Become a Daily Learner – Today!

By Ernest F. Oriente

Our economy and your success in the property management industry are based on knowledge.  Gone are the days when you could graduate from high school or college and never again pick up a textbook or attend another class.  Ready or not, your lifetime of learning has already begun, no matter how reluctant or scared you might be.  In addition, sophisticated technology or national competitors will continue to require your full attention.  Are you ready to become a daily learner?  Let’s get started.

Staying current with your profession:

Begin your learning journey by subscribing and reading the industry publications that serve the property management industry, such as your local real estate association newsletter, The Journal of Property Management, Multi-Family Executive and Multi-Housing News just to name a few.  These are great publications for keeping you in touch with local, state, regional and national trends.  Next, consider investing time and money to upgrade your professional certifications as this tells your peers and colleagues that you are serious about your property management career.  In addition, research the one-day seminars, as their programs can advance your specific business skills in a short amount of time and with minimal investment.  Lastly, search the Internet for industry websites that serve the property management industry and register for their email newsletter, subscribe to their email and discussion lists or participate in one of the live and interactive telephone conference calls, like a TeleForum, to experience an engaging form of distance learning.

Tip From The Coach: Start each year by reserving the property management seminars and trade show workshops you will be attending.  Then, schedule your company meetings and training that is planned and budgeted.  Now, look at your calendar and reserve the time and dates you are going to schedule for the professional and personal learning that will best serve you.  More specifically, consider budgeting $50 to $150 per month for your continued education.  This small investment today will pay large dividends in the near and distant future.

Using Technology:

Technology has created many new time saving, cost-efficient ways to enhance our professional and personal lives.  Of course, you need to learn how to best maximize your technology tools to receive the highest return on your learning investment.  Let’s start with the basics.  Learn the shortcuts for creating professional looking correspondence, presentations and proposals.  Understand the techniques for using a spreadsheet, preparing your company budgets, giving a PowerPoint presentation and using E-newsletters as a powerful marketing tool.

Tip From The Coach: Start with what you already know about technology tools and take it one step further – just one step at a time.  If you push yourself too far or too fast, you might be in a situation where you will not have the resources to succeed.  Instead, take one step at a time, master your new skill, then take another step.  For many, hiring a private business trainer or coach, can rapidly accelerate your learning curve around technology.  For others, just reading two or three pages of their software user manual each day is enough to gain incremental knowledge with technology tools.

Helping Your Team To Learn:

In addition to your daily learning, it will be equally important that your property management team continues to grow and learn at a comfortable pace.  Property management companies around the country are finding a direct connection between learning and company performance.  In fact, many companies are now measuring both performance goals and learning goals on an individual basis.  These learning goals are focused on areas such as: resident satisfaction, increased asset performance, maximizing technology and team-building goals.

Tip From The Coach: When helping your team with their learning skills, ask them to help you answer this question. “Learning__________________ will help me _______________ so that I can _____________.”  Asking this question is key, because the people that work for your property management company will be eager to learn if they have a hand in structuring their own industry and professional training.  Remember, whenever you include your team in the planning of their future, you raise their motivation to succeed and reduce turnover at the same time.

In closing, today’s success comes from yesterday’s learning, while tomorrow’s success comes from what we learn today.

Want to hear more about this important topic or ask some additional questions?  Fax a note on your letterhead to 435.615.8670 or send an email to ernest@powerhour.com and the Coach will fax/email you a free invitation to be on a TeleForum conference call.  Ernest Oriente, The Coach, is founder of PowerHour, a professional business coaching / recruiting service and the author Smart Match Alliances.  He delivers customized training by telephone, in leadership, traditional and Internet marketing, and sales for property management companies.

Reprinted courtesy of the Rockford Apartment Association