Grooming new SuperStars is the easy part. The tough part is having a system to hire the best candidates today…who will be the future leaders in your property management company, tomorrow. Follow the three steps in this article and the dream of having a powerful farm-team is just months away!
Hiring the best: An artist would say, “give me great clay and I’ll craft beautiful sculpture”. The same goes for grooming the new leaders for your property management company. Start with a clear and concise written job description and a written interview game plan, to be used by each person conducting the interviews for your company. This game plan for hiring future leaders should focus on the critical success factors of your property management company and your high standards for hiring must never be compromised. In addition, use validated written assessment(s) in your interview process as these tools can be custom-built for your company and will benchmark the behavior and values of your current leaders. You can then compare the behavior and values of your current successful leaders, to each potential new hire and numerically be able to measure and compare any variances.
Tip From The Coach: If the above step is closely followed, your property management company will already be 75 percent on-track and the rest of the grooming process will be easy. Please note, hiring great people solves most business problems and makes for a solid foundation insuring future company success.
Developing fast-track training: Develop a detailed training checklist for all newly hired employees. This should include: an orientation for their first day, a daily plan for their first week, an outline for their first month, and a recap of the first 90 days which includes your specific company expectations for their performance. This sets the tone for a strong introduction to your company and within 90 days, every new hire should be fully trained and operating at peak performance. Many property management organizations share this powerful training system during the initial interview process to attract SuperStars and to identify those not ready to play at this world-class level.
Tip From The Coach: At the 90 day mark, be certain to conduct a thorough employee review and summarize an action-step for each new employee’s continued improvement and growth. Then, use this employee review form during short monthly meetings to track the progress being made, until the anniversary of the next formal review. Those who are making the most progress on their action steps are your best prospects as future property management SuperStars.
Grooming future leaders: Allow a new employee a minimum of 18-24 months to master his/her current responsibilities. If after the first 12 months, you see great potential and can validate exceptional performance in a particular individual, schedule a meeting with this person and ask them to share with you their vision and plans for the future. If this person has professional goals consistent with those of your property management company, begin to assign projects for this person to handle, specifically those which can be presented directly to you. For example, assign this person a research project to evaluate major employer trends or an analysis of how to better compete with your local property management competitors. If these projects go well, then assign larger more complex projects or a group presentation so you can see how this person interacts with his/her peers and those on your team. These projects are a critical step for grooming future leaders, and will give you several months of evaluating this person’s performance, long before a promotion becomes official. This also takes the pressure off the individual seeking advancement, and allows them a safe place to grow and develop, with your support, coaching and guidance.
Tip From The Coach: As you assign each project or presentation, be very clear in your expectations and coach this individual before and after each assignment is completed. When coaching—be honest, be truthful, and expect this individual to make the necessary adjustments along the way. The best future leaders will be smart, quick to shift gears and happy future learners. When you find this special person in your property management company…make certain they never leave.
Want to hear more about this important topic or ask some additional questions about grooming future SuperStars? Send an E-mail to ernest@powerhour.com and The Coach will E-mail back to you a free invitation to be a participant on a PowerHour conference call.
Author’s note: Ernest F. Oriente, a business coach since 1995 [31,000 hours], a property management industry professional since 1988--the author of SmartMatch Alliances--and the founder of PowerHour, has a passion for coaching his clients on executive leadership, hiring and motivating property management SuperStars, traditional and Internet SEO/SEM marketing, competitive sales strategies, and high leverage alliances for property management teams and their leaders. He provides private and group coaching for property management companies around North America, executive recruiting, investment banking, national utility bill auditing, national real estate and apartment building insurance, SEO/SEM web strategies, national WiFi solutions, powerful tools for hiring property management SuperStars and building dynamic teams, employee policy manuals and social media strategic solutions. Ernest worked for Motorola, Primedia and is certified in the Xerox sales methodologies. Recent interviews and articles have appeared more than 7000 times in business and trade publications and in a wide variety of leading magazines and newspapers, including Smart Money, Inc., Business 2.0, The New York Times, Fast Company, The LA Times, Fortune, Business Week, Self Employed America and The Financial Times. Since 1995, Ernest has written 200+ articles for the property management industry and created 350+ property management forms, business and marketing checklists, sales letters and presentation tools. To subscribe to his free property management newsletter go to: www.powerhour.com. PowerHour® is based in Olympic-town…Park City, Utah, at 435-615-8486, by E-mail ernest@powerhour.com or visit their website: www.powerhour.com