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Since moving from the practice side of the real estate sector to the association side in 2017, I’ve often told rooms full of Realtors that I understand the challenge of engagement from their perspective. As part of a broader presentation, I’ll say to them, “For the ten years that I was a broker, I didn’t care what the board or provincial association were doing. As long as the MLS System turned on in the morning and my agents could go to work, I was good.”
In a 2024 article for REM, I wrote that Realtors’ fees support around 70 different strategic plans across the country, and almost all of them will talk about improving member engagement. Yet, there doesn’t seem to be clarity on why we want engagement or what can be achieved from it.
We see it all the time at the director level of the various boards and associations across Canada — a new director will join the board without knowing the full scope of what the organization does (or any scope, in some cases), and then find themselves saying, “Every member should know what we are doing.”
Misconceptions about engagement and success
It could be argued that a Realtor’s success in business does not have a direct correlation to their engagement with the local board or provincial organization. Sure, we hear stories from folks who sought board positions as having built a strong referral network and perhaps garnered some additional business from the role, but there are plenty of successful agents out there who do not invest an ounce of time into following the most recent decision of the board.
Therein lies the challenge. The frustration of the decision-makers boils over when members first hear about an organizational change only after it’s implemented, despite a lengthy communications campaign in the lead-up.
The communication conundrum
There were two unsurprising results from a survey of B.C. Realtors that the BC Real Estate Association conducted last year. First, many said they have a hard time keeping up with all the emails they get from the various organizations trying to communicate with them, but their preferred method of communication continues to be email. Second, many have no idea what BCREA does and what the value is for their small monthly fee, but they also don’t read any of the emails we send them.
These challenges and realities are nothing new. New directors will join the board and, before they get the requisite governance training, will confidently suggest that what is needed is video content. That is the missing medium.
The thinking goes, if you add video to the existing member portal, newsletters, direct emails, social media posts, MLS System pop-ups, and townhalls, then suddenly those who were oblivious will now be enlightened. Only if you make that change, you find that the videos’ open rates correlate to the board’s exact number of board members, staff, and already engaged keeners.
Rethinking engagement metrics
So, then, if this is nothing new and there’s no silver engagement bullet, why does every strategic plan call for more engagement, and for engagement to continue to be measured in likes and email opens?
My theory is that it’s because we’re built on metrics. Our directors, who are mostly Realtors and are running their own engagement campaigns for their businesses, and staff have become wired to equate engagement with measurable intel. The feedback loop has become the confirmation of success.
Accountability over engagement
In my role with the BCREA, I’ve recently said that having over 26,000 Realtors engaged in everything we do sounds like a recipe for disaster. The board of directors and the organization require a certain amount of autonomy to conduct the affairs of the corporation as they have been elected or appointed to do.
That said, this is not an open license for leadership to go rogue or to stop communicating. Just because stakeholders aren’t reading the emails does not mean they won’t care about the outcome of a decision that is made.
To balance this autonomy with the multi-generational status quo of complacency, the focus needs to shift from engagement to accountability. Rather than a board of directors or leadership team confusing complacency by the members with indifference, they need to make every decision based on an assumed over-consequence. That is to say, regardless of the engagement a team is getting from members, the decision-making process needs to be weighted significantly more heavily on the side of due diligence and justification than it does on communication. In turn, the engagement becomes focused on what is needed to make the decision rather than communicating the decision.
Redefining what engagement really means
One way we often hear from membership is when they’re caught off guard with a change: “I’m not necessarily against the change—I’m frustrated with the process used to get there.” On the other hand, I’ve also seen and been involved with many significant changes in the sector that were implemented smoothly based on targeted pre-emptive engagement and a comprehensive communication plan for both before and after implementation, which collectively becomes part of a broader change-management strategy.
So, what does this mean for the sector? I suggest that if your organization embraces the term “engagement,” you first define what that actually means and the reasons you are pursuing it. Be able to explain why you want engagement and what purpose it will ultimately serve.
