Welcome to four-i September

As we enter the last third of the year, it is as good a time as any to take a moment and consider if your star performers are getting the recognition they deserve.

Jeff Grout, one of Property Academy’s speakers, recently delivered his excellent session on recruitment and retention, and the following quick exercise from his programme has proved to be extremely valuable for me, and for our Mastermind members.

Jeff suggests drawing an X and Y axis from 1 to 10 with ‘Competence’ along the vertical axis, and ‘Commitment’ along the horizontal axis.

Competence is scored based on an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience, where as commitment is scored based on attitude and behaviour.

By marking where each member of your team sits in the axis (place their initials where you feel they should appear on the grid), they will fall in to one of four quadrants, and ideally we would like them to be in the top right; these are our ‘stars’. They have a brilliant attitude as well as the necessary skills and experience needed to do the role exceptionally well.

Someone with the necessary skills and experience but with the wrong attitude might need to be in receipt of recognition. Stars sometimes fall in to this quadrant when they have not had the recognition they deserve. If recognition is not the answer, it might be that the individual’s core values are not in alignment with the company’s, which is then demonstrated through their attitude and behaviours.

Someone with an excellent attitude but lacking skills and experience may just need a bit of training to edge them up in to the star quadrant.

Finally, those without the competence or commitment simply need to be issued a P45 if training and recognition hasn’t done the job!

This straightforward exercise quickly highlights who the star performers are, and how those who do not fall into that bracket can be given additional support. Jeff suggests carrying out this exercise every 6 months to see if and where people move to. The exercise is also a great reminder to make the time to recognise the stars in our business, and keep them performing well.

Speaking of stars, September is a busy month for us as we fly Josh Phegan over from Australia, while preparing for Property Management LIVE and New Homes LIVE, as well as managing the Estate Agency of the Year Awards entries! Have you entered yet? There are just 29 days left to register your entries online.

We also have an open day this month on the 13th September for business owners and directors who would like to experience what Mastermind Membership has to offer.

This month’s newsletter includes an exclusive interview with Josh Phegan, highlighting the importance of post-transaction follow up, spotting the opportunities within this process, and how to do it effectively. Make sure you find out how to see him whilst he is here in the UK later this month.

We also have our regular book summary, Did You Know stats, and Mastermind Tip of the Month kindly shared by Jon Hudson of Hudsons in London.

I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter and look forward to seeing you soon!

Best wishes,

Nicky