Recently I was approached by a very talented young man who was growing a strong business in the real estate industry. He said he has observed others having difficulty in retaining both employees and agents on their teams and is determined to avoid the pitfalls of high turnover amongst his staff.

Those who wish to succeed at a high level will need to master the skills of hiring, training, leading and motivating people. And yes, there is an art to it! Let’s break it down.

First, let’s take a look at just what the defining difference is between groups and teams.  It’s no big secret that that the difference is found in sound leadership and business acumen.

So, how do companies hire teams instead of just incongruent groups of people?

A Faulty Hiring Process Sets Companies Up for Failure

Finding any old employee can be fairly easy to do. Without having learned the proper skills in spotting talent for a specific role, however, a person in charge of hiring will most likely make a bad hire. When that happens, people tend to blame the hiree, not the hirer. I have seen this literally hundreds of times.

But, guess what?

It is far more likely the person you hired is just fine.  The person who hired them, however, is not fine.  He/she may have just hired someone who isn’t actually the best fit for the position. So, sorry to say, it is the hirer’s fault.

As an employer, the responsibility to make a correct hire is on your shoulders. If it doesn’t work out, you need to look for your fingerprints on what went wrong. To take it a step further, by making a bad hire, you just did that person a tremendous disservice.

If you learn nothing else from this blog, remember this:

Hiring the right fit for a specific job
is the employer’s responsibility.
Got it?

Once you have truly learned the fine art of spotting and hiring job-specific talent, your next challenge will be to retain them. This is often where people struggle the most.

Locking in Teams Requires Leaders With These 2 Traits

Compensation is the obvious place to begin, when considering how to keep new hires. But, think about it; is compensation the most important component of long-term business relationships? No.

In my years of experience, it has become quite obvious that those whose businesses thrive retain employee relationships through a combination of:

• Driven, compassionate, and loyal leadership and
• Significant and meaningful growth opportunities.

This is not as complicated as it appears to be. Here’s my two cents as to why groups of hired employees never become well-led, motivated, and harmonious teams.

The leaders are not truly invested in their team members. They look at them as a means to an end instead of valuable humans who are entrusting the leader to help them achieve their professional goals.

I have observed successful teams and dysfunctional teams for a long time. Dysfunction comes from one of two places; self-serving leaders and/or ignorance. Don’t get me wrong. We are all naive and ignorant until we learn, but what sets the unknowing from the knowledgeable is the willingness to learn.

I have an amazing team here in L.A, because many of my team members have great and happy teams.  I think this is because we have well-established and caring leadership firmly in place.

If you, as a leader, are really invested in your team, you should easily be able to answer these questions:

• Are your expectations clear and in writing?

• Do your team members know exactly what your vision is?

• Do your team members know (1) what part they play in your vision and (2) how being your team member helps them fulfill their own vision for themselves?

• What are your team members’ income goals?

• What are your team members’ strengths and weaknesses?

• What is the path the leader has defined to help the team achieve their goals? And, over what period of time? Is it in writing?

• What do you know about your team members outside of work? Do they have kids? Pets? Favorite sports or teams? What are their dreams for their futures?

Where you find leaders who have a deep understanding of the answers to the aforementioned questions, you will also find successful teams. Otherwise, they are groups of disconnected people. The difference is HUGE. People have to actually care about people.  Weirdly simple, right? One would think….