Many brokerages are run by real estate teams, and it is no secret that teams have both benefits and downfalls in the ways that they function. There are a lot of hands on deck when it comes to every big project and minute task – this can be both helpful and hurtful to a company. Before starting or joining a brokerage, it is important to find out what work ethic would work best for you and your employees:

Pros:

In many team-based careers, the outcome is usually greater than the sum of its parts. More can be accomplished if ten people are working on a project, than if it is the sole responsibility of one person. This is why the majority of brokerages operate in teams – in fact, 60% of real estate professionals prefer working in teams, as opposed to doing individual tasks. This is important information to consider, because if you hire people that prefer to work in teams, than it only makes sense to make your brokerage a team-based organization. More people equals more ideas – and more ideas appeal to a broader client pool. Teams promote creativity and organization, as different personalities will prefer to take on different tasks. If a team works well together, your company will thrive and your results will be astounding.

Cons:

However, not everyone prefers to work in a team – and not all teams work well together. It is easy enough to put a group of people in a room together, give them a task to do, and say “do it.” But that does not mean it will be done efficiently, or at all for that matter. If a team does not complement one another, then the results will be worse when done as a group than when done individually. People who are more solitary, or people who do not get along well together, will not make a great group. Forcing people to work together when they don’t want to will only decrease motivation when working on projects together, and will ultimately result in a collective failure as a team.

What should you do?

So, the decision must be made as to what is best for you – working as a team has a multitude of benefits when done correctly, but may be detrimental when done wrong. It is important to determine how your employees work best, and what will be best for your brokerage as a whole – in some cases, this is in teamwork, but in others, it is simply not.