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Introducing Group Rate Internet from Second Nature

At Second Nature, we strive to deliver the best possible experience to residents and property managers alike. We’re always looking for new opportunities to help property managers provide better service, grow their businesses, and give residents homes they want to stay in. Now, with the introduction of Group Rate Internet, we’re able to deliver yet another benefit that residents want, while improving the experience for property managers. What is Group Rate Internet? Group Rate Internet is gigabit-speed˙ internet delivered directly to single-family rental homes, incorporated right into your lease. Thanks to the power of our network, Second Nature has negotiated group rates with some of the nation’s largest internet service providers, and we’re passing the savings on to you. Residents get high speed internet at a discounted rate below what they could get on their ownº, while property managers have a new way to grow their business. Why are we doing this? These days, internet service is a necessity. But until now the process has been time-consuming, frustrating, and expensive. Subscribers face complicated setup and cancellation processes, and when they need to reach customer support, they’re often left on hold. We wanted to bring a better experience to residents and modernize the way they receive internet service. Understanding the single-family market 98% of residents across the United States pay for internet service in their homes. But until now, they’ve struggled with inflexible contracts that don’t align with their lease terms, convoluted phone trees, and expensive hidden fees. Most single-family property managers haven't had the ability to negotiate better rates with ISPs, leaving residents to pay retail prices for essential services. That's where Second Nature comes in. By leveraging our nationwide network, we're able to secure group rate pricing that's lower than what's available on the market—giving property managers a new way to offer high-quality, affordable internet without the headaches of individual negotiations. Difficulties of scattered-site Internet coverage areas can be confusing. When you have properties in multiple areas, they may be serviced by different providers, making it even more difficult to negotiate a one-size-fits-all deal. That’s why Second Nature works with multiple major ISPs to provide maximum coverage, no matter how wide your management area is. Cutting costs and making life easier On average, customers typically pay $80-120 per month for gig-speed internet. Plus they get hit with fees for equipment, setup, early termination, and more. Now, with Second Nature, property managers can provide gig-speed internet, with no installation or cancellation fees, at a fraction of the price that residents are already paying. How does the program work? Like all of the pieces in our Resident Benefits Package, we’ve designed Group Rate Internet to be as easy as possible. From data exchanges to support, we fully manage the process so your teams don’t have any extra work. Integration with property accounting systems to check eligibility Second Nature starts by gathering property details directly from your property accounting system (PAS) to automatically confirm which ISPs serve each property. We confirm eligibility and pass that data back into your PAS, so it’s always available to you. Once a property is marked as eligible in the PAS, you’ll be able to include an internet service addendum in any future leases for that property. Billing operates directly through the PAS, with no extra tools or logins to keep track of. Integrated with the lease cycle When a resident signs a lease that contains the Group Rate Internet Lease Addendum, they’re enrolled into the program, and Second Nature works directly with them to complete setup. We’ll reach out directly to residents to make sure they know how to get set up. If necessary, they’ll schedule professional installation for equipment at a time that’s convenient for them. Because there’s no separate internet contract for the resident, there are also no setup, equipmentª, or cancellation fees, and no struggling to align their utility contract with their lease term. Internet is billed right alongside rent, so residents don’t have an extra monthly bill to manage. Dedicated support We all know the pain of waiting in a phone queue to try to solve a technical issue. That’s why Second Nature offers dedicated phone support for residents using Group Rate Internet. That way residents aren’t calling you for help or getting stuck in phone trees with their ISP. Residents call Second Nature directly, and if they need technical support from their ISP, we can make a warm handoff, making sure they’re on the line with a representative before our team leaves the call. No endless transfers from person to person. Easy transition at turnover When a lease is up and a resident decides to move out, Second Nature provides move-out information to residents. Depending on the ISP, the resident may not even have to return equipment. In most cases, it just stays with the unit, and service is turned off until the next resident moves in and a new lease starts. When a new resident moves in, one phone call is all they need to get their gig-speed service up and running. It’s a simple transition when someone else moves in, all managed by Second Nature. Get started Want to see how you can provide gig-speed internet to your residents? Schedule a demo with a member of our team to walk through Group Rate Internet. ˙ Compared to average nationwide gig speed price of $80-120/mo (source: USA Today) º Up to 1 Gig Internet speed, subject to availability. Internet Service powered by Second Nature is provided through Second Nature's preferred third-party Internet service providers. ª Residents may be subject to fees if equipment is damaged, lost, or stolen.

