Being part of any team means working together; that takes mutual trust, cooperation and understanding. But you can’t achieve any of those if you don’t know the other person. If you can cold call leads to convince them to become your clients, then striking up a friendship with someone else in your office will be a piece of cake. If you aren’t going to try to get to know your teammates, why bother joining a team in the first place?
You can connect over business or personal matters, both in and out of the office.
Larry Rideout, chairman/founder of Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, agrees and has some specific ideas about ways to foster connection with your teammates.
In the office
Connecting with your teammates in the office is the most natural way to go about it; you’re both in the same place and have the connection of work, so you won’t be fishing for a conversation starter. On the other hand, the fact that you are at work means that you should avoid making the conversation feel like a distraction.
Rideout’s suggestions for in-office connections are oriented around business conversations: “Attend meetings and share new business and discuss strategies about pricing, marketing, etc.” Follow this route and you might make not just a new friend, but get some sound advice for your own work too.
Out of the office
Taking connection to the next step is talking to your teammates outside the office. If you’re hitting it off with a teammate in the office, maybe invite them out to a friendly meal. You could even find a common recreational interest you share and try to connect over that. Real estate is a 24/7 job, but this is a great opportunity to take the relationship from professional to friendship.
Rideout also has some group activity suggestions: “Attend networking events, office meet and greets, and Thirsty Thursdays with your teammates.” Don’t just work as a team, enjoy yourselves as a team.
Bonding in the age of remote work
The elephant in the room here is remote work. If you barely ever go into your team’s office or meet your teammates in person, then trying to connect with them can seem like a low priority. However, this just means you have to put extra effort in. If you’re the first one on the team to take initiative, all the better—your teammates will remember that.
Rideout says team professionals can even spin remote work into remote team gatherings: “Schedule Zoom calls to discuss present market conditions, challenges they are facing or sharing real estate industry trends or challenges”
