In this three-part series about Building the Right Team, we’ll guide you through a thought process that will help you research, gather and sustain resources that allow you to achieve the most success in your real estate investment efforts.

• Read Building the Right Team—Part 1: Strategy here.

• Read Building the Right Team—Part 2: Implementation here.

Maintaining Those who Maintain

Now that you have a sound strategy and you’ve pulled together your team, it’s important to cultivate the relationship with your team and grow it over time. The more energy you put toward empowering your team to be successful on your behalf, the more everyone wins.

But how do you do it? When you’ve finally put together your team—the team that will save you time so you can focus on other things—how do you manage their results? Here are a few things to think about when it comes to keeping your team—the right team—working hard for your success.

• Trust their expertise—You’ve worked hard to gather the right resources and people with the skills that balance your weaknesses (or what you don’t want to do). Trust that they know what they’re doing and that they will represent your best interests. Your trust will obviously grow over time as they prove their value through performance.

• Be accessible—In order for your team to make informed decisions, they may need to run their plans by you to make sure they are on track and within budget. When you are difficult to get ahold of or unresponsive to feedback or follow up, your team will struggle with moving forward in a timely manner. Make sure you’ve provided ample ways for them to reach you so you can be involved in helping them make decisions on your behalf.

• Respect boundaries—You hired and brought together experts in the areas of real estate and property management as well as other resources. You’ve invested the time in researching, vetting, interviewing and negotiating contracts with your team, so it’s time to allow them the space to do the work you’ve hired them to do. Respecting the boundaries of your team means you don’t “step over the yellow line” and encroach upon their expertise. Question when appropriate, but don’t micro manage every little decision they make. Allow them the latitude to do the work you hired them to do.

• Manage expectations—Communicating expectations is important between you and your team. When you are working with your team, it’s important to manage your expectations as well as theirs regarding any project or ongoing work on your properties or in developing your portfolio. Managing expectations is about clearly defining budgets, timelines, scopes and other pertinent information regarding the work or the desired outcomes so all parties understand what’s expected.

• Learn from them—You brought in a team of experts with their own past experiences and history. They’ve learned a lot through their own trials, and it’s your opportunity to learn from them just by being in proximity to the work they do and the conversations you have with them. When you create a culture of mutual learning among your team, it creates deeper bonds and inspires more proactive approaches. Two heads are better than one!

• Communicate regularly—In any relationship, communication is key. Find the best ways to communicate with your team, what works for them as well as you. Establish communication guidelines for all matters, how you pay, how you need progress reports on projects and other ongoing work that is to be done on your behalf for your properties and portfolio. When communication remains consistently fluid, the relationship becomes more stable and reliable, especially if the communication is fueled by mutual goals and understanding. Communication also includes constructive feedback. If your team is not performing the way you want, you need to address it sooner rather than later. You want them to clearly understand what you’re looking for, and find a way to negotiate a better outcome so they get to know you better and learn what you expect from all aspects of the services they provide.

• Treat them as partners—Your team is there to help forward your success. When you treat them as partners instead of contractors or vendors, you are able to create a better relationship with them over the long term. Your attitude toward your team will foster the success of your work together, and when they sense you’re viewing their contributions like a partnership, they will go over and above for you.

• Be flexible—We all know that things happen, especially when it comes to working with tenants or construction or other matters where multiple factors—some uncontrollable—come into play. Know that your team wants to work hard for you, however, sometimes things may get in the way that they can’t control. As long as you’re in good communication and working things out together, your flexibility and understanding of a situation they’re dealing with will go a long way to earning you flexibility and understanding when you need it in the future.

• Share your vision—As mentioned above in ‘treat them as partners,’ when you share your big vision (if you have one to share and are comfortable doing so) your team can offer ideas that may help accelerate the achievement of your vision. If they know you’re looking to build a specific type of portfolio or move into a different market in the future, they will be inspired to share information or ideas that help you succeed in fulfilling that vision or at least taking steps to get you there sooner.

• Ask them for input—When you ask your team for input, you’re expressing how much their opinion means to you and your success. Whether it is on a decision about your portfolio or a property you’re trying to buy, or if you’re considering taking a different strategy and investing in a different type of property, asking for ideas or using your team as a sounding board can be extremely helpful. It conveys you trust and value their opinions. You can even use your team to brainstorm ideas when you are looking for new options, but may be too close to your own situation to see all of the possible options.

• Thank them better—Of course you’ll pay their monthly or quarterly invoices when they arrive. (Hopefully promptly!) But how else can you thank your team? What can you do to celebrate the success they’ve brought you? Find creative ways to say thank you. Get to know your team on a personal level. Find out about their families, their interests or hobbies. Learn more about their business. It may give you some great ways to say thanks that have greater meaning than simply being a good payer of their invoices, which can be too transactional when you’re trying to build a lasting relationship. Make it personal and they’ll go well beyond what’s expected for you because they know you care about them, not just the service they provide.

• Refer them business—A great way to thank your team is to refer them business. Before you do, however, have a discussion about what kind of business they’re looking for. What type of clients do they want and what kind of work do they want to do. For example, there may be a service they provide that doesn’t have high awareness or as many customers as they’d like. Find ways to introduce people you know to them. Rave about their service on the common review sites such as Google, Yelp, and others. Show your appreciation by helping them be more successful in their business.

When you value and respect the relationship you have with your team—the team you’ve worked hard to put together—you’ll be better equipped to enjoy the experience of being a real estate investor that has a rock-solid team that forwards your success.🏠