Calendar icon March 19, 2025

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Leading Means Truly Connecting with your Team

Melissa Gillispie is the Director of Leasing and Property Management at JWB Property Management, and the 2025 NARPM Jacksonville President. She has over 11 years of experience in property management and is currently a Second Nature Triple Win Mentor. About two years ago, I had a big shift in my professional life. I was promoted into a director position, and, for the first time in my career, I was a layer removed from most of the individual contributors on my team. As someone who cares deeply about coaching, knowing my team, and forming relationships, it was jarring. I felt disconnected, and it was a tough adjustment. Shortly after, I was in a leadership class when one of the instructors asked a simple question: “How much time do you spend with the people who are doing the work?” It was pretty eye-opening for me, in part because I’ve always felt that JWB is a social workplace where we all want to get to know each other. But the truth was, I wasn’t spending that much time with my team, and it was having a negative effect. I wanted to make sure that members of my team knew where I was coming from when I communicated things to them; that I had their best interest at heart, and that I wanted to be a coach, not a dictator. So the next logical question was, “how can I build up these relationships to foster more connection and trust?” How to build relationships with your team Once I started thinking deliberately about how to form closer relationships with the “doers” on my team, it actually came pretty naturally. The challenge wasn’t in coming up with the ideas, but in actually executing them. In a business as busy as property management, it’s not easy to make time for team building. It tends to be one of the first things to fall off the priority list when other things pop up. The most important part of setting up any kind of team building program is to commit to it and see it through. With that said, here are some of the different ideas that I’ve either done myself, seen done well at JWB, or heard positive reviews of from people in my network. 1:1 coffee and lunches This was the first large-scale, deliberate plan that I put in place when I realized that I needed to form stronger relationships with my team. I committed to taking a different member of my team out for coffee or lunch each week. I set no agenda and I had no ulterior motives; it was purely to get to know each other. I tried to minimize how much we talked shop, and instead learn what kinds of things each person enjoys, how they communicate, and what they’re passionate about. This wasn’t a small undertaking for me, because the teams I managed totalled over 50 people, but it was well worth it. I connected with people that I had otherwise never even met. Notes of gratitude Another approach I took was to write a couple of notes of gratitude to teammates each week. They were delivered privately, and were just intended to let that person know that I saw how hard they were working and what they were achieving. If you have a performance management or HR tool, take a look and see whether it includes a feature that will let you do this virtually. You can even set a calendar reminder each week to sit down and write a nice note to a couple of teammates. They don’t have to be long. The point is just to make the recipient feel seen. Team appreciation events While an office pizza party may get a bad rap, in-office team building can still be impactful. We recently celebrated team appreciation week, and we made a big deal of it! We didn’t announce the full scope of what we were going to do, so it was a nice surprise for most of the team. We had a team lunch, but we also gave out awards and hosted free raffles for our employees to win fun prizes. Just making the time was important in itself. Desk rotations Another tactic we use from time to time is switching up where people are sitting. Not only does it offer a literal fresh perspective, but it also helps break down silos across teams. People make friends with the people physically closest to them, and for leaders and managers, sitting with different groups can help build relationships and trust with them, too. Setting expectations I am a huge proponent of setting expectations, especially when onboarding new employees. I think one of the most important things you can do as the leader of a team is set non-negotiables for how people behave and how they treat each other. Not only does this keep people in check, it also gets everybody on the same page about how their teammates and managers are going to communicate. If you set the expectation up front that you’re going to provide weekly feedback in order to help everyone grow, your employees won’t be caught off guard when they receive constructive criticism. Far-reaching impacts Of course we all want to get along well with our colleagues, and we want to like the people we work with. But at the end of the day, what do we really get out of fostering these relationships? In my experience, the impacts are pretty significant. Fostering better work: When people feel seen, heard, and appreciated, they’re much more motivated to show up to work as their best selves. They’re going to perform better and go above and beyond, because they know that effort will be recognized. Increasing team retention: Again, no one wants to be at a workplace where they feel undervalued. When people have more trust in their team, they’re likely to stick around longer. Creating a safe space for hard conversations: People are more likely to open up about tough topics when they don’t feel like they’re going to be judged, especially when they’re talking to their managers. By creating a safety net for difficult conversations, you allow your employees to be more honest and resolve challenges more quickly. Increasing receptivity: Employees who take feedback well are invaluable, and one of the best ways to help them do that is by making sure they trust you to give honest, effective evaluations. When they know you’re coming from a place of genuine helpfulness, as opposed to tearing them down, they’re less afraid and more receptive. Building accountability: Team members are also more likely to hold each other accountable when there is a closeness and trust factor. When they know their feedback will be taken in a positive light, they feel more confident providing it in the first place. All of this makes people more comfortable, more productive, and more likely to approach their work with a positive attitude. True at any size One thing I want to make sure to emphasize is that this isn’t just something you need to focus on at a larger company like JWB. While smaller teams often know each other well just by the nature of their work, that isn’t always true. For example, a small team may have remote workers who only get a chance to connect with in-office staff a couple of times per week. Or you may have maintenance coordinators, leasing agents, or inspection staff who spend most of their time out of the office, visiting properties. They may not have the same opportunities to forge close relationships with their teammates, and may feel disconnected. Just because there isn’t a layer of management between you and the rest of the team doesn’t mean you don’t need to invest time and energy to form connections. In fact, if you have to ask the question at all, it’s probably worth it to put some 1:1 meetings on the calendar and get a pulse check from your team. It can’t hurt to get the ball rolling. Final thoughts When you’re a busy property management leader, it can be tough to find the time and energy to focus on team building. But you have to do the work so that the people who work for and with you understand who you are, where you’re coming from, and why you care.

