It’s a situation I’ve seen time and time again. Someone in the appraisal office is doing too much. They take all the phone calls. They do all the data entry. They send out all the emails. They update AMCs when needed. They make appointments. What don’t they do? Sleep, probably. I have a term for this kind of behavior: Every-person Syndrome.
I know that many of you think you know where I’m going with this. I’ve shared the doctor’s office analogy many times. The doctor doesn’t greet you at the door or go over your insurance with you. They don’t take your blood pressure, and they don’t call you on the phone to confirm your appointment. Doctors have other employees at their office to do those things for them, and you should, too. As professionals, I think we have some things to learn from other professionals, and this is one of them. The law of delegation is real, and it works.
For those of you who think you just predicted my every word, you were only partially right. However, there’s a person in the appraisal office that may be doing all of the things I mentioned above – and they’re not the appraiser. There are those who have discovered the law of delegation, and have found someone who is loyal and will do anything to help their business succeed. The natural reaction when you find this person is to start training them on everything, because if they’re reliable we can give them more to do, right?
Yes and no. If you’ve found someone you can trust and who you’re comfortable putting in charge of everything, that’s great. Those people are a blessing to any business they work for. However, just as it can be bad for you to do everything, it is also bad for them. Resist the temptation to put your new favorite employee in charge of everything. I believe that it’s better to have two part-time employees with specialized tasks than it is to have one person who’s in charge of the whole office. Find out what your employee’s strengths are. Find out what they really want to do, and train them accordingly. Just like you, your employees will be happier doing the one thing they enjoy than doing a thousand things they can tolerate. Don’t give in to “Every-person Syndrome,” when it comes to you or your employees; you’ll all be happier for it.
For more information on this subject, please listen to The Appraiser Coach Podcast Episode:
732 Do You Have "Everyperson Syndrome?" VIDEO AUDIO
