an Exaggerated Way
Quick story for your Monday morning reading pleasure. I can’t recall where and when I read this but it has been some time. The story made an impact on me because it was – in my mind – an exaggerated response to an otherwise routine request for service.
The story was about a plumbing company that made over doing it a part of their service routine. If they were called out to unclog a drain, they took the time to tidy up the space under the sink, mop the floor and vacuum the floor mats. And, get this – they cleaned up any and all dirty dishes in and around the sink. Whoa! #gameon
People are the Difference that Makes a Difference
If people are the difference then suffice it to say that their actions and behaviors are the tell. Are you acting and behaving in a manner that is exaggerated? Do you take projects beyond what is expected? Do you push your team to do the same?
The point after the point: do something today that rocks the socks off of the people who you serve.
Your looking to over-exaggerate my responses multifamily manic
M
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Apartment Marketing: Get Simple
Read a great post over Brains of Fire Blog titled: Creating Problems (Instead of Solving Them). In the post Eric Dodds speaks the point of reinventing for the sake of the exercise. And, all under the guise of presenting the perception that we, as providers of service; be it branding, marketing, financial or otherwise, are creating value for our constituents. The otherwise obvious point for me is that simple stuff works. Simple stuff gets results. Simple gets participation. And, simple is simply a process of filtering out the noise.
In this excerpt, Eric sites a very cool example of an agency filtering out the noise in the way of building the right website for a brewery in the amazing state of Oregon:
What did they want? What all beer-lovers want. To know where they can find good beer.
This hit me right between the eyes this morning as I grappled with our new media strategies and overall apartment marketing and branding efforts.
Righting My View of the Apartment Marketing World
Many times I am guilty of viewing our strategies based on what I want to see happen, what I want to participate in, what I want our Mills Properties participants to see, what I want them to do and experience. When the simple reality is that It is and has always been about getting heads on beds under a sharp curb to commode premise. Under the premise of people’s needs. And, people want simple things done in simple ways for simple results.
How To Create Simple
1. Create a culture that is conducive to very good but simple customer service. Say please, thank you and how can I help – always!
2. Create great partcipatory sales routines. Invite people to tell you their view of the world. Ask how you can make things simple.
3. Be relentless about follow up and follow through. Simple phone call. Simple thank you card. Simple thank you.
It’s that simple.
Major on the majors that get you to simple and guess what – You’ll ROCK!
Your getting simple contributer,
M