IREM Special Report: People Power in Property Management

How do you attract, retain and make the most of talent?

That’s among the most pressing questions facing the property management profession, and it was a persistent theme this week at PropertyCon, the Institute of Real Estate Management’s national conference, hosted in Boston, Mass.

Psychiatrist and media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky, was the first to take on the issue during his keynote address in Boston on Wednesday. He called property management professionals “a group of warriors with whom I share a lot in common.” As an example of a connecting bond, Pinsky cited the managers’ responsibilities for dealing with stressful situations that require well-developed crisis management skills.

A key strategy for building stress management skills, he noted, is not trying to create a buffer, but developing coping skills over time by repeatedly experiencing difficult situations. Pinsky recalled his own medical training, when he often felt overwhelmed until the experience enabled him to feel confident. “Resiliency is a process,” he said. “It takes a long period of time to develop flexibility and resiliency.”

Among his tips to counter that sense of being overwhelmed: “Delegation is the skill you have to learn.”

The talent chase

Another pressing challenge that property managers face today is finding and retaining talent. “Every one of us in this room should be considering this item a high priority,” said Jasmyn Sylvester, director of property management at LBX Investments, during a breakout session.

She cited a Willis Towers Watson study indicating that half of all organizations don’t know how to retain their valued employees. Nearly three-quarters of workers want to advance, and when they don’t, they tend to leave their job, MRINetwork has concluded. Moreover, filling new positions takes time and effort that would be better dedicated to other tasks. Compounding the issue, one audience member observed that “this year, recruiters are getting very aggressive.”

That makes employee retention and satisfaction particularly important. Many of the obstacles to employee satisfaction are well-known: inadequate opportunity to advancement, compensation that doesn’t keep up with the team member’s responsibility and a lack of appreciation.

To make sure everyone feels listened to, Sylvester advised, bring people to the table who may not usually feel that they have an opportunity to tell their story. During discussions about technology, she suggested, bring in the proptech team to “discuss how we use it and when we use it.”

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“A simple thank-you can make employees 30 percent less likely to leave,” Sylvester noted. Consistent personal engagement with employees—finding out about the family trip to the zoo—is essential. So is being considerate of the team’s personal hours. “If I’m working off hours, I work offline,” Sylvester said. “I don’t want my team members to feel pressure to respond.”

Employee satisfaction surveys are valuable, but only if the company follows up with action. As one audience member related during Sylvester’s session, a property manager was given training opportunities after revealing an interest during a subsequent conversation.  

Mindfulness meets management

The relationship of mindfulness to effective listening, communication and leadership were the theme of a session on executive coaching led by Joe Greenblatt, founder & CEO of Sunrise Management. As Greenblatt summed it up, mindfulness is “being present in the moment.” Audience members added other signs of mindfulness such as awareness of how others perceive you, listening more and talking less.

A central recognition, Greenblatt emphasized, is that multitasking is a persistent myth. “We’re not Microsoft Windows, we’re human beings and we’re really bad at it,” he said of multitasking, adding that multi-switching is a more accurate term. “I’m not telling you to stop, I’m telling you that it’s inconsistent with being mindful.”

Being a good leader starts with self-assessment, and understanding how your team experiences you. That comes back to the connection between mindfulness and time management, or, as Greenblatt prefers to call it, time allocation. To those responsible for leading team members, he posed the question: “Are you giving them the time you need to give them, or are you so busy answering emails that you never get to it?” Also helpful when it’s called for, he said: consulting a professional executive coach.

Mentoring for success

Being intentional, as well as being fully present, is also vital to mentoring. “If you really want to give your time and attention to someone meaningfully, you have to think about the path it takes to get there,” said Debbie Phillips, founder & president of the Quadrillion, a consulting firm that specializes in developing strategies for enhancing employee engagement.   

One point to understand is that mentors, like coaches, want to help the mentee, rather than fix, she noted. To establish a groundwork for mentoring, Phillips recommends such steps as getting to know about the mentee’s family and recreational interests, establishing a structure for regular meetings and committing to them, and ensuring confidentiality. Other principles for meaningful mentoring include:

• Set high standards
• Don’t take responsibility away from the mentee
• Be willing to use tough love
• Do more than is expected
• Ask, “How did it help you?”—and then listen to the response
• Remember that “not everyone’s going to make it up the mountain at the same pace”

And as Phillips reminded the audience, mentorship is also two-way street. Take the opportunity to learn from junior team members’ expertise in technology or any other area you want to grow your knowledge in.