apartment leadership
Apartment Marketing – Negative Capability
A good deal of insanely great change is influenced from the bottom up.. Why is that? It’s precisely for the reason that a front-liner’s negative capability meter is on par with Shawn White’s eXtreme fearless factor. John Keats brought the theory of negative capability to light back in the early 1800’s – negative capability defined as one’s ability to embrace uncertainty. For many property management firms across the country, embracing social media in all it’s implications will rest on those with the ability to exercise or greatly influence negative capability within their respective organizations.
Fighting the good fight
What will these champions of change face as they venture into corner offices across the country? The famed Edward de Bono calls it Rock Logic. You might recognize it as linear, pragmatic, methodical or even orderly thinking. Where negative capability thinkers thrive on ambiguity their counterparts want the back up, the proof in the pudding and they want it in solid Rock Logic spreadsheet fashion. Your best bet is to make the case for Good Enough.
Good Enough vs. All
Most C level property management executives live for the numbers. They also demand that they have ALL the available information to back up the numbers. They will delay decisions for months on end if they think [not feel] that any piece of information evades them. When in comes to developing a premise for decisions in uncharted territory, Good Enough loses to All every time. Think about that in the context of making the case for incorporating social media into your on-line strategy.
The rub is that the industrial age, where Rock Logic thinking absolutely applied, has given way to the knowledge age and this generation thrives on making things happen in the midst of chaos. They thrive on making decisions based on Good Enough information knowing full well that they will remain nimble enough to change direction if need be. They thrive on trying new things and changing course at the drop of a hat. Fail fast succeed sooner is part of their DNA.
All that in mind, convincing C level types that Good Enough, as it relates to embracing social media, will/should become their motto for the stump of 2009. Encourage and massage those negative capability muscles so that Good Enough has space in their thought process. Go for it and fight the good fight as your organization will be all the better for it.
All the Best Intentions in the Social Media World
Tom Peters has carved out a very unique niche in the business consulting arena and rightfully so. His ideas, dating back 25+ years are as relevant today as they were back then. Many of them are still cutting the edge that we all innately yearn for. Over this Mother’s Day weekend I managed to read a post that really hit home in a simple but important kind of way. The following is an excerpt from the blog titled: Wrong Answer!
When I got back from the field, covered with mud (it was rainy season), I was sent directly to the Commandant with no time to change into a respectable uniform—a great embarrassment. General Chapman engaged in all of about 15 seconds of chitchat, and having done his duty to my aunt, sent me on my way. As I was literally walking out of his temporary field office, he summoned me back, and said, out of the blue, “Tom, are you taking care of your men?” (I had a little detachment, about 20 guys as I recall, doing the work described before.)
Yup, 40 years plus later, I remember his exact words—which is the point of this Post. I replied to the General, “I’m doing my best, sir.” To this day, with a chill going up my spine (no kidding—as I type this), I can see his face darken, and his voice harden, “Mr Peters, General Walt and I and General Buse are not interested in whether or not you are ‘doing your best.’ We simply expect you to get the job done—and to take care of your sailors. Period. That will be all, Lieutenant.”
The line, “we simple expect you to get the job done,” took me back to 1996. It was my rookie year in the role of property manager and I was as confident as they come – on top of the world and on top of my game. Or, so I thought.
The hand written note read; “all the best intentions in the world are worth nothing unless they are followed through with.” It was the last sentence in a long letter addressed to me from my district manager shortly after a very important property inspection. It floored me. It took my view of the world from a 6’7″ lens to that roughly the height of fire ant. Mind you – it was well deserved and sticks with me to this day.
She had entrusted me with a project that needed to be complete prior to the upcoming inspection. I put it off to the last minute not knowing that the regional manager would walk the property on the eve prior to the date her expected visit. She, along with my DM, caught us in the act of prepping the project in the eleventh hour and was clearly tweaked. The following day was both the best and the worst day of my PM career. The best in the sense that I clearly understood the definition of expectation – the worst in the sense that I did not meet it on behalf of the one that had bestowed the responsibility on me.
I say all that to say this – as we continue down the path of social media as it relates to marketing apartments; remember intentions must marry to expectations. Our consumer demands that we live up to and follow through with the ways in which they like to do business and not much concern is given to our sacred cows. Any more it is not our executive officers defining the way we do business – it is the consumer and we must engage. We must get the job done in a way that is being defined and redefined everyday.
What are your intentions for the coming week and who is driving them?
Have a famous week. M
Apartment Leaders: Q vs. Q
Q stands for Quantity and it also stands for Quality, which is more important? Tom Peter’s suggests the following;
“You will be remembered in the long haul for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work … no one evaluates Picasso based on the number of paintings he churned out.”
The quote made me think long and hard about a lot of things but most specifically the space we work in. I have noticed over the years an ever growing number of demands being placed on site teams and yet the number of hours in each day does not change. We ask, we direct, we expect many times without thinking about who suffers at the end of the day? Is it the quality work or more importantly the quality of the experience our consumer has with us. Is either acceptable? Or, are we in an age where quantity trumps quality?
I wonder what the group thinks.
Do you see an ever growing number of demands being handed to your site teams? Do you see quality suffering as a result? Does it matter?
Let me know your thoughts and have a compelling day!
Apartment Management: Feedback for the leader
For you leaders out there, how many times have you thought to yourself, ” I wonder what the team thinks of my ability to lead?” “I wonder if they think I am doing a good job?”
I am pondering a piece on leadership feedback and would like to hear your thoughts. Drop me a quick comment if you have time today and we will see what comes of it.
Have a compelling Monday.
Apartment Leadership: Question: What are you leaving in your wake?
I think the true, if not the truest, measure of leadership is how you make people feel. There are several deep meanings of word feel, none which I intend to discuss here. The main point and or question I have for the group is; How are you making your people feel?
Leaders drive the ship and every ship has a wake that is left behind. Every leader, whether they like it or not, is responsible for the positive or negative path of that wake. What does your wake look like relative to those you lead?
Do they wake in the morning anxious to get to work? or Do they wake feeling the dread of another day?
Do they approach their work with passion and charisma? or Do they do what is necessary to get by?
Do they often say, It’s six o’clock already? or Do they often say, It’s only three, ugh, three more hours!
Do they get right on it or do they just get to it?
Leaders, when you walk around your organization this week, ask some pointed questions. And for those of you who are thinking, hey pal, “soft stuff” is for softies. I suggest to you this is the hard stuff. This is the stuff you ignore only to have it bite you later.
Here’s the point – You, in many cases, are the cause and if you are making people feel this way, how do you think they are making subordinates and customers feel?
