4 Ways to Motivate Your Commercial Appraisal Team

4 Ways to Motivate Your Commercial Appraisal Team

It is no easy task to motivate your commercial appraisal team and keep their morale high during a pandemic, the holidays and Q4. However, it should be a priority. Finishing the year strong will set your team up for a much-deserved break before hitting the ground running in the new year. Here’s how:

1. Value Your Team and Share Goals

The appraisers that work for you are the future of the business and the profession. It’s important that they are always challenged to learn a new skill, scope of work, property type, or technology. When you motivate your commercial appraisal team and they excel at tasks assigned to them, they add value to the company. They do this through client relationships and should be rewarded for it. Further, ensure your team has attainable goals. It’s important to be clear when it comes to the quality of work output, the pace of assignment completion, and other performance metrics, expected for each assignment.

2. Communicate and Be Available

Have as many channels of communication available as possible, including email, chat, and phone calls. It’s important to be available when your employees have questions. The historic office environment provided the ability to see the person was available (not on the phone or in a meeting). While greater numbers of people are still working at home, it is important to communicate to your team that you are available to answer questions. Remind them not to hesitate to email, call, or text. Early in my career my mentor always told me, “The only stupid question is the one not asked”. After 15 years of experience, my partner or I likely have seen the problem before and know how to resolve it. It’s important that the team is comfortable communicating, especially when not working in the office.

3. Instill Morals and Ethics, Guide Aspirations

The highest designation in the appraisal profession is the MAI membership designation. The requirements for this designation are below and should be the expectations for your team.

• Have good moral character;
• Be a Certified General Real Property Appraiser (or meet equivalency)
• Hold bachelor’s degree or higher (or be a Certified General Real Property Appraiser)
• Meet standards and ethics requirements;
• Pass rigorous education requirements;
• Pass a final comprehensive examination;
• Receive credit for specialized experience that meets strict criteria; and
• Receive credit for the demonstration of knowledge requirement.

Helping your employees obtain educational and career opportunities, such as becoming a MAI, will help build confidence and motivate your commercial appraisal team.

4. Invest in Tools and Processes that Increase Productivity and Quality

Our company strives to be at the forefront of technology, whether that is using Realquantum for appraisal reports, statistical software packages for regression analysis, or the latest imaging technology to capture a better understanding of development patterns. In summary, being able to motivate your commercial appraisal team requires effort, but that effort is always worth it.