Business
In this fascinating episode, John is with his Managing Director Adele Crocker. They discuss Adele’s journey from her promotion to branch manager when John bought the estate agency she was working for through to her current role as MD. John saw something in Adele early on and she has grown into and been hugely successful in the roles she has undertaken at the Castledene Sales & Lettings culminating in her current role as Managing Director. John and Adele reflect on the critical importance of alignment in values and vision when you are working in unison to maintain and develop a successful business. As an empire builder for John taking on an MD was about stepping away from the day to day so he can extend and build further, listen in and find out how Adele helps make this happen. KEY TAKEAWAYS When I took on the manager role I knew there was a job to do. I was managing colleagues I had previously worked alongside It’s a skill set to be able to nurture the change in the relationship with others and understand it. Moving to area manager and managing other leaders brought different challenges but was easier because I had been managing a very successful branch so I already had credibility. The aspirational branch managers were keen to find out how I had achieved the success as a branch manager, they wanted to know how and what they needed to do in their own branches to achieve the same level of success asking how is she bringing new business? How does she retain staff? How does she develop new staff and how is she operationally effective? For those who felt threatened by it – I spent time explaining my role was about making them the best they could be and the best their branch could be. Those who didn’t stay were those who were managers because they had the most experience not necessarily because they were good leaders. When you are moving very fast as an entrepreneur you have to bring other people in, otherwise, you cannot continue to move forward at pace. You’ve grown into letting go and I’ve grown into taking more on You can only let go in a business when you have the systems and processes in place, the generic people in place and a leader. It’s about having the opportunity to grow and having your boundaries challenged One of the most important attributes of a leader is the ability to enable and empower others to grow. The trust element is a vital requirement in a business relationship. Working with a visionary is about keeping up and when required slowing down the pace so the most effective foundations can be put in place. When you employ a Managing Director to run your business you don’t want to be involved in the day to day running of your business. A meeting every month to discuss different branches, Key Performance Indicators along with profit and loss gives an accurate and informed overview. When your values are aligned and you have a high level of trust, you are able to work effectively in unison It’s not just about giving someone the title it’s about enabling them to flourish in the role. You can get it right the majority of times if you put in the due diligence With any change, it’s about getting others on board and making people feel a part of what’s going on is key. The clearer and more transparent you are the more people are part of the change and the easier it is. BEST MOMENTS ‘All I ever look for is growth’ ‘I was a natural leader before having the title – when people had a problem they came to me and it was me who would be pushed forward to speak with managers when needed’ ‘I realised I needed tough love when I took on the role people liked me, from working with me but they didn’t respect me’ VALUABLE RESOURCES Leadership Revealed Podcast Castledene Sales & Lettings ABOUT THE HOST John has several Estate and letting agents in the North East of England. He also has a consultancy business where he teaches agents how to grow and scale a sustainable business. John’s doing this podcast to grow in the estate agency space but also to try and break into other industries as the formula he has developed for estate agency success, will work in other SME industries and he wants to break into high ticket coaching. CONTACT METHOD https://www.facebook.com/agencyconsulting/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-paul-14167211/ https://twitter.com/TheLHAExpert johnpaul@agency-consulting.co.uk