TRAINING&CAREERS Professionalism
Philip Bowden asks, “What exactly does it mean to you?”
M
any companies talk a ‘good game’ in terms of their professionalism, but when I have the temerity to ask what this actually means
many fumble and are not able to tell me. Professionalism to me is about excellence in performance standards. These vary from business to business but in essence every one working in that company should not only understand the standards are – they should be able to perform to them. To identify the standards expected of the
business is not hard. One national bank has a publicity campaign to tell everyone that they want to be the most helpful bank in the country. Does this mean that they are doing difficult things? No; they have commitments to do simple things such as reduce waiting times in queues and complaints. Simple goals that everyone can understand and standards that can be measured to see if progress is being made.
DELIVERING THE STANDARD So the challenge I put is what do your clients expect from your business? What do your Listers promise? Do your staff deliver? If the management cannot answer this then there is work to do to move the business towards excellence. I often say to the top person if you were able to do everything and be everywhere would your business improve? Invariably the answer is a resounding yes. We have to raise awareness of the standards expected and raise everyone’s performance. The first step lies in understanding why
staff are not performing to in the first place. Maybe it is one of these issues: They don’t know how. In this case the
individual needs knowledge – tell me what to do. These people are asking for the standards to be clarified. An example could be how to qualify an applicant. The coach should give the individual information as to what specific information is required and a structured way how to get the information. They can’t do it. In this case the
individual knows what to do but lacks the skill to do it well. This can be seen when
66 JUNE 2011 PROPERTYdrum
Once you have identified standards you have to show staff how to achieve them.’
individuals have very low conversion rates eg 20 viewings to a sale. This is a classic case where coaching skill improvement would improve the individual’s ability to reach the required standard. They can’t be bothered. In this case the
individual is showing attitude problems. Development work is not usually the answer in these cases. If they have been with you some time and had a successful record in the past, the answer may lie in current motivation. The next step in moving towards
excellence is to implement the solution and in this case we are to focus upon coaching. Many baulk at this stage thinking that coaching will be too time consuming and too complex. This attitude could not be further from the truth. I work with one company where we have set a standard for coaching and it is one hour per month per member of staff! What could be simpler? Next if you have identified the standards
required all we have to do is show staff how to achieve these standards. Now this is a little trickier and it does require a little patience. Patience because to learn new things people will take time to master things that you take for granted. The coaching process I recommend is:
Step 1 Observe and analyse: Watch how they currently undertake the task, then analyse and the good as well as the bad. Step 2 Feedback: Through open and frank
discussion regarding your observations, open the individual’s mind to the possibility of changing the way they do it. If you do not get their buy-in how will you get them to take the next step? Step 3 Coach: Demonstrate good practice. Physically show them how and get them to copy you until you are convinced they could do it this way in the real world. Step 4 Check: Put in place a method to check they are continuing to persevere with the skills and methods you have coached them in. Remember that changing habits does not come easily and people will slip back if not checked; observe them in the branch.
Moving a business towards and then
maintaining excellence is like painting the Forth Bridge, it is a job that never ends. Why? The world of business never stays still; staff change your competition changes, your client’s expectations change and technology changes. So coaching is a key skill in running a property business and coaching should be at the heart of any property business’s culture. Remember, delivery of high standards
relies on every link in the chain being strong. Philip Bowden, e:
philip@bowdentms.com
Add your own tips and advice:
www.propertydrum.com/articles/trainingjune
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66