Calendar icon April 22, 2025

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Property Management Meeting Agenda Template: A How-To Guide

Having a well-structured, consistent, and intentional meeting agenda can help keep your team—and your company—on track. Setting and sticking to a clear agenda sets expectations with your team. It also provides an opportunity to directly lead your team toward key goals by focusing on the right things. Once you’ve settled on a robust meeting cadence, you have to make sure that you’re maximizing your time. No one wants to sit in meetings just for the sake of it. This article provides a clear property management meeting agenda template, so that you can make sure you’re hitting all of the most important points in your meetings, including financial news, maintenance reports, leasing and resident updates, and compliance changes. Why do you need a property management meeting agenda? Having a well-defined meeting agenda serves several important purposes. First off, it keeps your team focused. Everyone knows what to expect when you sit down together. Second, consistency allows you to touch on the same points each time you meet, meaning that you can better measure progress. A meeting agenda also creates a central place for documentation, including what was discussed and what the take-aways and outcomes were. It drives accountability, follow-up tasks, and better time management from your team, and ensures that key items don’t slip through the cracks or end up on the back burner. Essentially, your agenda illustrates what’s most important, helping you to better prioritize how you spend your time. The specifics of your agenda will vary based on the meeting type. A weekly staff meeting is going to have a very different agenda than a quarterly investor report, for example. What to include in a property management meeting agenda Developing an effective agenda can take time, patience, and practice. Luckily, we’ve spoken to dozens of property management professionals and distilled their insights into a clear template for you. This template is best suited for a monthly meeting in which the larger team gathers to check in on key items and set priorities. 1. Welcome and introductions You should always start each meeting with an overview of who’s meeting and why. That should include: An explanation of the meeting’s purpose: Are you reviewing property ledgers, discussing upcoming projects, or examining team performance? Expectation setting: What topics are attendees expected to stick to? How should they address follow-up or spin-off topics? Introductions: Make sure you introduce any new team members or vendors, including existing team members who don’t typically join this meeting. Make sure everyone knows why each attendee is there. 2. Previous meeting minutes Next, make sure to review any key takeaways or outstanding items from the last meeting. If there were tasks assigned during the previous session, now’s the time to check in and see whether they were completed. If there are tasks that haven’t been completed, set a deadline so that they don’t fall behind. You can also use this time to shout out notable accomplishments and achievements from the team. Take a minute to recognize team members who have done great work since the last time you met. 3. Financial performance updates Next, dig into your financial performance a bit. This is where you’ll want to look at things like: Rent roll reports Budgeted versus actual financials Income by source, including a breakdown of rent, fees, and ancillary income For monthly or quarterly meetings, you can also look at profit and loss statements. You’ll want to use this time to also flag any budget items that are at risk, or any particular properties with big-ticket maintenance issues or other costs. This is a great time to look for patterns in financial performance to see if there are overall areas in which you can improve. 4. Property maintenance and operations Once you’ve covered the monetary picture, it’s time to turn to maintenance. You should start with ongoing maintenance projects, especially urgent items or recurring problems like plumbing repairs, roof leaks, or HVAC issues. Next, look at upcoming projects that may be planned in advance or happen annually. For example, plans for spring landscaping, winter snow removal, or summer pest control treatments should be covered here to make sure that everything is on track. This is also a great time to review vendor performance. Take a look at recently completed work orders and what resident feedback looks like. Did any vendors go above and beyond, or perhaps fall short? Are there maintenance areas where you need additional vendors in your network to handle the workload? 5. Resident management and leasing updates Next on the agenda is a look at leasing, resident retention, and marketing. Start by looking at occupancy rates, as well as current and upcoming vacancies. If there are open homes that have been listed for a while, evaluate whether they need a price adjustment, updated photos, or more marketing dollars. This is where you can really boost your listing strategy with new ideas from the larger team. You should also be looking at resident retention and marketing efforts at this point in the meeting. What percent of upcoming lease expirations have already signed on for renewal? What kinds of incentives can you offer to boost renewal rates, if needed? 6. Compliance and legal updates After you’ve handled financials, maintenance, and leasing, it’s important to take some time to review any new legal or compliance changes. Compliance is essential to maintaining a stable business, so it’s absolutely worth the time investment here. First, look at any regulatory changes impacting property management in your geographic area. This is especially important if you manage properties across multiple counties and states, which increases the likelihood of more frequent regulation changes. Look at what the changes are and whether you need to make any changes to remain compliant. Next, review any ongoing legal matters, especially those related to evictions. Make sure the whole team is on the same page and that everything is being done by the book to avoid any unintended consequences. 7. Strategic planning and improvement initiatives Now it’s time to zoom out and look at bigger, longer-term projects. You’ll want to take this time to cover any large capital improvements, either in your business itself or at managed properties. Business improvements might include technology upgrades or hiring efforts. Property investments might include roof replacements or large-scale renovations. You’ll also want to look at changes to your portfolio. For example, you may be onboarding a new investor client, or maybe an existing client has acquired new properties that you’re going to bring under management. You also might have clients who are planning to 1031-exchange one property for another. You should discuss these matters to make sure that your team is planning appropriately. 8. Actions items and next steps The last major section of the meeting is reviewing action items and next steps. If you aren’t carefully recording your follow-up tasks, your meetings will be ineffective and work will get lost. Make sure that you have a clear list of tasks, and that each one has a designated assignee. Team members shouldn’t have any confusion about who owns which items. They should also be given clear deadlines, and management should establish a transparent follow-up schedule to make sure everything is happening on time. For example, if a unit needs carpets replaced, someone might be assigned to gather three quotes before the next meeting, and their manager should have a check-in set at the half-way point to make sure they’ve reached out to vendors. 9. Open discussion and Q&A Before closing out the meeting, make sure that you leave time for open discussion and any clarifying questions. By giving everyone the opportunity to ask questions, you’re ensuring that they bear responsibility for understanding what’s been discussed and what’s expected of them. If there’s time remaining, team members can use it for cross-talk, where they can follow up on open items with other team members. In property management, it often isn’t easy to get everyone in a room together, so make sure that you’re maximizing the time you do have. Tips for running a property management meeting Now that you have a better sense of what should be on the agenda, you’re almost ready for your meeting. There are a few crucial steps to making sure that your property management meeting runs smoothly: Share the agenda in advance, and only adjust it when absolutely necessary Start by celebrating wins, which can help engage and motivate the team Take clear notes so that you can go back and review key discussion topics If you’re meeting virtually, record the session for anyone who can’t attend Reserve of-topic discussions for separate breakouts Watch the clock to make sure you’re being respectful of everyone’s time Gather feedback about the meeting from your team to make sure it’s serving its purpose Customize your property management meeting agenda templates with Second Nature Using this meeting agenda template can drastically improve your meeting productivity. And when you have your whole team sitting in a room together, you’re paying a lot of salary for that time. Productivity is key. If you want more templates that can help you optimize your property management business, you’re in luck. You can explore all of Second Nature’s templates and resources, which are completely free to download. Explore now

