Everyone develops a distinct leadership style. Whether you are in charge of fewer than five people, hundreds of staff members, or no one, how you approach managing your property depends on personality and communication.
It is easy to improve on the attributes as long as you know your style. Some real estate leaders falter because they do not understand the relationship between their team and themselves. Knowing the advantages of different leadership styles and understanding which one best suits you will make you a better real estate leader.
Below are the four most common styles of leadership real estate gurus implement and a discussion on the best qualities.
Leadership Styles
Leadership styles do not fit into simple checkboxes, just like personality types. Instead, you get broad categorizations based on characteristics such as flexibility and autonomy. Leadership styles include aspects from different categories in the real world and can adapt to suit the real estate environment.
So, what are these common leadership styles and how do they influence your business’ success?
Participative or Democratic Leadership
The most common and effective leadership style you can practice as a real estate leader is participative leadership. You value the opinions of colleagues and staff members.
Such leaders are open to debate about most decisions, which helps employees feel appreciated and valued. Some participative leaders may seem indecisive because they appear like they do not trust their ability to decide. However, such leaders can improve effectiveness by learning what it takes to make fast decisions in critical times.
Autocratic Leadership
The leader decides without asking for input from the rest of their team members. A highly autocratic leadership style may demoralize employees.
However, the best autocratic leaders real estate has made decisions fast and confidently. This is a major bonus that makes them excellent assets during a crisis.
As an authoritarian leader, focus on balancing the executive decisions you are making and trusting your staff to provide feedback and insights.
Delegative or Laissez-faire Leadership
Laissez-faire is a French term for “let go” or “leave it be”, which is a non-authoritarian leadership style that achieves control through subtle means. Laissez-faire leaders in real estate come in two flavors.
Intentional laissez-faire real estate leaders offer employees autonomy and creative freedom. The leaders let staff members set their schedules and make decisions.
Unintentional laissez-faire leaders are those who lack control over their real estate team, sometimes.
The laissez-faire leadership style works best if team members in your real estate business can manage and direct themselves, such as those working in properties far from the head office. Unfortunately, some of your employees may require more direction and will struggle to keep up with the rest of the team.
Transformational or Visionary Leadership
A visionary leader energizes their team and sells the real estate company’s vision. Such leaders use a mix of praise, enthusiasm, and empathy to encourage team members to achieve objectives and explore new areas.
If you are wondering which leadership approach usually creates the best climate in a real estate office, transformational may be the answer. All staff under you feel loyal and empowered. However, this type of soft leadership may appear insincere or distant in larger real estate companies.
Qualities to Developing Your Own Leadership Real Estate Style
Becoming an effective leader in the real estate industry means knowing qualities to develop when leading a team. The leadership qualities listed below include professional and personal traits that will help achieve effective communication, reach your goals, and relate with members of your team.
Focus and Concentration
Two key components of learning how to build a real estate empire are focus and concentration. Your team can concentrate on one task for a long time without distractions. However, focusing on a single project and excluding everything else can make you unable to move forward.
Both leadership qualities are more effective when you consider the big-picture viewpoint. A visionary leader can refine the idea or thought without losing sight of the objectives.
Patience and Confidence
Leadership in real estate requires you have the confidence to set boundaries and make decisions. But you should also be patient when walking your team members through processes or waiting for your team to achieve a goal.
Extreme confidence can lead to expensive mistakes, and patience helps temper it without neutralizing confidence. Plus, exhibiting patience can help your struggling team members overcome obstacles and foster new skills.
Transparency and Honesty
Full transparency may harm a real estate business. Excellent leaders know the best times to share their feelings honestly and openly. A real estate leader also knows when to share vital information with some employees.
Recognize Others
Your employees need more than praise to realize their full potential. Give them recognition, something only leaders can offer.
The best leaders in the real estate world recognize their employees’ efforts publicly. A manager will take credit for what an employee accomplishes, but effective leaders share the spotlight with devoted workers.
Intuition and Positivity
Everyone in the real estate industry has a bad day at work, once in a while. A good leader will recognize this and have plans for it. Carry a positive attitude to work each day and spread it to as many colleagues as possible.
The real estate thought leadership strategy includes finding a positive spin to make situations more tenable. Further, the strategy does not recommend tolerating negativity from team members.
Feedback and Communication
Your team requires feedback to learn and grow. The best leaders in real estate have effective communication with staff, whether while delegating tasks, explaining a goal, or offering criticism.
Do you know that positive and negative feedback sounds better when you deliver them together? Rarely or never issuing praise in the office can foster a resentful and competitive environment. Positive feedback will help employees know they are hitting the targets.
Become a Better Leader
Knowing your leadership style puts you on the path to becoming the most effective leader. Whether you are managing a small or big team, your leadership real estate style has a heavy impact on the reports you get and the effectiveness of your team. Review the above list of leadership qualities and determine where you should focus.
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