Continue to communicate, but move away from engagement as a source of affirmation that people are paying attention to what you’re doing and instead make it a measure of the confidence you have in your decisions.
Realtors will engage when it’s meaningful for them to do so. If you’re ready when they are, they’ll not only support the decisions being made—they might even become advocates.
As a former managing broker and realtor, Trevor Koot’s nearly two decades in organized real estate gives him hands-on expertise in understanding the profession’s needs. Before stepping in as CEO at the BC Real Estate Association, he served as CEO of Kamloops and District Real Estate Association for four years and Kootenay Association of Realtors for three before successfully merging the two into the Association of Interior Realtors. Trevor’s leadership in the real estate sector began long before his CEO career when he was Chair of the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission for five years. He played a key role in redrafting provincial real estate regulations during his tenure. Trevor also served two years as Chair of the Governance Committee at the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials.
He holds multiple degrees, from a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and a minor in Mathematics through the University of Saskatchewan to a Master of Business Administration degree through Royal Roads University. Trevor is adding to his extensive education through his current pursuit of completing a Master of Laws degree at York University. His daughter, Abby, attends the University of Victoria while he and his wife, Jill, live in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Your sounding of the alarm is too little, too late, Trevor.
Let’s face it, what a newly minted realtor knows about organized real estate can be printed on the head of a pin and what they learn along the way is not much more, borne out of pure indifference, disinterest and apathy.
Member boards are willingly compliant to keep it that way too. There is no attempt either at initiation or throughout the year by the boards to even slightly educate the member as to the structural make-up, by-laws, purpose of the board and the member voting rights. Less than 4 percent of members vote, most have no clue how to vote or realize they have no say in the provincial associations or CREA.
When the new member knows not much and that the vast majority of brokers of record likely hold the same one-sided view as did the author of this piece, the system becomes what it is, reactionary only when it strikes at the heart of the members’ wallets. $60 increase ring a bell?
Is the system unintentionally or purposefully manipulative in that it may seek to elect candidates to the board to represent regions and districts when in fact those directors never visit the regions or districts to speak to the members or listen to their opinions and gripes? Because the truth is, firstly their regional/district status is a misnomer, secondly and most importantly, their fealty is to the corporation board and not to the membership.
To that end and case in point, I submit that of the thousands who may be attending the spring meeting of the big regional board next week and voting, less than 5% will realize when they next receive a substantial dues increase or charge that they voted to take a dues increase out of their own hands and gave full control over to the very board of directors who will sit on the stage without calling their attention to Article 4.1 of the completely rewritten set of “member friendly, more efficient, more focused on you” by-laws. After all, it was written in red and emailed to everyone.
In fact, if members were to pay attention, they’d note they have retained only the right to approve by-laws and elect directors (which include candidates now nominated by nominating committee that was itself appointed by the directors), relinquishing all others to the board of directors and all MLS rules and regulations to the for profit listing service provider over which the member has no control and which can now be the benefactor of the assets of the board upon dissolution.
Why even the usual question period at the meeting flies in the face of ONCA, is not on the agenda and is expected to be non-existent.
What started as membership driven organizing decades ago is now completely corporate controlled.
What a shame!
“The difficulty with communication is the illusion it has occurred “
Bernard Shaw
Your listening tour was a grand example of members complacency.
Your difficulty is Boards are members .so while licences pay for everything
We get no say in what you all do.,at
BCREA or CREA .
Koot pretty much sums up why REALTORs and organised real estate is in the mess it is. Instead of selling homes for a living they carefully navigate governance to capture a lucrative guaranteed income job from regular working realtors.
How many homes has this guy sold in his entire time associated with real estate?
Has even sold 100 in his career? Has he sold enough to even have a remote understanding what the Top 1% of Units Sold realtors know?
The arrogance of this post is one rooted in those in Governances belief they know more that the most productive and successful selling realtors on their mls.
What the one thing and ONLY thing they know more about is controlling through the Governance model and getting a full time paying job instead of earning a living making commission sales.
