Wow! What a great NAR Mid-year meetings it was! I’m on my way home right now and I’m reflecting on what I am hearing. See if you can relate to some of this right now.
Association and MLS executives and leadership are asking, “With all the changes occurring in our industry right now, what should we do?” I applaud bold leaders like Cameron Payne who take a position on the future (Future of MLS). While we might not agree with everything that is said, it is important to listen to those who have the passion and courage to put it out there. There is no doubt that staying the same will not cut it anymore. Thanks for your continued efforts to move the industry to think and be different Cameron. We need more people who are willing to take some risks and put it out there.
To me, it is clear that we are at the crossroads right now. I believe this with all my heart and soul. Abraham Zaleznik said,
“Leadership reflects the courage to go against the flow and do what must be done regardless of the status quo.”
He goes on to say,
“Leadership is the competency required to move the organization through the current zone of disruption, change, challenge and opportunity”.
Thanks to Jeremy Conaway for pointing this out.
How about you? Are you feeling the disruption, change, challenge and opportunity? I certainly am feeling it and so are many of my MLS customers. So what should we do? Maybe we need to know and understand the compelling reasons to change or lead your organization in a different direction.
We are Focus Forward are currently working with two visionary groups of leaders, who are showing the way by creating their future. They have the courage to go against the flow and do what must be done right now. There are fifteen Realtor® associations in Missouri and Washington State that are working together with us to demonstrate what it takes to change. Each group is creating their own regional MLS and custom business plan right now. They are preparing to meet the future needs of their members. While some of their members recognized the need to change the outdated MLS model, it is this group of leaders – about 50 people in total, who have the courage to explore something new and better and to be different. They know that 900 separate MLSs are no longer sustainable. What do you think?
So why change? What are the compelling reasons? There are many. But I would like to share some wisdom provided to me recently by my friend Laura Raudonis. Laura leads the UPSTAR Association of REALTORS® in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I reached out to her to gain her personal insights on why UPSTAR chose to participate in the new Indiana Regional MLS (IRMLS). After all, UPSTAR was running an efficient organization and MLS with about 1,400 subscribers. It wasn’t broken. For your information, UPSTAR represents about one-quarter of the 5,000 subscribers of the new IRMLS, made up of a total of 13 local associations or Founders as we like to call them.
One of the reasons I reached out to Laura to share her compelling reasons is this: You see, creating something new like a regional MLS takes a lot of courage and it’s hard work. And if you are the big fish in the pond like UPSTAR, it can be even harder. I hear this a lot from many associations and MLSs across the land:
– We are different than the other ones
– Our market is unique or our listings are unique
– We don’t need the smaller associations
– We have tried to work together before and it didn’t work
– The politics are too tough to navigate
– We don’t need to reduce our expenses or be more efficient
– How will we pay for it? Albeit we have a half-million dollars in reserves
You get the point. I understand all the reasons and excuses for “why not”. But here, I am seeking out some compelling reasons for the larger boards to leverage their leadership and change the game.
Here is some of Laura Raudonis’ insight for us to consider:
UPSTAR’s participation in the Regionalization project has a long and winding history. Several of our brokers have offices in multiple MLSs. While we were able to put reciprocity agreements in place with some, there were others who would not cooperate to benefit the brokers. Our Association was in merger discussions a number of times with one Association, but each time the merger fell apart. The Brokers were frustrated and urged the Board of Directors to find a way to make it happen, as the Members needed to be able to serve their clients and customers without joining multiple MLSs. It was our responsibility to make it easier for them to conduct business and make money.
As the new regional concept moved forward, the Brokers were excited for several different reasons.
– They would not have to join multiple MLSs and that equated to a significant cost and time savings
– The Regional will have one set of Rules and Regulations, allowing the Brokers to have a consistency in rules and in enforcement
– The Regional would collectively have a database that would make a public website more attractive and offer features that would make the consumer see value and an opportunity to build brand value. Our Board saw a value in having a strong public facing website that allowed any leads generated to go immediately and directly back to the Brokers who provided the listing, at no charge
– The Brokers truly believed that a true regional / single database was much more effective that having separate data share arrangements, which could be problematic in their execution and did not ultimately deliver the solution the Brokers needed. One system with all the data, uniform rules and execution and the most easy-to-use MLS system.
The Board also has a history of being the larger board in such discussions and therefore they have been able to be in control in the past. I felt this might be a stumbling block, but the Board was quite visionary and they were able to see that being in control was not as important as being part of the whole.
The Boards (associations that collaborate on the new regional) had to believe in the project and trust that the decisions being made are for the good of the collective. That part cannot be addressed by the AE, but must be embraced by the Directorate. All of the answers would not be available at the onset of the project. Things will change and shift and if the AE has pushed it and it has not been embraced by the Directors, then the AE will be unsuccessful and will be hanging in the wind.
Likewise, I (Kevin) believe that the AE that bucks against such changes or whose focus is to protect the status quo, will find themselves in a difficult position at some point if the Members, Brokers and/or Directorate sees this as necessary and inevitable change. And they do think it is necessary – just ask them what they think about 900 MLSs. And while you are at it, ask consumers what they think.
Change is never easy. I applaud the efforts of 50 people who are the leaders in Washington and Missouri and all of the others who are fighting the hard fight for change. Thank you Cameron for your contributions and for making us think. We need a lot more of it if organization real estate is going to survive. This is history in the making. What are you doing this year, or this month to prepare for your future?
I would love to hear from you. Please ask a lot of questions. Be curious here and elsewhere. Even brag a little and share your success stories about change.
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