Calendar icon April 17, 2025

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Creating a Coaching Culture at your Property Management Company

Melissa Gillispie is the Director of Leasing and Property Management at JWB Property Management, and the 2025 NARPM Jacksonville President. She has over 11 years of experience in property management and is currently a Second Nature Triple Win Mentor. One of the biggest shifts I’ve felt in my time at JWB is leaning less into a culture of management, and more into a coaching culture. By focusing on the whole person, rather than just focusing on output, our team is built stronger for the long run. Read on to learn more about what coaching is, why it’s so important in property management specifically, and what you can do to build a coaching culture of your own. What is coaching? Coaching employees is the process of developing the whole person, rather than just trying to optimize how they achieve a specific business outcome. Coaching is an evolution of supervision and management, and goes beyond either of those. Here’s how I differentiate: Supervision is the process of managing tasks, quality control, and day-to-day work. Management is a bit broader, and includes setting a vision and developing a process. Both supervision and management are focused on the organizational aspects, whereas coaching is about developing a person overall. Yes, coaching also includes business needs, but it focuses on setting goals and achieving them on a personal growth level. Coaching includes understanding long-term drives, desires, goals, and intentions. It’s about asking the question, “How can I in this organization help you take a step closer to achieving those things?” What is a coaching culture? A coaching culture is an overall attitude throughout the organization that the whole team has each other’s personal and professional development in mind. First and foremost, a coaching culture starts with trust. Employees need to know they can come to you honestly when something goes wrong. They need to know you’re not going to judge them for their long-term goals. They need to trust that you’re giving open and honest feedback to help them improve every day. As a coach, what does that look like? First, in order to build that trust, a good coach needs to be honest and give real, actionable feedback so that their employees can learn, develop, and become their best selves. That means setting the stage early. In my first one-to-one with a new hire, I always ask a few questions to better understand what their non-negotiables are for themselves: What are the standards they set for themselves? What are their personal core values? What are their goals? I also share these things about myself so that they have a better understanding of me as a person and of how we’ll work together. And, most importantly, sharing vulnerable information about myself also helps build that ever-important trust. Allowing room to fail forward Part of creating a culture of honest feedback is also allowing room to fail. First of all, people shouldn’t be afraid to fail or make mistakes. Second, when they do make a mistake, they shouldn’t be afraid of coming to tell you about it. Mistakes happen. The question should then be, “how do we learn from this, and hopefully prevent it from happening again?” As a coach, your job is to be a safe place for failure. You can’t be reactive and harsh when someone makes a mistake. You need to turn mistakes into teachable moments and allow your team to fail forward, learn, and grow. Why coaching is important in property management Why is coaching important in property management specifically? Well, for starters, no one really goes to school for property management. Most property management teams are made up of people like me, who started their careers elsewhere and found property management along the way. That means that there’s a lot of learning, which also means a lot of failure. Plus, property managers carry such a large workload and such a long list of tasks that they’re bound to have something fall through the cracks. There’s just inherent human error. Failing forward is part of the job. Property management also requires decision making at speed. You have to move from evaluation mode into decision-making mode so quickly that you need to be able to trust yourself, and to trust that you won’t get in trouble if you’re wrong. Too many people are held up by the fear of failure, so they don’t make quick decisions. Planning a career in property management Because there isn’t a lot of formal education in property management, a lot of people in the industry also don’t have a great sense of the career trajectory. That’s where a coach can step in. As a coach, you help shape an employee’s property management career path. Something I take a lot of pride in is my ability to understand someone’s strengths, identify what kinds of roles best suit them, and make that clear to them. Coaching means providing growth plans for each role. If someone can do their job with their eyes closed, they probably aren’t being challenged, and they may start to lose interest. It’s your responsibility as a coach to keep leveling them up. A good coach also provides the flexibility for employees to change trajectories. Your employees should feel comfortable coming to you with questions about their career in property management. Sometimes that means they may want to leave your team and transfer to another team in the organization. As much as it can be difficult to lose a good team member, part of being a good coach is helping them fulfill their maximum potential. Bringing coaching into reviews At JWB, we hold weekly one-to-ones with direct reports. Sometimes they’re very tactical and focused on ongoing projects, but we try to also work in time for long-term goal setting. As coaches, we’re constantly evaluating performance and making sure that team members are on track for what’s right for them. Doing this weekly helps prevent people from veering too far off track, then only hearing about it in an annual review. Of course, we also hold annual reviews. In those meetings we make sure to establish long-term goals for the next year or two. These reviews also include the most important question a coach can ask: “How can I help you achieve this?” Coaching doesn’t just happen downward It’s important to recognize that a coaching culture means coaching all of those around you, and being willing to be coached yourself. We’re all responsible to each other. Making yourself coachable is half the battle. You need to listen to feedback and take it to heart. When I ask my employees how they best receive feedback, I also tell them how I best receive feedback myself. I make it abundantly clear that I’m not just open to feedback, I want feedback. Coaching never stops. You never get to a point where you no longer need coaching. So keep coaching, keep being coachable, and keep building up better property managers who will push our industry forward. Want to learn more about measuring performance, improving employee output, and growing your business? Watch the webinar that Tony Cline and I participated in, all about making your KPIs more actionable. Watch now

Calendar icon April 8, 2025

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My Ideal Meeting Cadence for Property Management Companies

