In any division of property management, whether it’s office, retail, medical, or industrial, embedding efficiency into every aspect of our job is not only necessary but also expected by both our clients and our company. Efficiency increases overall return on investment through various avenues, but what truly sets your company apart in terms of high-level efficiency?

Does your company leverage technology and automation to streamline accounts receivable and accounts payable processes, reconcile and estimate common area maintenance (CAM) charges, store and analyze gross sales, and manage work orders and preventative maintenance schedules? Are you optimizing vendor and maintenance management through regularly bidding out services, asking your service partners thoughtful and detailed questions, identifying cost savings, spending a little more when quality is more important than cost, and analyzing proposals with care and attention to detail? Do you consistently work to build genuine relationships with your tenants, advocate for both landlord and tenant at the appropriate time, and stay abreast of both tenant and general market happenings to add value beyond knowing lease language?

Is energy and utility management integrated into decisions as often as possible? For example, reviewing submeter readings and monthly bills or analyzing large capital expenses that impact energy efficiency negatively or positively prior to proposing them to your client. Do you have established and functional standard operating procedures and processes for property inspections, financial reporting and review, life safety systems/scenarios, and onsite security? Do you approach your client and/or direct report with a problem and recommendation of next steps, with at minimum two options for them to choose from?

If you answered yes to the preceding questions, congratulations – you’re a property manager! Answering these questions well are very standard expectations for this job title, and it’s no secret as to what our clients expect; there is a clear industry standard for property management companies. Everybody’s doing a version of the above tasks at least a small level of efficiency, albeit, with some variations, but again I ask, what is the key to being truly efficient at a high level that sets your company apart from the rest? The answer: your property management team.

My position as Senior Property Manager often requires me to be a jack-of-all-trades, and as the saying goes, a master of none. All jokes aside, I actively work to master certain aspects of my job, but the first lesson I learned in property management is that even the industry veterans will come across problems and situations that they have never experienced before – we’re truly in an industry of continuous learning. The very next lesson I learned is that I simply cannot do it all by myself. Trying to “do it all” is not sustainable and is most certainly not efficient. If you are doing it all, you are either under-utilizing a team member, your team is understaffed, or you’ve purchased a one-way ticket to burnout. No refunds, and no return flights! It’s so easy to complete the 5-minute task that you know how to do, but appropriately and respectfully delegating tasks is a crucial step that every property manager must take – even if it takes you a full 30 minutes to train someone else. Delegation and training are long-term efficiency plays that benefit both the trainer and trainee.

In not all, but in many circumstances, whether your position is technically “higher” or “lower” than another’s, you’ll have at least one person you work with on a portfolio – this person is your team member. I am so blessed with an innovative, hard-working, kind, intelligent, passionate, and creative team that keeps me laughing through the good and bad. Truthfully, I’ve been extremely blessed through the years with having amazing team members, many of whom are now friends, with some that even attended my wedding. We certainly spend enough time working, why not build relationships with the people we effectively spend a significant portion of our lives with? Aside from enjoying the people we work with, having the correct team member in the correct position on the correct asset or portfolio is crucial to success and is a structural building block for efficiency. You can have the newest software, the most robust processes and procedures, and the spreadsheet of all spreadsheets detailing CAM caps that’s updated as soon as a lease is executed, but without the right team in place, none of these efficiency initiatives will truly be efficient. Let that sink in – I think we’ve all experienced this at one time or another.

When building your team, you must be extremely intentional with everyone you bring on board while simultaneously having a clear understanding of both your client and the properties to be managed. For instance, I have, not always, but often defaulted to hiring a green employee, particularly for an entry-level role, who is not familiar with the CRE industry. That was, of course, me 6 years ago, so I’m slightly biased. Truthfully, I had never opened Outlook or excel a day in my life, and had my now-husband give me a quick crash course the evening before my very first day on the job. What I had going for me, and what I look for in these “green” employees, are traits that may not check the box of experience but check all the right boxes. You must be kind, eager and willing to learn, ready to roll your sleeves up, get your hands muddy, and fix a problem and you must be willing to sweat a little bit (physically and mentally – let’s be real, summer exterior property inspections are a total drag, but they have to be done). You must also be willing to ask for help. If your lack of knowledge or fear of sounding uninformed stops you from asking questions, you’ll learn at a much slower pace than someone who raises their hand and asks them. After all, you really don’t know what you’re talking about, but having the dialogue with your team members is how you’ll gain knowledge. Of course, having skilled team members with experience is crucial, but don’t make the mistake of choosing pure experience over a willingness to learn, the ability to pivot, a positive attitude, and a strong work ethic. Property management can be taught – we are not rocket scientists!

