Leading in a Time of Uncertainty
Every Relocation Director has their stories. It might be about a deal that went sideways, or something crazy an agent did, or some unbelievable transferee behavior, we all have them. With all that is going on in the world right now, it brought two memories to mind from my professional past that presented what, at the time, seemed to be insurmountable challenges.
The REO Nightmare
In early 1990 something, I came into the office one morning and noticed that the head of our REO department’s office was empty of his personal belongs along with his sidekick’s office. I immediately knew something was wrong. They had come in during the middle of the night and taken all of their property files and moved to a competing brokerage. Their goal was to take all of the business to their new firm. They did leave skeletal copies of the files for fear of being sued. Everyone looked to me, they knew my department was the likely entity to try and salvage what was happening. We handled corporate listings, how different could it be? I rallied my troops and I started calling the entities who owned the foreclosures and explained what had happened. At the same time, the REO defectors were calling the clients trying to sway them to move the listings to the new firm. After hearing the details of how the covert operation went down, the contacts were horrified and promised to keep the listings with us. We called each agent to let them know they would be working with my team. There were over 200 listings throughout Southern California. It took several weeks to figure out the status of each property, if there were any offers, what our expectations were. We didn’t have rock solid databases back then, it was spreadsheets and paper files. My staff and the agents stepped up and we did not lose one client. That was my introduction to the world of foreclosure. I managed our REO program for years after that and we ultimately took the program national and handled properties for Freddie and Fannie across the US until the REO market disappeared.
The Earthquake
In January of 1994, the unthinkable happened. A major, catastrophic earthquake struck the Los Angeles area at 4:31 am. At the time I was newly married and lived in Sherman Oaks, just a few miles from the epicenter in Northridge. We lived in an area that was at the end of the fault line in the San Fernando Valley and kicked heavily as it butted up against the Santa Monica mountains. It was one of the hardest hit areas. We lived in a rented townhouse and suffered a lot of property loss. All of the wedding china and crystal gone in 20 seconds, which was nothing in light of the fact that 57 people lost their lives that morning. Our place was unlivable. Our water heater on the roof caught on fire and dumped water throughout our ceiling. With the help of a neighbor with a fire extinguisher, we got the fire out quickly. Once I determined my staff and friends were all unhurt, I headed into the office the next day when I was certain I could get over the hill to the Westside, about a 20 minute drive. It was like a ghost town. While we did have cell phones, service was spotty. Landlines were the way we handled most of our communication and the circuits were busy most of the time. Texting wasn’t available in that era. When I walked into the office it was a sea of toppled filing cabinets and marketing materials as far as the eye could see. The doors on all of the cabinets had flown open and everything came out of them. This was back in the day of the actual welcome packets stuffed with brochures. Thankfully, our building was undamaged. I located our inventory property list and started calling the listing agents. First to make sure they were ok, second to ask them when they could do a property welfare check. The staff came in over the next few days as much as they could while dealing with so much personal loss and cleanup. The aftershocks kept us all on edge. My husband and I stayed with friends in an area that was largely unaffected until we had electricity returned and the repairman could put our exterior sliding doors back in place. They had literally popped off of their tracks leaving our home open to the courtyard. Everyone was affected in one way or another. Our agents were amazing. Some areas had very little damage. Agents in those areas helped other agents who were in areas of devastation. They checked every property making sure there were no gas leaks or broken pipes, ensuring the properties were secure. Our RMC clients were so grateful and helped distribute messages to the various consultants so we didn’t have to make multiple calls. Our broker network liaison relayed messages regarding the status of referrals to brokers for us. Everyone stepped up and worked as a team to get through that horrible time.
What I learned from both of these experiences is that keeping calm is the best thing you can do for your clients and your staff when faced with a trying situation. Sometimes trial by fire isn’t such a bad way to see what we are made of. After the earthquake, we developed a solid disaster plan that involved a calling tree. We had certain people designated to call/email certain accounts and handle very specific responsibilities. We would never be caught unprepared again.
Stay calm
Seek counsel from those wiser than us
Develop a plan
Keep the business going
Be patient
Divide the work
Play to everyone’s strengths
Communicate clearly
Keep everyone motivated
Use your resources
Be compassionate
Show appreciation
As we face this uncertain time, take a deep breath and be the voice of reason. Leading during adversity is what builds our character.
“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” ~ Publilius Syrus
