Happy Sunday Everyone:
Rob, my CEO, and I were talking on Wednesday after a call with our executive team. We were talking about my personal responsibilities inside the company, which includes being in charge of production. One question we discussed is my metrics i.e. how are we measuring my role? As an example, we’re currently locking/funding more loans than any time in our history. I’d love to take responsibility for this but there is also a little thing called rates being at an all time low, a global pandemic, and the craziest housing market I’ve seen since being in this business. To take credit for our current volume/production would be misleading, arrogant, and insane. So one item we discussed that is absolutely measurable, and something I care a great deal about is the retention of our people.
Fast forward to Friday, my buddy, Dave Savage, CEO of Mortgage Coach, kindly asked me to be a guest on a webinar he does. We were talking about leadership, what it means, why we do what we do, etc…It was a great call. Right after the call I went for a run and thought about me being measured by the retention of our people and how leadership pertains to all of it. I then thought about the concept we’ve discussed before which is that people don’t leave companies, they leave people. I think it’s best said to say that employees don’t leave a company, people leave people. When you say it like this you take total responsibility and accountability for the people that work with you. People will still get fired, and people will still get laid off, but if the right person leaves you, that’s on you. If an entire company of people embrace that mindset, the chance of success sky rockets.
People also have to believe they have the ability and need to lead, including me. If someone reports to you, at the lowest level you have a professional obligation to lead them, at the highest level, you have a moral obligation to lead them. Pretty sure it was Henry Ford that said “whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right”. The same works for leadership. If you believe you’re a leader you’re right, if you don’t believe you’re a leader, you’re right, it’s a belief. It’s not a title on your card, it’s how you treat your people and vice versa. I lead my own team, and at times, my own team leads me.
I was going to talk to our executive team about a leadership test I created for our last summit. Unfortunately because of Covid we cancelled the trip and I never walked through the exercise. The questions below were things I think about as it relates to leadership and a tactical approach to determine how you’re doing in your role as leader. Please note, I created the test because of what I want to be, not necessarily what I am today, but it gives me a foundation to follow. It’s a baseline. This is for direct reports.
* Do you have a daily, or weekly, team meeting with a set agenda and set time?
* Do you have purposeful annual reviews with your team members?
* Do you have roles/responsibilities/metrics for each team member?
* Does your team understand your vision?
* Do your team members know what their roles/responsibilities/metrics are?
* Do you review your teams metrics on a consistent basis?
* Do you have a set interview process to ensure you’re hiring the right people i.e. personality type, tests for skill set, detailed reference check?
* Do you have a set disciplinary process i.e. verbal warning, written warning, and termination?
* Do you know the names of your team members spouses/partners and children?
* Do you celebrate/acknowledge your team members birthday?
* Do you know and understand the personal goals of your team members i.e. what they want to be doing in 1-3 years?
* Do you delegate to your team with who/what/why/when/where/how instructions?
* Do you do charity work with your team consistently i.e. once every six months minimum?
* Do you proactively offer compensation increases for team members who are deserving of them i.e. do you offer or do they need to ask?
* Do you train your employees consistently with purpose? i.e. here is how you do it, now you try, critique without judgment, repeat until mastered?
* Do you eat with your team members at least once a month?
How many yeses did you have? ____________
Create your own list if you want but in the end, the right people want clarity, responsibility, accountability, growth, and leadership. You have to ask yourself if that’s what you’re giving them. If you are, retention shouldn’t be an issue.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.