In the midst of a crisis what do we do? Do we fly? Or do we stand our ground and fight. During 2020 and the uprising of COVID-19, where we were trudging through uncharted territory, the idea of “making it through” was one that was barely foreseeable because how can you make it through what you don’t know? However, while we have not fully made it through the storm as of yet, we are doing a pretty grand job at dancing in the rain. Especially for real estate, we saw businesses grasping the opportunity to step up to the crisis and transform a situation from catastrophic into a flourishing positive. No matter your experience in the industry, last year was unlike any other and you can be sure that even the most successful are taking this as a gift of growth. How can we do better? How can we treat people better? What is it that we can do to make our service available to everyone? It’s questions like these that have allowed the real estate industry to blossom into an industry of growth. But let’s take a few steps back, to a time when daunting, unanswered questions loomed over us. March 2020. Not only, what is the Coronavirus? But when will things return? When will businesses open? When will we see our loved ones? March 2020 held all these questions for us and there was no sight in a concrete answer coming anytime soon. So, what did we do?
1. Our leaders talked, and then took action.
Success started here. As though we were in the final 15 minutes of a math’s exam in grade 12, and we have one final problem-solving question left that seems to have no answer. In the real estate business, the ability to make a tough decision and make it fast is a skill that amid the beginning of lockdown, turned out to be a vital one. Unsure of how things would progress the world continued to spin, even if we were at a somewhat standstill. How do people pay their rent? Will people be looking to buy? Will they be looking to sell? All of these questions were raised, and every one of them was pinned for a later date. The only thing that hovered over the minds of the industries professionals is how do we adapt to this change? The possibility of having no stock was a problem that at that moment hadn’t arisen. The current problem was how are we going to take care of the people who are already with us? Because we have a duty to them first, even if everything else is at a standstill. Through this period a newfound mentality set in, one that will change the industry forever. Real estate agents can get a bad reputation in our community, with a few bad apples approaching the business as a machine would process numbers for an algorithm. However, covid created a massive wakeup call and those who needed the push were challenged to either evolve or become extinct. Human connection. No matter what business you’re in, human connection with always, always be the most important aspect. Because that’s what it is all for. That’s why we do what we do, for the greater good of our fellow humans and the rise of COVID grabs us by our ears and made us face the reality that we all could pay a bit more attention to how we connect with other people.
2. Human Centricity.
A key component of great leadership is creating a feeling of ‘We got this’. That we might not know what is to come but we know that whatever it is, we will get through it. At the end of the day every business is a group of human beings working together to create an outcome. Humans. People. Human connection. While technological advances are creating ease with many aspects of our life, the one thing technology will never be able to replace is the effect of human-to-human contact. Seeing the way another person breathes, speaks, holds themselves, pronounces words and feels to be around. Because while technology can do so much, it can’t and never will be able to recreate the individual human soul. The great businesses recognizes this, with leaders all over adopting the most important skill in our society, especially through the uprising of covid in 2020, empathy. Taking the time to understand your fellow humans and their individual worlds. Taking the time to acknowledge the individuality of every moment we experience allowed us to persevere through a time with the security of knowing that our leader, ‘has our backs’.
