apartment leadership
Episode 4 | Apartment Hacker | Servant Leadership
In Episode 4 I give you my thoughts related to Servant Leadership.
Leadership is something I’ve held front and center in my career.
I believe leaders are made with the right amount of love, care and respect.
There is no SOP for leadership but there are principles to live by and I think it all starts with a servant’s mind.
You consistently searching for chances to serve the people who serve our space multifamily maniac,
M
Multifamily Culture
Eric Brown penned a question that caught my eye today: How much is company culture holding YOU back?
He further amplifies the point by asking if it’s just a myth. I am presupposing that is to imply that culture is a mythical quixotically utopian fantasy land ripe with heaps of pixy dust for times when people go rogue. That is to say they attempt to carve some choice Chateaubriand out of the sacred cows that roam the hallway of we’ve always done it that way.
It sharply reminds me of the young woman who promptly chops three good inches from each end of the family holiday ham. When asked why: the answer traces back to great grandma – “honey, I used to do that because the pan I had back then would not hold the full ham not to mention my stove was a far cry smaller than this mega-hunk of stainless steel madness you call a Viking.” Ugh-a-ruga – right. It’s one of those head slapping moments followed by a choice of keenly place curse words.
Culture in the Multifamily Space
Culture is not a place, person or thing. It’s that something. I tried to some it up a couple of years ago here.
While I would not suggest that it is a myth; I would go so far as to say that it is the most elusive of all necessary intentions that a company has to get right. They have to align values with purpose. Values with Vision. And values with Mission. Everything the company does from decision-making to policy crafting to rewards and recognition have to ladder up to the Mission, Vision and values of the organization.
Time
Here is the crazy kicker – it takes a ton of time to get it right. In my head – (10,000 unit company with 300+/- employees) – it takes no less than 12 months and likely up to 18 to get it 100%. And then it takes a lifetime to keep it alive. It can’t become a piece of paper that hangs on the wall or worse yet falls in the drawer of doomed to never see daylight for as long as I run the broken show of mindlessness.
It is alive and well in everything. If everything is marketing; everything is predicated on the mission, vision and values.
Is it holding YOU back?
Here is what I have to say to that; there is a little space between (sing the Dave Matthews tune in your head while reading this – it makes for great imbedding) catalyst and response called choice. Is it holding YOU back? Your choice! How do you change culture. You choose to do it. How do you change people? Two ways: 1. change people 2. be the change you want to see in the world. It’s the same way you change the world – by the way.
#gorockit
Your fully convinced that culture is worth the full faith and effort of the people Multifamily Maniac,
M
Habits
Whoa – almost forgot how to use WordPress; it has been so long. Got into a bad habit of not writing everyday.
Came across a quote today that got me thinking about Habits –
“When we look at living creatures from an outward point of view, one of the first things that strike us is that they are bundles of habits.” – William James
As we wind down the year I think it prudent to look at the habits that lead our lives.
Are they working for you or against you?
Do you need to throw out the old and bring in some new?
Do you need to set some goals and then think about the habits that will bring those goals to life?
Do you need to stop thinking so much and just go do stuff?
I know for me – I would like to get back to writing, it’s been way to long. And, I miss it…
Your thinking about habits multifamily maniac,
M
Emotionally Loaded
Handling emotionally loaded situations is a true art form. How many of you have faced talking a customer down from the ledge of – ‘you are getting a piece of my mind?’ How many of those conversations included personal attacks targeted at you or one of your apartment service team members. How many of those comments – right, wrong or indifferent – did you deserve but still stung to the point of escalating your own emotions? How many of you have called the police to get that resident out of the office? How many of you felt all-powerful once that person did leave? How many of you had an emotional crash after an emotionally loaded conversation? How many felt remorse? How many felt vindicated?
It’s Normal
You’ve heard of fight or flight. You know that in an emotionally loaded situation you are pre-programmed to stand up and fight or run away. You are not pre-programmed for reasoning. At least not as far as I see it. Reasoning takes work. It takes time. It takes concession. It takes wherewithal. It takes patience. And it’s normal.
If a flight situation your first order is to run for the hills. Today we focus on the fight.
In a fight (emotionally loaded) situation your first order of business is to teach someone a lesson. You broke your lease so you owe the money – look here at your lease that I’ve highlighted in a nice bright pink color and underlined (for emphasis) three times in red. You owe it. Or, your company is causing all kinds of noise issues after hours – look here at this section of the lease. And so on and so forth. You are out to teach a lesson.
Guess what – in a fight they’re not going to learn the lesson. Not by your method of teaching. Not in this lifetime.
What Do You Do Instead?
It’s the doormat versus the artist conversation.
And I am anxious to hear your position…
Your always interested in the human behavior piece of our business multifamily maniac,
M
Apartment Marketers, How Are You Trying to Influence?
Apartment marketers, how are you trying to influence team members, prospects, residents, and business partners? How about current and future clients and investors?
Marketing apartments is an always-on activity.
Regis McKenna sums it up like this:
If you are marketing apartments in a multifamily community, it involves every touch point from curb to commode, and continuously.
Additionally, it affects every constituent, from the porter to the CEO, to future business relationships.
Every marketing team member must understand the audience and frequency to be successful, and that marketing is everything, and everything is marketing.
