A well-functioning team must have strong and constant communication. Communication comes in many forms including written, verbal, and both inter-office and intra-office e-mail. In order for the team to be highly efficient, communication among the members of the team needs to be tracked to keep the team members accountable for their assigned tasks. In the tracking process, both the receiver and the sender create a record of the task.

There are four keys that you and your office can use to help the flow of information throughout the office: regular staff meetings, request forms, listing out questions, and being aggressive.

You are a leader, not a manager – there is a difference.

1. Regular Staff Meetings

Daily and weekly meetings strengthen communication with your team. The focus of the daily meeting is to set priorities for staff for the day. This meeting is an opportunity for you to coach and direct the members of the team. By not having daily meetings, you are allowing your assistant and the other members to set their own priorities, which may be different from yours. To be able to set your daily priorities with your team, you need to schedule fifteen minutes daily for a meeting between you, your assistant, and the other members of the team.

One of the frustrations assistants feel is being overwhelmed with work. An assistant who does not understand what the agent’s priorities are will feel even more overwhelmed with all the tasks that need to be completed. As the lead agent, you need to help the assistant define and determine what tasks need to be completed today and for the week. If you take ten minutes a day to walk through the priorities for the day, your assistant will be able to complete items in the order in which you want them done and will accomplish the most important tasks for the day and for the week. Daily meetings can mean the difference between business success and failure.

Weekly meetings with your assistant should focus on the overall goals and functions of the office. Use this meeting to look at and evaluate all of the activities scheduled during the week. This time will also be used to review the activities of the last month and to set new priorities for the month ahead.

There should also be weekly team meetings scheduled, which all members of the team are required to attend. These weekly meetings will allow all members to debrief their activities for the week and determine priorities for next week. It is a vital component of a strong team. It allows evaluation of the completed week and an investment in the new week. It provides a time for brainstorming to determine solutions for ongoing problems. It will also enhance the team-building spirit. This meeting will give the team an opportunity to put an exclamation point at the end of a great week.

2. Request Forms

Written request forms are crucial to an effective flow of tasks in the office. The requests are passed from one person to the next person in the team. These forms will enable you and your staff to set deadlines for you and for other members of your team. This information helps to avoid the occurrence of a “cold sweat night” – a mental wake-up call at 2 a.m. which finds you sitting straight up in bed, wide awake, wondering whether a particular task was completed or not. Once this happens, it becomes very hard to get back to sleep, since you cannot get that worrisome question out of your head. Many agents are using e-mail to direct assistants. I think that is a mistake in the short run. If you have a new assistant, use paper request forms. The tangible, physical paper carries a greater impact. It also doesn’t get lost in all the other spam e-mail we get. It also gives you a chance to check and see the progress on a regular basis. You can switch to the more efficient e-mail in a few months, once you are confident of their execution.

3. Listing Out Questions

The assistant should have their questions well organized, so that they can ask the agent all of their questions at the same time. The questions should be saved up and asked once or twice per day. This allows the assistant to stay focused on the tasks that they are completing. It also helps the agent to stay focused on sales without constant interruption. One appropriate time for the assistant to ask questions is during the daily meeting.

While the assistant is compiling their questions, they should also determine one or two solutions for each of the questions. This step gives the agent an understanding that the assistant is attempting to solve problems on their own, but they want to be sure what the correct solution is. It also it gives the agent an idea of possible solutions. Even if the agent then has to reject both solutions, the process of working out possible solutions and receiving the agent’s response to them will help the assistant understand why a solution will or will not work and why the task should be done in a particular way. This procedure gives the assistant an opportunity to learn how to solve the problem, so if it arises in the future, they will be able to handle it. This technique also reduces the chance the agent will get involved or take ownership of the situation. A good assistant will not allow their Champion Agent to engage emotionally with a problem. It hampers performance, and sales will drop.

4. Be Assertive

Another part of communication is being assertive. The assistant should be up front and direct with the agent or other team members if they need something explained further or if they are missing paperwork for the file. The assistant needs to be able to say, “I need this” and not feel shy about it. Agents will sometimes be focused only on the sales aspect of the business and will not be aware of the work being done behind the scene. The assistant needs to be able to let the agent and other team members know what is needed