Tony Cline has over 20 years of experience in property management. After purchasing a real estate and property management brokerage in Denver, Colorado, he spent more than two decades as managing broker. Today he's focused full time on his work as a Property Management Success Coach. Tony is a Second Nature Triple Win Mentor. One of the most popular frameworks in property management right now is EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System. EOS is a system that helps organizations increase discipline and accountability through several tools, including a very specific meeting cadence. Now, to officially implement EOS, you have to be a licensed implementor and go through specific training. What I’m advocating is something of an EOS-light approach. I’m not a licensed implementor, and the meeting cadence I’m going to outline for property managers has been adapted, but it does have some roots in EOS. I’m also not a purist. I don’t believe that you have to do everything exactly by the book to be successful. I’d advocate looking at this framework critically, putting it into practice, seeing what works for your organization and what doesn’t, and adapting. Setting yourself up for success The first thing to know about implementing a new property management meeting cadence is that, without a clear mission, vision, and values, this all means nothing. I’ve written before about how policy should follow your mission and values, and this is no different. So if you don’t have those things nailed down in your organization, that’s a better place to start. The second thing to know is that this is going to be a little bit uncomfortable. There will be awkward moments along the way as your team gets used to a new way of doing things. You’ll need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. In my mind, the number one determination of whether this plan will be successful is whether the owner of the company has the discipline to see implementation through, even when things get weird. And they will get a little weird. Now, let’s walk through the meeting cadence that I recommend to my clients at Property Management Success, and what each meeting consists of. Daily huddle meeting The first big piece of the meeting cadence is the daily huddle, which you may also know as a standup. The daily meeting, which I recommend scheduling at the beginning of each day, is intended to be short and to the point. We’re not all going to get comfy in a meeting room for 30 or 60 minutes with our laptops and our breakfast. Daily huddles should hit a couple of key points: What do we need to know right now to execute today? This might include items that are blocked by other teammates, things that are holding up other people’s work, or anticipated challenges. What are the urgent items that need to be addressed? Are there fires that need to be put out? What needs to be done by the end of the day to keep everything on track? I find daily huddles valuable not just for the work that gets addressed, but also the team building element. It brings the team together everyday and gets them in the mindset of working as one. This is especially important when you have remote team members who may not see the rest of the team all day. Finally, I always wrap up the meeting with one question, and this is where things can start to get uncomfortable. Ask the team, “What’s one example of our core values in action that you’ve seen since we last met?” This can be awkward to answer, but you just have to embrace the process and wait it out. Eventually someone will share an honest, vulnerable story, which will continue building up the importance of core values to the team. And I promise, once you get into a routine, this gets easier. Weekly meeting Next up is the weekly team meeting. In the official EOS workbook, this is known as the L10. Weekly meetings should typically be sixty to ninety minutes, and focused on the overall performance and progress of the team. KPIs and scorecards One of the most important elements of your weekly meeting is going through your key performance indicators and metrics. Everyone on the team should take their turn to report out their numbers and whether they’ve hit them. This gives leadership and opportunity to flag metrics that are consistently being missed, or KPIs that might need to be altered. Something to keep in mind is that KPIs need to be actionable. That means that if your team didn’t hit it this week, you can develop a clear plan on how to hit it next week. Those actions should be decided in the weekly meeting. Quarterly rocks Your quarterly rocks are the bigger projects that you have going on, which may take anywhere from a few of weeks up to a whole quarter. Rocks are important because they keep your team focused. The importance isn’t just what’s on them, but also what’s not on them. If you have too many rocks, nothing will get done, and if you don’t have enough, you’ll start picking up additional projects and stretching yourself too thin. As the name suggests, rocks are set quarterly during planning meetings. Here are some examples of what rocks might look like for a mid-sized property management company: Implementing a new software tool Instituting a new pricing structure Building out a knowledge base Setting up a Resident Benefits Package Testing out