Collaboration: The important DNA in any small business
Tim on 07 22, 2009
Collaboration: Do you have this DNA in your small business? Is it part of your mission statement or mantra?
This is not so much an insight into how a successful real estate transaction comes to fruition as much as it is a testimony of what makes any task, job, objective or goals conclude with a positive outcome. Whether you are in the military and command a small unit of soldiers or, what I commonly describe the role of a Realtor as, “the Conductor” of the real estate orchestra, collaboration through effective communication and training is what produces good outcomes. Absent this mutual effort, outcomes become less probable or even result in fragmented, failed transactions or goals.
For example, over the past week or so (even over the past couple of years) I have read about or personally met some remarkable people that had a common denominator (in addition to being inspirational). They were part of a team or organization and, in some cases, their role in the collaborative effort meant life or death. In other cases, the impact of the skill sets of each member would result in a positive outcome that would have long standing meaning for our country, the battle they were about to enter, their customers or the lives they were about to save.
I could easily expand on each story in the following cases, but I think you could come to your own conclusion about the collaborative efforts that led to success, be it as a team or as an individual recruiting the assistance of others:
Recently died saving a young girl in distress. He worked with others by handing the girl to a group of people on shore of the Cowlitz River. Sadly, he never made it back out of the frigid water. Talk about selfless.
Who can forget Al Haynes and his crew (all living here locally) working together to bring crippled United Flight 232 down in Sioux City, Iowa twenty years ago this month. This is collaboration under incredible stress. Although many perished, 185 were saved.
Apollo 11 Crew
Forty years ago this past July 20, “Buzz” Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong went to the Moon. Historic on all measures in science, technology and the human spirit.
Ben Bernanke
Current Charmain of the Federal Reserve. A hot seat like no other for a man that appears to not particularly enjoy the limelight and superstar status some have bestowed upon his predecessor.
US. Marine Cpl. Farmer (Purple Heart recipient) and many others
A man that I recently had the privilege in meetingt who, in 2004, along with his unit, was preparing for the battle of Fallujah. His photo and that of his unit in steadfast prayer just prior to engagement was featured in coverage by Newsweek Magazine. There can be no other manner in which collaboration and teamwork is so critical than when faced with life or death situations.
Every Hospital ER room in the World
High stress, highly collaborative work between ER physicians, medical technicians, nursing staff, Radiology depts. and so on.
If you had the chance to watch this match over the weekend you have to give credit to both teams working hard to win the game. I don’t think to many people would have not been impressed by Chelsea converting their chances. A thing of beauty. It was almost mechanical looking. Boom, run, trap, pass, touch, touch and score.
What do these examples have to do with real estate? A lot. Once a sale is under contract, or refinance is underway, you have to place the competitive spirit on the back burner and enact your collaborative efforts by being proactive and anticipating what needs to get done vs. reacting to a challenging environment in a counterproductive way. Sometimes it may mean swallowing your own pride, getting out of the way and letting other people work their magic. You have to respect others in their skill sets to do their jobs; offer open communication, act when asked, move to delegate certain tasks and trust in the people to do their jobs. If you find areas that are falling short, move quickly. If you are uncertain about something that could impact your clients or transaction, do not be afraid to ask other co-collaborators rather than navigating blindly.
When you get down to crunch time and something is not going as planned, step back and collaborate. Ask yourself, “what would Al Hayne’s have done,” or “what can I do to help.”
About the Author: Tim Kane
- Author's website: http://www.legacyescrow.net
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Agreed…assuming the “other party or parties” will collaborate, otherwise the result can be confrontation…it takes two to tango…
Bright moments,
Thanks for he comments. Confrontation is yucky. My guess is that there are many hints of things that are non-collaborative in nature prior leading to to a confrontation stage.
Tim- This fits your “Collaboration: The important DNA in any small business” thesis so well expressed above. Ray Brandes and I created a lot of custom homes together.
Click here: A long-term architect-builder relationship. – a knol by Jerry Gropp Architect AIA
A working Link to the above:
http://tinyurl.com/nqkxv2
OK Tim let’s see if we can bring this thing home to Real Estate.
A Real Estate agent is like an army of one. They may join different alliances, but in the end they are the ones who have the relationship that puts and keeps a transaction together.
In any collaboration concerning Real Estate some one or every one is claiming to do all the work and the others are just hangers on.
In ten years or more of trying different alliances there has been disappointment. It’s much easier for me to own businesses where I can simply hire employees. Even in escrow, or title, some times with mortgage companies people can hire employees.
Real Estate requires the rain maker, front, and center, no matter what company you work for. In that way it is kind of like a profession. No one wants to talk to a subordinate.
In my opinion a Real Estate transaction should be done by group effort. I for one find paper work a challenge. The only company I have had a license at that actually checks the paper work is Skyline. All other brokers look at it, but kind of pass it along. At Skyline it goes through three people’s hand and they let you know where a problem may be.
Any company brokerage only wants hard working dedicated agents who cross the Is and dot the Ts. It’s kind of a joke really because a sales person has a talent. That talent should be nurtured.
Any way, Real Estate remains an army of one.
David,
I think you have some good points.
Here is a typical sale with the agent being the “conductor” and all the parties involved in a sale:
1) Listing Agent(s) + office support staff
Escrow departments and support staff
2) Selling Agent (s) + office support staff
3) Loan officer
4) Loan officer’s processing staff
5) Existing Lender (various staff from credit depts to customer service personnel to payoff depts etc.)
6) Funding Departments and various support staff
7) Different Municipalities and Utility Co’s customer service
9) Title insurance back office support staff & runners.
10)Homeowner Assn’s
11)Sellers
12)Buyers
13)Other 3rd parties and vendors: Courier Ccmpanies, home inspection firms, contractors doing work orders, Federal Express and UPS (critical to escrow), Notary’s etc…
14) Recording Departments of various counties: King County, Snohomish County, Pierce County etc..
15) Attorneys
Actually, this is just an off the cuff running of all the people escrow deals with on a daily basis as well as the agents responsibility to manage. I’m probably missing a bunch. As you can see collaboration is paramount.
A good discussion above- but Tim and David are talking past each other. They’re both right.
Working as a sole practicioner all these years, I’ve found the preceding “discussion” of great interest. I’ve just wriiten a Google “knol” on the suject with an example of same: “Collaboration- an important concept. The architect needs a team to make his projects into reality”. Here’s a link- (Click) http://tinyurl.com/nrmqnc
Tim- Please fix the above typo- “suject” and then delete this. Thanks. Jerry-
David’s “Real Estate remains an army of one” is true- as far as it goes. It’s that way with my very personal old-fashioned T-Square plan drawing. At a certain point, however, I have to hand it over to the Contractor and his Sub-Contractors while keeping a firm hand on the execution of the Client-approved Design Concepts. So the “army of one” at this point becomes rather larger.