A T.E.A.M. For All Seasons

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When I was young the meaning of a team was sports related like baseball, basketball or football teams competing against one another. As I matured I began to develop a keener sense of life and began to see the competition and the drive these teams had to win! I was a cheerleader (little known fact) in elementary school cheering on the CYO basketball teams with a resounding T-E-A-M…GO TEAM. Still thinking that the only meaning a team had referred to sports.

Fast forward to the post college business world and a team was a department in a corporate structure that needed to perform and meet a goal. This was similar to a sports team with a difference only in what the actions necessary were to get the desired results.

As my concept of team evolved, 19 years into my real estate career, the team concept began to resurface and yet a new meaning emerged. A team was now something I was a part of, a participant, a cog in a wheel of a well oiled machine.  Integral to its results, involved in every way, an initiator and an innovator. Team changed my mind.

Together Everyone Achieves More,

there is no I in team,

teamwork makes the dream work,

many hands make light work,

none of us is as smart as all of us,

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link,

in union there is strength,

All of these clichés, a true representation!

Real estate teams today are extremely important to any real estate business. A careful craft of collaborative talent drawn together to accomplish wonders. Sounds too idealistic, lofty, unreal? Challenging is what it is, a team is born. Much more strategy than I ever imagined, needing both my right and left brain, combining creativity and analytics, an architect and alchemist of sorts.

The burning questions are…should I join a team? should I start my own team? what are the benefits?  the disadvantages? how do I do it? is it the right move? Before you do, here are some tips from this 30 year industry vet and collaborator:

  • Know your strengths
  • Surround yourself with people who have talents that compliment your own
  • Determine the roles of each team member
  • Set expectations and intentions
  • Believe in your team members
  • Be selfless, open-minded, non-judgmental and authentic
  • Communicate regularly and contribute enthusiastically
  • Be engaged and genuine
  • Always edify and encourage one another
  • Never assume – it’s leadership demise
  • Transparency is essential

Know your candidates when seeking them out. Talk about strengths, talents, skills and most of all expectations. This avoids disappointment and a disruption in flow, the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Here are some components to a well rounded team based on experience and lots of personal trial and error.

  • Administration
  • Operations
  • Sales –  Buyers/Sellers
  • Financial/Accounting
  • Marketing/Promotions/Social Media
  • Technology – Website/CRM/SEO

I have discovered that it is not only the individual tasks and duties that creates a successful team, it is the mindset and collaborative nature that makes a good team great. We have individual roles and use our strengths to master our role, we also have a responsibility to share and communicate often. When there is lack of information flowing among all team members it is called the silo effect, limiting the interactions between the members thus leading to reduced productivity.  Working in your own silo restricts thinking, removing these silos unleashes innovation. Be sure your team understands the importance of collective genius.

TEAM UP my friends and within those relationships you will find your passion, your purpose, yourself!

Elisa Bruno-Midili is Co-Founder, Partner and Creative Director at Cafe Realty a hand-crafted, small batch independent real estate brokerage located in Mount Kisco NY. Contact Elisa 914-230-0650 to learn more about teams and if they are right for you.

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