a new marketing strategy Hiring for a new role on the team Rolling out a new management agreement Realigning team responsibilities or structure These are all projects that are going to take more than just a week, but are important long-term goals for the company and need to be checked in on regularly. Each week, you should be looking at whether your rocks are on track or off track. If things are off track, add them to the issues list and make sure to address it before the end of the meeting. Finally, have another quick share on your company’s mission and vision. Ask the team, “what did we do that’s in alignment with these?” This is essential to building culture, because it helps build on wins. It gets the team used to winning together and inspires them to keep up the good work. Quarterly planning meeting One level up from your weekly meeting is quarterly planning. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Basically, your team should meet each quarter to evaluate the progress that’s been made, along with the work that needs to be done in the upcoming quarter. Depending on how large your team is, you may or may not have all members attend. If your team is on the smaller side, everyone should be there. If the team is bigger, you may need to focus on leadership and management. The first major part of quarterly planning is reviewing the previous quarter. This is an opportunity to remind the team of the good progress that’s already been made before turning to new projects. By focusing on the positive outcomes first, you can increase engagement from the team and build that continued sense of winning together. Look at your rocks from the past quarter and evaluate where you were most successful, as well as what adjustments you need to make. From there, look forward. What are the next steps that you have to take? This is where you build your rocks for the next quarter. It’s helpful to have the full team present, especially team members who will directly own those rocks, because it helps get buy-in. People will be more invested in projects that they helped select and scope than if you just assign something to them. Annual review The last major meeting I recommend property managers add to their cadence is the annual review. This should include everything that you’d normally do in a quarterly planning meeting, plus some extras. In addition to planning new rocks, you’re also planning the overall goals for the year. These can include new KPIs, growth metrics, and other performance indicators for the year. This is also a great opportunity to reinforce your mission and vision. Focus on reminding people why they’re doing the work they’re doing and where the company aspires to get to. Reinforce the service—and quality of service—that you want to deliver. Beware the pitfalls Implementing a whole new meeting cadence like this isn’t easy. It can be especially difficult in an industry where everyone already has a lot going on and their schedules are stretched thin. Focus on delivering value One of my biggest pieces of advice is to make sure that you’re actually providing value in these meetings, and that you’re not meeting just to meet. If a meeting isn’t serving you, find out why and adjust accordingly. On top of that, think about the opportunity cost and wage cost of having everyone in a meeting. That time is expensive. If it’s not creating value, it shouldn’t be happening. Get your KPIs right A lot of companies I’ve seen have set up KPIs to say that they’re tracking KPIs. But in reality, they’re tracking the wrong things, or they’re tracking the right things the wrong way. If you’re meeting every week and reviewing KPIs, and you consistently find that you’re hitting them every time and blowing them out of the water, that may be a hint that you’re either setting your goals too low or you’re tracking busywork. On the flip side, if you’re consistently missing your KPIs, you may be setting sights too high. Utilize milestones to stay on track When you meet weekly to check the status of your quarterly rocks, make sure that you’re actually looking at whether things are on track or not. I’ve consistently seen teams say, week-in and week-out, that their rocks are on track. But then when the end of the quarter comes, suddenly the rock isn’t complete. When you build your rocks in your quarterly planning sessions, build in milestones. Milestones help define what “on track” actually means, and will help give team members a sense of where they stand with major projects. Final thoughts I really like this meeting cadence. I’ve seen it work for a lot of property management companies. But there’s a reason I started out this article by saying that I’m not a purist. A meeting for meeting’s sake is horrible. You shouldn’t be meeting just because it’s part of a framework. You can absolutely adjust this cadence to make sure that you’re using your time well. And even if you do stick to this cadence, don’t feel like a 60 minute meeting has to be 60 minutes every week. If you finish early, great! Don’t keep people there for the full time if you’re not making progress. Don’t waste people’s time. Interested in learning more about how to optimize your company processes? Join me and Melissa Gillispie for a Triple Win Live session on optimizing your company's KPIs. Register now!

