Sitting at the end of the hospital bed watching my two-year-old struggling to breathe having caught COVID and unfortunately suffering from childhood asthma really puts the word perspective into a whole new light.
In the world of management rights, I think perspective is a much-needed element to survive and thrive. We all know this industry can throw us curve balls, some much larger than others but looking deep into it all, is it life threatening?
When friends/clients ring me and vent or ask advice on how to handle a tough situation most of the time I try to encourage them to take the high road, because in the scheme of things, is it really worth it? When you receive a nasty email from a grumpy owner, or someone walks into your office ‘with all guns blazing’ I want you to stop and try to have perspective.
Is the situation or argument really worth your energy or even more important your time? I understand in the heat of the moment sometimes this can be hard but if you practise the art of perspective, I promise you will find that the small stuff stops escalating into the big stuff. Not focusing on the things that are out of your control for example someone else’s opinion or attitude, you will find you have much more time to focus on the more productive and positive aspects and relationships within your business and life.
Finally, it wouldn’t be a Kelley article without a story (I might even start calling this section of my article story time with Kelley), so here we go…
A friend/client had a real estate agent (not a friendly one) promise that if they sold to an investor that this said manager would receive the letting agreement. Throughout the sale the said manager was assisting with information as the agent really had no idea. The property sold to an investor and the agent kept the rental. I’ll just let that sink in, as I know you have all been there.
Anyway, the manager rang me and was about to start the Third World War with said agent and agency. We chatted about the issue for a while and after putting things into a little bit of perspective the said manager placed her grenades, rifles and all other weapons away as this was not a fight that needed to happen. Yes, it is heartbreaking, yes, it is very frustrating but not life threatening.
And now for the happy ending…
We got in contact with the new owner and discussed the services of the said manager, they are due to come back into the letting pool any day now. We focused that anger and energy on winning back the investor from said agent and we won!