Creating Clarity with your Leadership
The people at the top of a company usually have very clear ideas where the direction of the company should be going. But if they don’t share those ideas with everyone at the lower echelons, then goals may not be achieved. Not because everyone isn’t trying, but because everyone isn’t singing out of the same song sheet. Clarity is a beautiful thing, it unites a mission.
When a brokerage creates a Relocation Division, it is critical that along the way everyone in leadership knows what the goals are for that department. Is it profit? Is it service? Is it recruiting and retention? Is it customer or agent satisfaction? Is it new customer generation? It may be all of the above or something entirely different.
Align your company goals with leadership
Prioritizing the goals for the relocation staff and leader of the relocation department can keep everyone focused on what the end goals are so they can make sure their activities lead to success in the areas deemed most important.
If everyone isn’t in alignment, it makes it difficult for the department to have a meaningful presence in the company. If leadership is only focused on profit, but they won’t let the leader of the department create a referral fee structure that will allow it to be profitable, then it is a no win situation.
By having a regular open and honest dialog about the goals of the department, then all parties can be a part of the strategy to meet the goals. It may mean that the Relocation Director needs to educate their leadership on relocation trends and the way the external referral fees work. And leadership may need to have an honest dialog about how relocation is perceived in the company. Everyone needs to understand the obstacles and vehicles that get in the way or take you where you want to go.
They don’t care about the minutia
Often times Relocation Director’s operate in a vacuum because they don’t feel like their leadership is interested or understands the way relocation works. You are correct, they typically don’t understand it and they aren’t interested in the minutia. But what is valuable for them to know is how the high level industry works. Understanding the war for talent, the impact you have on talent acquisition, and how that impacts your community and company is valuable for them to know. So instead of talking about details that don’t make sense to them, keep it high level and use real life examples. Give them sound bites about the cost of relocation to corporations, immigration issues, how remote work has affected corporate relocation and other relocation trends.
Explain the ‘why’
Establish yourself as the subject matter expert in your company. Instead of talking to leaders about goals that you have to meet and awards you want to win or certifications you would like to get, talk about why those things are important. Do they give you more visibility? Do they move you up the ladder for business? Does it lend credibility to your firm which equals more business? If those things don’t mean more profit, more referrals and better service, then it really isn’t important, at least to your broker. Sometimes our industry gets caught up in the competition of things when there is no real meaningful outcome if you achieve them.
Intentional efforts equal tangible results. If your leadership understands the high level importance of you and the relocation industry to your community and your company, then the ‘why’ behind your goals will create a clarity that your leadership can all get behind.
“It’s a lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration. Those emotions are poison to any living goal.” ~ Steve Maraboli, Speaker, Consultant
