Property managers today are “drowning in change” speakers Terri Norvell and Steve Wunch explained this week during a webinar to address evolving workplace and management challenges brought on by Covid-19 and the “new normal.”

When seemingly every day at work a community’s staff is faced with “too much,” employees need to refocus mentally and seek optimism and hope – something they will find to be plentiful if they look in the right places, Norvell says.

“What you don’t want is for ‘too much’ to turn into ‘not enough’ – as in time in the day or resources at your disposal, which can turn into ‘I’m not [good] enough’ in the heads of self-defeating managers,” she says. “People need to realize that those around them do trust them. And, you need to say to yourself, ‘You can come out of this stronger.’ ”

Norvell says if the voice “in your head is not kind, loving and supporting, you don’t want to listen to it. What you want to hear is, ‘You’ve got this!’ ”

Apartment managers often find themselves being a part of the “solutions industry,” Norvell says, so they can tend to focus on what’s wrong, “but we all know there’s more going on in our lives that’s going well. Remember that.”

While in “grief,” Norvell says, consider the Kubler-Ross Grief Cycle, which includes five stages: Denial, Anger, Depression, Bargaining and Acceptance.

Norvell says that everyone goes through them, and when looking back at a grieving situation, each stage can be recognized. She adds a sixth stage: Finding Meaning. “Is there a silver lining that comes from the grief?” she asks.

This is where hope and energy come in. “Hope inspires action,” Norvell says. “The onsite staff can’t be the ones who boost up the leaders. It comes from a reservoir from within. Leaders need to serve up hope. As for energy, it needs to be palpable and come from the top. It will make its way into the rest of the staff, leading to successful outcomes.”

Getting back to determining solutions, Wunch spoke about a five-step formula that leads to positive outcomes:

1 Define the situation?

2 What is the outcome we want?

3 What’s another way of looking at this? (One person doesn’t have all the answers)

4) What different actions will we take?

5) How/when will we circle back around (to determine the outcome)

Empowering staff can make for better-developed employees, Norvell says.

“If your team is coming to you too often for answers, turn it around on them; stop the advice cycle,” she says. “Tell them that if they are going to come to you with a problem, they must also have a potential solution to share.”

Ideally, Norvell says, when leaders and their staff members can combine left-brain (logical, analytical, and objective) and right-brain (intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective) efforts, by leaders and their staff, it will lead to achieved outcomes through property management that are more satisfactory.

About the speakers: Terri Norvell is a change agent, trusted leader and business advisor for the multifamily industry. Steve Wunch is an Account Executive for Knock.