Embracing Your Role as a Leader

What can you do this morning in your office to make yourself a better leader?

Marc Cunningham, president of RentGrace said you need to bring three things every day to the office to grow as a leader.

First, Cunningham said you need energy. “How do you motivate people around you? How do you inspire them? If you can’t inspire them, you lose them. If you’re not inspiring them, they will leave you,” said Cunningham.

Once you have your energy, next you need clarity. “Channel that energy to focus,” said Cunningham. “What are we doing and how are we doing? What is the level of clarity? How do you contribute to the level of the success of the organization? We need the clarity of the roles, the clarity of what success looks like and the clarity that we’re making people successful here.”

And finally, add in accountability. “By accountability, I mean, measuring and reporting on performance, and not micromanagement. What does it look like for your office? People want to be accountable if it is healthy.”

“This is where you ask yourself how are you bringing energy, clarity and accountability to that group? Quality people want leadership,” added Cunningham. “People tend to go between one and two extremes. Either they micromanage; they constantly look over someone’s shoulder or they are on the other end of the spectrum, offering people too much space and letting them fly alone. Both of those two extremes are wrong. It’s better in the middle, to offer support, hold people accountable, but walk them through the process in a healthy way. That’s what people want.”

Culture in office is also important to workplace success. Cunningham said culture is the sum of attitude and actions in the office. People should be excited to come to the office, he said.

“Good energy, accountability and clarity attracts people we want and repels those that don’t. Not everyone likes that atmosphere, so this will repel them. If there is a problem with your culture, does someone need to go? Everyone has to be a good fit. Look around your team and move the people who are not a good fit.”

Cunningham said he’s made every mistake in the book since starting his career in real estate and plans to share his experiences with Triple Play attendees. “Here are the things I wish someone had told me. My talks can be summed up in here is what we failed at; it’s a lot of experience into a lesson.”

Cunningham presented a variety of sessions at Triple Play 2019.