Calendar icon April 1, 2025

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Onboarding: Getting the Most from your New Property Management Staff

Melissa Gillispie is the Director of Leasing and Property Management at JWB Property Management, and the 2025 NARPM Jacksonville President. She has over 11 years of experience in property management and is currently a Second Nature Triple Win Mentor. Training your property management staff can be a lengthy, difficult process. Once you’ve found and made an investment in the right people, you need to set them up for success as quickly and effectively as you can. How can you make sure you’re onboarding new employees in a way that helps them and the business be successful? In this article, I’ll walk you through our approach to training and onboarding at JWB Property Management, and give actionable tips on how you can set your staff up to win. Our onboarding approach The specifics of onboarding staff varies a bit based on the needs of the role and the structure of the company, but we have a pretty rigid schedule for the first three to four weeks, which includes: Expectation setting Role-specific training Crosstraining Each step is vital to setting up your team for success, so let’s walk through them one by one. Expectation setting Expectation setting is one of the most important parts of onboarding employees, and most companies completely overlook it. My philosophy is, people don’t know how to be successful until you tell them. You can’t just assume that they’ll know what’s expected of them. The better you can set clear expectations upfront, the more likely everyone is to be successful. A lot of managers think that being direct with expectations is somehow mean, wrong, or micromanaging. I couldn’t disagree more. In my experience, avoiding these kinds of conversations sets everyone up to fail. “Clear is Kind” - Brené Brown Being direct with your employees about what you expect from them gives them the best tools to be successful. That’s why we spend up to three hours in the first week just on expectation setting. I ask new employees what their goals are, what they expect from the role, and what their own standards for themselves are. Then I walk through what my expectations are, and we make sure we’re aligned. That sets them off on the path to success from their very first day. The best thing I can do as a leader is develop people to be better than I am, as quickly as possible, and setting expectations kicks off that development. Role-specific training Role-specific training is the process of training new employees in the actual day-to-day work they’ll be doing. We take a hear/read/see/do approach, meaning that people with different learning styles can still be successful. Our training materials include: Existing documents like leases and policies Videos Readings Hands-on activities New hires work closely alongside their new teammates to gradually take on daily tasks and get first-hand experience. That’s when we start getting them on the job and actually handling their routine responsibilities, while still providing someone to answer questions along the way. Crosstraining Every new hire also does extensive crosstraining with every other department. For example, a new property manager will spend time with accounting, construction, and legal. This time is focused on making sure that everyone understands the way that their work affects other people. It builds company culture and teamwork, but also helps give new team members a sense of purpose and meaning, knowing the larger impact of their work. Basically, we don’t want people going through the motions in a silo. We want them to know their coworkers on other teams, and to see the value that they bring to the organization. This is also where our mentorship program comes in. At JWB, mentors are well established employees who can help take someone from day one to day 90. They’re typically not from the same team as the new hire, and they provide a safe place to ask the silly questions that people are uncomfortable asking their bosses, or the unwritten rules of the company culture. Sticking to a timeline In property management, everything can feel like it has to happen immediately. But training takes time. That’s just the nature of it. We try to pace our new hires, while also pushing them to grow quickly and get up to speed. That pace is set by the hiring manager, and the new hire is expected to flag any issues if they arise. (Of course, that expectation is outlined clearly in the expectation-setting stage!) Here’s an example of the timeline we’d typically hold a new property manager to. Week one focuses on: Expectation setting Introductions to the team Intro to rent collection Week two transitions into: Executing rent collection alongside another teammate Learning how to manage renewals By week 2 they’re assigned a portfolio of about 100 properties, which they’re managing with the help of their manager. By week 4 they have 250-300 properties and are starting to get more comfortable working independently. By day 45, a new hire should have the same portfolio size as any other property manager. Of course they’ll still have questions, and that’s normal and expected, but they’ve reached competency. By day 90 they’re fully self-sufficient and doing the same work as a property manager who’s been there for a while. They don’t need someone looking over their shoulder or keeping tabs on them. At this point, we hold a 90 day check-in, which is mostly an evaluation of skills competency. It helps us make sure that the employee is feeling comfortable and is capable of doing the work. And if they aren’t, it provides us an opportunity to catch things early and make the necessary corrections. Final thoughts Onboarding is absolutely crucial to getting your team up to speed and working together well. It’s your opportunity to really give people a workplace that they can feel proud of, and to build a thriving business in the industry that we all feel so passionate about. Put in the work to get onboarding right, and help everyone succeed. Want to learn more about how to grow your business strategically? Join me and Tony Cline for a Triple Win Live on setting and optimizing KPIs for your property management company. Register now

