Use it or lose it.

If you have 10 PTO days each year and only use 2, then at the end of the year, you have lost 8 precious days. If the line item expense in your budget is never touched, then the next year, it generally is dropped. If the leftovers sitting wrapped in Saran wrap never are reheated and spoil, then the chance to skip a night of cooking is gone. If you squirreled away several hundreds of tax-deferred dollars in your Health Savings Account and December 31^st comes and goes without expending them, then they are lost – poof! Just like that. If your company has monies available but are never invested, then you must pay taxes on them.

What does this mean?

It means you have wasted opportunities! Use it or lose it is a very tangible result of having wasted opportunities throughout the year. As this year winds down and we prepare for the new one to start, hold a few coffees or breaks with your “people”, your Managers, your Assistants, your Maintenance Supervisors, your Leasing Specialists and find out where you can use it before it is lost: those opportunities to better your customer service, to better your work product and turnovers, your residents’ move in and move out experiences, where your dollars should really be going. Find out those opportunities to make a difference for the people in your organization: an extra Bonus Day off, more recognition of someone’s efforts, time off to give back to the community, Fun Days such as sending your team to a movie together during an afternoon, treating them to lunch …

Additionally, reevaluate your Models, your presentations, your amenities. If no one is using an amenity, find out why. Is it time to get rid of it and build something new, bring in something better? If no one uses the recumbent bikes in your Get Fit Space, bring in the kind used for Spin Classes. Set your sight on better organization, streamlining operations without LOSING service. Look at your work orders and decide how to fix the issue once and for all so that that particular work order stops showing up after every single move in.

This is the time to talk to your teams because, by now, you should know each member’s strengths and USE those strengths so each person can reach his fullest potential. Quit ignoring the good things as a fluke and start celebrating the successes. Rents are going up, residents are going to be spending more money to renew their leases than ever before – make it worth it to them. This to me is what the Annual Review should be – use your time together each day to find the winning concepts, ideas, suggestions, and implement them – before your talent walks and you lose them to someone else who appreciates their unique contributions.