project management
Empathetic Leadership in Multifamily: Mastering Active Listening and Team Dynamics
Photo by Eric Mok on Unsplash
The cornerstone of any successful project lies not just in financial acumen or market knowledge but deeply rooted in the human-centric approach of empathetic leadership. For multifamily leaders and business professionals, compassionate leadership transcends traditional management styles, weaving a fabric of understanding, active listening, and appreciation of diverse perspectives. Let’s dive into the profound impact of such leadership in the multifamily space, emphasizing how it shapes team dynamics and fosters a collaborative environment conducive to project success.
The Essence of Empathetic Leadership in Multifamily
At its core, empathetic leadership in multifamily is about understanding and genuinely relating to the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of others. It is a form of leadership that goes beyond mere transactional interactions and delves into transformational relationships. For multifamily leaders, this means not just directing or overseeing but becoming catalysts for positive change, inspiration, and motivation for their teams.
Cultivating Active Listening: A Pillar of Empathy
Active listening stands as a fundamental pillar of empathetic leadership. It involves fully concentrating, understanding, responding, and remembering what is said. In the context of multifamily, it translates to a leader’s ability to truly hear what their colleagues and stakeholders express, not just in words but through non-verbal cues and emotional undertones. Active listening fosters an environment where all voices are heard, respected, and valued, leading to more inclusive and well-rounded decision-making processes.
Understanding Team Dynamics and Diverse Perspectives
Multifamily property management often involves a kaleidoscope of professionals, from designers and architects to lenders and marketers. Each member brings their unique perspective, background, and expertise. Empathetic leadership requires an understanding and appreciation of these diverse viewpoints. It’s about creating a synergy where different ideas and opinions are harmoniously integrated, leading to innovative solutions and better team performance.
Emotional Intelligence: The Compass of Empathetic Leadership
Emotional intelligence is the compass guiding empathetic leaders. It involves self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. In multifamily leadership, emotional intelligence translates to leaders being aware of their own emotions and how they affect others, managing those emotions effectively, motivating themselves and their teams, understanding and sharing the feelings of others, and building strong interpersonal relationships.
Conflict Resolution through Empathetic Engagement
Conflict is inevitable in any project, but how these conflicts are managed sets empathetic leaders apart. By understanding the underlying emotions and perspectives driving conflicts, compassionate leaders can navigate these challenging waters gracefully and effectively, turning potential roadblocks into opportunities for growth and understanding.
Empathetic Communication: Beyond Words
Communication in the realm of empathetic leadership goes beyond mere words. It encompasses tone, body language, and the ability to convey respect and understanding. In multifamily leadership, this means what is communicated and how it is communicated, which is crucial in maintaining a positive, collaborative atmosphere.
The Ripple Effect of Empathetic Leadership
The impact of empathetic leadership extends far beyond the confines of individual projects. It creates a ripple effect, fostering a culture of mutual respect, understanding, and collaboration. This culture enhances project outcomes and creates a more positive, engaging, and fulfilling work environment. As multifamily leaders adopt and refine their empathetic leadership skills, they become beacons of inspiration, driving their teams and projects toward unparalleled success.
Apartment CapX Budget Over Again
The Apartment CapX Budget is Over Again? How many times have you heard that statement in some form of fashion? And, I am sure – if you are anything like me – you just can’t understand it. Nor, in all fairness, do you take the time to understand it because you have a million other things that need your attention. But, I do have an idea as to why…
Humans Make Mistakes
Simply put – humans make mistakes. And, or they are innately incapable (not a dig – just plain reality) of thinking about every little nuance of a project. Or, they are too confident in their ability to forecast. But, most of all there are just too many steps in the process. And, the more steps there are the more opportunity there is/are for mistakes.
Apartment Project Management
A project is set up as a series of steps and each step has a probability of failure. With that in mind, I thought I would list a few examples of where exactly things can go wrong:
bad process, choice of vendor, equipment/mechanic, technology, your expectations are mis-communicated or not well understood, wrong leadership, wrong manager, inexperienced leader, poor choice of incentives, deciding to try something new, ordering the wrong product, product ordering mishaps, shipping delays, delivering the wrong product, weather, ignoring the canary in the coal mine, killing the canary in the coal mine (no canaries were harmed when writing this post), no tracking, loose tracking, leaning on our ability to track it in our heads.
And, the list goes on and on and on.
Solution: Fewer steps.
I think it is easy to assume that the weak link defines the extent of the success or the failure of the project. And, with all of these areas of opportunity for error – it’s no wonder that many times we come in over. But, still not acceptable in my head.
It’s a problem I am thinking through from an operational perspective. It’s one I think is solved with less steps and fewer people. And, I’m sure it will result in some posts along the way.
Hope your weekend is a crazy good one.
Your consistently thinking about apartment project management multifamily maniac,
M
Simple Timeline
Lay it out –
I heard a story this week (it was really a rant) about a broken system. The system existed between a project management team and an accounting team. As I listened (from a third-party removed perspective), it became clear to me that there was a fair amount of pre-work to include simple timelines did not exist.
Timelines
Simple maps that memorialize the steps between inception and conclusion. Simple steps put down on paper that capture the essence of letting out a contract for work to be done and the follow through to completion and payment for that work.
In the absence of a simple timeline you get chaos. You get the finger-pointing. You get he said and she said and they said and we all said – time-sucks. It’s exhausting and it usually involves the highest of pay grades to solve.
Creating an Apartment Project Timeline
1. Budget
2. Bid work (even though you have a budget, do the bid work)
3. Make sure the money is there (remember your apartment community budget was written months ago – in some cases many months ago). If the property is not performing to budget – the project may need to be put on a shelf.
*Item of note – don’t skip #3, it is where 99% of the problems can be traced back to
4. Put together a simple vendor list – who is working on the job, telephone number, lead (accounting contact), roughly what they are to be paid and when
5. Host a project launch meeting (in person if possible, by phone if not). Invite the property manager, maintenance supervisor, every vendor involved and your accountant
6. Give a weekly check-in update (via email or by phone whereby the above team calls in)
7. Wrap it up – tie up the loose ends and deliver the product
8. Host a post-mortem for every project no matter the scope. This is where you create excellence. Set the stage for an unadulterated conversation and tear apart the good the bad and the ugly of the project. Have your simple timeline laying in front of everyone and up on a computer screen for all to see. Have it set in an edit mode and change it (for the good) right there on the spot.
No system is perfect but every system should be evolving at all times.
Your counting on simple timelines all the time multifamily manic,
M
