How to create your own ‘culture’ anywhere

Last season the Denver Broncos’ new highly-touted quarterback Russell Wilson was sacked 55 times! Not surprisingly their record was a dismal 5 and 12. The Bronco’s new coach, Sean Payton was asked about the players’ performance last year and what his plans were. “No 1 job for us coaches in evaluating players is what are the things they do well and let’s try to put them in those positions…Highlight their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.” The same can be said about us as reverse mortgage professionals. Perhaps we feel like we’ve been sacked as reverse mortgage pros this last season.

Basically, we have two skill sets- soft skills and hard skills.

Soft skills are those intangible qualities and talents you have that make you effective when interacting with others.

Hard skills are those skills and abilities that can be taught and practiced.

For example, being a great people person is a soft skill. However, you can learn some hard skills to improve your personal interaction skills. Resiliency is another soft skill.

Then there are hard skills such as organization, time management, basic sales techniques, and an understanding of human psychology.

So where do we begin?

The first step is to identify what our core strengths and capabilities are. Where do you shine the most? What seems to come naturally? What activities bring you compliments from your professional peers and even borrowers? This will require a certain level of self-awareness. Your strengths not only make you feel strong but they produce positive results.

The second step is to examine where you could use your strengths more consistently in your business. For example, if you’re a great public speaker perhaps you should add more speaking engagements in front of homeowners and area professionals. If you’re a great face-to-face salesperson then getting to the kitchen table or on a Zoom meeting should be your top priority.

The third is to know your patterns. What kind of tendencies do you have when the phone and email are quiet? Do you wait or take action somewhere else to produce future sales? Do you love starting projects but find it difficult to complete them? The Swiss-born British philosopher Alain de Botton said, “the best cure for one’s bad tendencies is to see them fully developed in someone else.” How true.!

And the fourth step to playing to your strengths is to get honest feedback. Ask your spouse, a trusted friend, or a colleague for their unvarnished feedback. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The ego is our enemy in this process- so put it aside to learn how to improve.

When we focus on our strengths we don’t fixate on our weaknesses and become increasingly effective, confident, and optimistic. Let’s take some time this week and assess where we can flex our best strengths more consistently in our business.

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