Once you’ve analyzed your asset, gained a clear understanding of your clients’ expectations and personality types, and have started to build your team, you must be actively involved in your team’s day-to-day work so you can notice issues before they become monumental, which can happen quickly. You may have to provide more or less support than you originally expected, but I urge you to avoid micro-managing at all costs. Micro-managing can certainly be perceived differently by the parties involved, but it sticks out to me like a sore thumb. Ensure you’re providing support and checking in but try to give the team enough leeway to make mistakes. That’s how we learn! It’s property management people, not open-heart surgery. If you get involved, show support, and allow your team to find their way, they will be happier, grow personally and professionally, and take ownership of their tasks. We hire people for specific jobs – let them do the job they were hired to do. Being involved also allows you to identify someone who may not be the correct fit for the position they’re in, even if they checked all the boxes when hired. You must act quickly when identifying that a team member is not appropriately placed – it’s beneficial to all parties in the long run. We all have unique strengths, and it’s okay that someone may be better suited for a different role or property, but a team that is not pieced together correctly is not efficient. Keep an eye on your team, and make changes as needed.

I’ll share a real-life example of the above, and it’s based on one of my favorite plants: the humble shamrock. The shamrock is a hardy yet delicate, resilient yet dramatic, and fairly low maintenance plant under the right conditions. Their root system is comprised of tubers, which can completely dry out, with all green plant material withered away, but still, once placed back into soil and the appropriate environment, come back in full force, just as spring returns year after year. Our corporate office is in the Buckhead submarket of Atlanta, but I mainly office at The Krog District, so I’m in our corporate office at least one day a week for our company-wide staff meeting. I brought one of my shamrock plants into the Buckhead office within my first week of employment, and as I started to spend more time away (and neglected to water it often enough), slowly, all the green faded away. Finally, with one final green shamrock standing, I brought the plant home where I could give it a little more consistent love. Now, two weeks later as I write this article, my sweet shamrock has produced 10 new green shoots! As mentioned, my shamrock, and shamrocks in general, possess wonderful qualities – they even close as night and open in the morning, as if they’ve gone to sleep and woken up to start their day; however, the office I only visit once per week was not the right environment for the plant. As soon as it was moved to a more appropriate environment with a different level of care and attention, it began to bloom and thrive. The moral here is to be attentive, caring, and intentional with your team. Notice if they’re unhappy and do your best to provide them with the environment necessary for them to thrive and have a fulfilling work life. A positive, happy team culture fosters creativity and collaboration. When employees feel valued and motivated, they are more likely to contribute innovative ideas that can lead to new services, improved tenant experiences, and ultimately, increased occupancy rates.

Now that you have your team, you’re supporting them and pivoting to address new issues as they arise, and you all are happy, you have the single most important building block for efficiency. Next, you can begin to refine your standard efficiency practices, assess the market, and adapt to the ever-changing CRE environment, grow with new technology, and set yourself apart from other management companies. Alongside my current and past perfectly paired and efficient teams, we’ve saved our clients thousands upon thousands of dollars on unnecessary repairs, over-priced service proposals, inefficient procedures, and mismanaged mechanical equipment. Through the days of COVID-19, my team, equipped with the right mindset, quickly adapted our processes to offer solutions that met tenant needs while safeguarding our financial health. We communicated transparently, listened to concerns, and built trust, which ultimately strengthened our relationships with both tenants and property owners. In a world where market demands are ever-changing, the right mindset truly makes all the difference. By investing in a team that is not only knowledgeable but also passionate about growth, and by prioritizing the value of our partnerships, we are well-equipped to meet the challenges ahead and seize the opportunities that arise.

To stay up to date on news and resources such as this and other topics of importance to the real estate industry, subscribe to the free CRE Insight Journal Newsletter using this link.