If you have a team member who has suddenly started to whine and complain it could be a sign that they have disengaged from your business and are moving on to another one. In my experience, people will often start complaining as a pre-frame to help them justify their decision to look elsewhere and to move on. We experience it in everyday life. A quick example, our mobile phone is perfectly fine until a new model is released and then we find all the things wrong with it the current one so that we can justify buying a new one.
If a team member suddenly starts complaining though, we need to establish the reason why so that we can act on it, quickly. You need to ask yourself, have they always been a whinger or is their behaviour something new? If it is new behaviour, are they reacting to a particular incident or policy change? Some profile types, such as those with high Refining energy do not respond well to change. They like the surety of routine and process and can struggle with new ideas and new products. If they don’t like the change, they will usually tell you and this can sometimes land as complaining. If you are going to introduce change and you have a team that has high levels of Refining energy, then you need to have a long lead time so that they understand the reason for the change and have time to accept it. This also applies to those with high Sustaining energy who can often dig their heels in and won’t be rushed. Activating leaders need to be particularly conscious of this as they are quick to react and often implement change very quickly. Too quickly in some instances.
As a leader, you need to check the validity of the complaint and the corresponding effect that it can have on the team and the business. Complaints have different levels of impact. We would deal with a complaint about sexual harassment far differently than what we would a complaint about the brand of coffee in the tea room and rightly so.
Disengaged team members are more likely to be complaining about the ‘smaller stuff’. Once again it is normally to validate their decision about their impending departure. Look for the signs and when the complaining gathers momentum, identify it, address it and isolate it. All complaints need to be investigated so dig deep to ascertain whether it is in reaction to an event or part of a strategy. The remedial action is vastly different.
The message I would like to leave you with is to keep your team in flow by understanding their strengths and their challenges and then leverage these for the benefit of the team and the profitability of the business.
Identify, attract, recruit, train and retain the best people for your team. With a combined experience of over 40 years in the Real Estate industry, Julie and Neil are well suited to understanding the challenges of your profession. Thanks to a simple, logical, focussed and easy to implement system. Agent Dynamics has been able to assist over a thousand principals, business owners leaders and real estate professionals just like you to achieve the success you are wanting.
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