Like Andrew Lis and the plethora of others who were low performing realtors (commonly called failed) who join boards on the promise of future full time employment opportunities (as clearly they were not capable of earning a higher commission earning income) the numbers are in the 100s the last 40 years.
How can Governance create more jobs for failed realtors?
Well we could take realtor.ca private or create something new like Proptx or maybe Cornerstone where more failed realtors can gain employment and control over your business.
Look at your local mls board of directors and ask yourself if a single top selling realtor in your local mls has ever taken just a single years seat on that board. There are so few that ever have you will remember them pretty quick.
How many of your local mls paid staff (you know the ones who get paid holidays off when you are working on a failed deal missing the weekend) are former realtors of that same mls?
Guess what these folks love class action lawsuits and since they have so little experience working the mls market they don’t have the remotest idea of how to stop them.
This is not the first arrogant insulting commentary Koot has made against realtors but it is great it’s on the record here on REM for perpetuity.
Curious if you’ve ever volunteered your time?
There are a few multiple 6 figure+ Realtors on my Board of Directors. They’re not “paid” to be directors.
They’re actually losing money by spending so much time helping drive the organization vs focusing on their own business & the vast majority are there with a service heart looking to help members.
I recognize not all boards will be the same & yes, if they haven’t modernized their governance, it can be stagnant / antiquated… but don’t paint all with this “they failed at real estate” brush.
Very Bizarre.
The Globe and Mail publishes a piece on the Toronto real estate board’s by-law changes granting the board of directors the right to increase tees without member approval, suspend a director and have it take effect immediately until the next general.
Someone distributed a 15 line email to “Dear Collegues” about said sweeping by-law changes which doesn’t even mention fees or director suspensions and TRREB, along with ALL DIRECTORS issue a 4 page dissertation that most certainly reads as defaming this unknown person to 73,000+ members as it attempts to defend itself against issues not even mentioned in the email.
Is the big board nervous about the lawsuits it mentions?
Are they about to sue another member(s)?
What’s going on here?
Thanks for opening the door to these most enlightening responses. I find them more eye opening.
MANDATORY ORWP showed governing body attitude towards realtors.
Do, as I say, or else.
To the best of my knowledge that topic had the biggest realtors engagement.
And… what did we get?
Exactly!!!
Interesting article, from my perspective whether it is CREA, and or BCREA and or the REBGV-GVR it all about the $$$, how much MONIES can they “such out of their memberships”. in my 33 years of being a member of all three of these associations, somethings haven’t change they have gotten worse. For example, I never go to the CREA website what for. I notice through this REM online news feed that there was a FINTRAC course available thru CREA, I search it out I was really interested in the FINTRAC course, as I evenually found it it was free, I almost fell out of my chair at my desk. Nonetheless, I did enroll and the course at best was very marginal course, poorly written and challenging navigating the CREA platform, unbelievable challenging, almost enough to “forget about it” basically a “train wreck” of a course, This is not my first course, in fact I have probably taken hundreds of courses in the past 33 years, have been a CCIM and FRI and mortgage broker, plus more. But wait, if ones get thru the course the CREA does NOT have the ability or hasn’t thought the Individual would want a copy of the course materials, NO that would be too easy, IT IS NOT AVAILABLE, not sure why, JUST NOT AVAILABLE. Unbelievable, I really need to think long and hard what I had for lunch yesterday, I know I would have wanted to review the FINTRAC course materials having been a MB for almost 25 years would have been a reasonable resources. To say the politely very disappointing, the truth with all the UBC and BCFSA RECBC courses taken over the past 33 years one is rewarded with a copy of the course materials upon conclusion. The bottom line, I am not surprised with CREA, it really says a lot of about the current mind set of the the industry. the BCREA KOOT article has some merit to his perspective, as associations and as real estate industry members we all can improve.
My take away from CREA, one gets what one pays for, free course really nothing, I lesson learned, it was a waste of multiple emails with CREA and the course and feel other associations still don’t get. I will still need to go into the FINTRAC web site to review, print off what materials to review…. btw I know the “24 hour Rule” knew it 15+ plus years ago. Appreciate ones time.