Calendar icon March 27, 2025

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Hiring in Property Management: How to Build a Thriving Team

Melissa Gillispie is the Director of Leasing and Property Management at JWB Property Management, and the 2025 NARPM Jacksonville President. She has over 11 years of experience in property management and is currently a Second Nature Triple Win Mentor. Hiring is one of the most important decisions that you can make in property management, but it’s often rushed or overlooked. While it can be challenging, it’s absolutely worth the extra time and effort to find people who will thrive at your company. How can you make sure you’re choosing the right people, not only for the open role, but also for your company culture? In this article, I’ll share how we approach hiring at JWB Property Management, including how we conduct interviews and make sure we’re aligned with candidates. Hiring for values before skill I had no experience in property management when I started at JWB as a trainer and administrator. Instead of being hired for my experience, I was selected for my values and belief systems, which meshed well with the rest of the company. One of the best things about hiring in property management is that many roles are extremely teachable. You don’t need a ton of experience in the same role in order to be successful. There are certainly exceptions—like accounting or construction—that need specific hard skills. But most job responsibilities can be taught. That provides a huge opportunity to really dig into a candidate’s values and evaluate whether they’ll be a good addition to the team, rather than looking just at their resume and work experience. In industries where roles are highly technical, you may not have that luxury. But in property management, especially because it’s such a service-focused industry, hiring for values is essential. Evaluating your candidates In the spirit of hiring for values, we focus a lot of our interview process on our company’s core values. We aim to hire people who will help our organization continue to grow, innovate, and push forward, regardless of their previous experience. Considering applications Our initial application only has one question beyond basic information: “What makes you an A-player?” We don’t even ask for a resume up front, because, again, we’re more interested in soft skills and values than specific work experience. From there, we use an assessment tool to better understand people’s drive, motivation, and working style. Each job has different targets for different strengths, so the assessment helps us align applicants with the right positions. Once we think someone may be a good fit, that’s the stage where we ask for a resume. We’re looking for things like attention to detail, communication style, and how they present themselves, not specific hard skills. Interviewing top prospects We’re very intentional about making our interview process thorough. We don’t want it to be overly simple or easy, because we want people who are motivated. Our application process provides natural steps where applicants who aren’t as driven will weed themselves out. Evaluating skills, not experience Once a candidate moves into the interview stage, we shift some of our focus to the job itself, and the skills that we want to see for that role. In the first interview, they meet with a member of our leadership team, along with the hiring manager, to talk about the skills needed. Again, this is not about their experience in a similar role. For example, someone applying to be a property manager needs customer service, organizational, and communication skills. They may have those from a past job outside of property management, and we welcome that. Finding values alignment Our second interview is focused specifically on core values. We want to know who you’re going to be when you show up to work everyday. We have a set list of questions that we try to ask during this stage, and they’re fully based on our particular core values. Your company’s values will vary, so you should construct your interview questions accordingly. Seeing them in action Finally, we conduct what we call a shadow interview. If we think someone is a good fit and we want to hire them, we have them come in for a day and actually be in the office with us. They might take phone calls, go on site visits, submit work orders, or help show a vacant unit. This is all intended to see body language, attitude, and other behavior that we might not see in a couple of short interviews. We typically try to align shadow interviews with our company all-hands, because that’s a huge display of our culture. The idea here is that a shadow interview should be mutually beneficial; the candidate should get a sense of our culture and make sure it’s the right situation for them, just as much as we want to make sure they’re the right person for the role. Final thoughts Hiring employees can seem like a daunting task. In fact, that’s why so many small companies tend to wait too long to hire. They’re so focused on trying to complete the day-to-day that they don’t prepare for hiring ahead of time, and then wind up putting it off. One of my biggest pieces of advice for growing companies is to take the time to figure out how you want to hire before you need to hire. You don’t want to wait until a crisis is happening to decide how you’ll respond to a crisis. A lot of companies only start thinking about growing when they’re reaching a breaking point. They’re under a ton of pressure. If you have a plan in place ahead of time, you don’t have to make emotional decisions. You can approach it logically and calmly, and make better decisions. When you plan ahead and hire deliberately, you can create and sustain great teams to elevate our industry, and provide value and purpose-driven cultures. Interested in learning more about structuring and expanding your business? Download Second Nature's property management business template. Download now

Calendar icon March 25, 2025

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