By Lloyd R. Manning
Prior to getting into real estate I worked for many years as a representative for an oil marketing company, calling on agents and dealers. Some of the agents were in dilapidated bulk oil plants in very small communities where they could never hope to make a living. I recall saying to management that we should not be recruiting people for these hopeless situations because they will eventually steal from us. Not because they were thieves – they weren’t – but because they will feed their families first and worry about the company second. We did it anyway and they did go broke and they did steal.
The same holds true of so many real estate brokers. Hire as many bodies as possible. If the odd one makes it, good! For the others, too bad! As their pangs of hunger set in, scruples fall by the wayside. Ethics soon fly out the window. The ethical, competent and altruistic Realtors and our entire industry suffer by association.
As brokers pre-qualify purchasers, so should they pre-qualify potential new hires. Although no system or method is infallible, there is more than adequate information available on the Internet and elsewhere about sensible hiring and better employee retention. Still, it is only when these odious hiring practices are eliminated that any measure of professionalism will be brought into our industry.
Here’s a suggestion that I know in advance will not be accepted by many brokers. Guarantee each new recruit a basic salary of say $1,000 per month for the first three months. If the various organizations such as CREA made a start-up income guarantee mandatory, the criminal hiring practices of so many brokerages would end and the number of grossly incompetents would be substantially reduced.
A recent article in The Canadian Medical Association Journal asks, “Can professionalism be taught?” to which it answers, “Probably not.” The article says many things that provide advantages in life cannot be taught – competiveness, intelligence, curiosity, creativity, persistence. It wonders if medical professionalism can really be learned in a classroom.
We would pose the same question to real estate educators, brokers and sales agents. Many of the consequential qualities of professionalism go far beyond practical know-how, listing, selling, leasing and all that goes with it. These are virtues that cannot be gleaned from books or attending lectures. No instructor can teach altruism. The individual must be a good person of high moral character to start with. It is given that the teaching of ethics starts in the cradle and advances with age. It is not a go from standing still to full running.
The intention of the Code of Ethics, which is reproduced with minor changes in terminology by every real estate board and association in North America, is intended to ensure that Realtors are treating their clients and their colleagues with respect, fairness and honesty. The codes are enforceable and violation of any of them garners the harshest of consequences, so they say.
However, the penalties, not only those levied by our own associations but by the courts of the land, are farce. The public is seldom advised about the misdeeds of the unethical. Realtors rarely, if ever, squeal on miscreants and because nothing happens, it’s just not worth the bother to report any violation. Those caught with their hands in the sugar bowl will do it again, but next time will be more careful not to get caught. Sometimes we forget that ours is a self-regulating industry that holds itself out to maintaining high standards and practices of conduct. We set our own standards and define the behaviour that constitutes our professionalism. However, attending an ethics lecture, taking continuing education courses, keeping one’s licence current and paying dues does not make one a professional anything.
What lawyers are doing: Student lawyers regard the mandatory ethics courses as the dogs of law school – hard to teach, disappointing to take and often presented to uninterested classes with vacant minds. One is quoted as saying, “Courses on professional responsibility are about as useful as a valentine is to a heart surgeon.”
To make professional responsibility more prevalent and palatable, some law schools are introducing innovation in teaching. They have moved to modelling and bringing into the class real-life examples.
For real estate schools, professionalism is being taught the old-fashioned way. The teacher talks and the student is supposed to listen and buoyed with this new knowledge, play by the rules. This is passive learning and it seldom works. It is a given that preaching to the masses can take one only so far. To reach higher levels of moral accountability, students must personally be engaged in the resolution of ethical dilemmas. Critics see the usual classroom teaching as too abstract, too narrow and too boring to provide much assistance. With all of this it is not too difficult to see why Realtors resent having to submit themselves to courses in professional ethics.
What’s the bottom line? Most professional organizations are of the opinion that professionalism can in fact be taught. This is not in a classroom and not by role modeling alone, but both help. It should be mostly by observation and the example set by brokers and the industry as a whole following the guideline of the golden rule and the example set by their professional and ethical peers.
However, the negative role models may be more potent than the positive ones. This creates the challenge to not follow the example of the bad actors among us. Ethics will only win out when there is a transition by all Realtors to become active learners and recognize that the actions of all Realtors, both positive and negative, reflect on the public’s perception of all members of the real estate brokerage industry.
It begins with the hiring practices of so many brokers, the “fill the desks with breathing bodies” syndrome. As the failures of the new recruits become more evident, professionalism does not play an important role.
Where do we go from here? Where will we be in five years, 10, 20?
What will it mean to be a “professional Realtor”? You tell me. I’m kinda’ retired.
The failure of self regulation has contributed to many of the problems. Many brokers and agents are reluctant to identify incompetent or unethical colleagues. Such behaviour undermines the public’s confidence in the profession. Until Realtors start trading greed for improved ethics, these problems will never be solved. We must recommit to traditional values. It will not be by having more classroom exercises or preaching the gospel of ethical behaviour, but by upholding the values of a profession and to again quote the medical doctors, “Do no harm”. This will be by not just giving lip service to professionalism but by placing the interests of our clients, and our colleagues front and centre. This involves having a genuine desire to serve others, an emphasis on values and purpose, a sense of responsibility for long-term consequences and knowledge of both the strengths and weaknesses of being regarded as a professional.
The elements of professionalism are:
* Integrity as illustrated through ethical and professionally responsible practice and conduct, competence and expertise
* Pride in your chosen profession and the contribution it makes to society
* Spirit and enthusiasm
* Civility to clients, prospects, colleagues, associates and competitors
* The provision of service for the public good through client relationships and responsibilities
* Demonstrated leadership and reliability
* Commercialism balanced with a livelihood and service
* Substantial training and experience buoyed by continuing education
Lloyd Manning, AACI, FRI, CCRA, PApp is a semi-retired commercial real estate and business appraiser and broker who now spends his time writing for professional journals and trade magazines. He resides in Lloydminster, Alta. Email [email protected]
