Accountability Culture in Title Companies | Title Agents Podcast Ep11

Don't come up with excuses, bend the truth, or point the finger. This misuses the trust clients have in you, employees have in you, and creates tension within the unit or the transaction. In a world where change is the only constant, Mo Shumil stands at the forefront, guiding title professionals to not just grow their businesses, but to master the art of innovation. With every episode, you're handed the keys to unlock unparalleled growth and stay ahead of the curve. Get ready for a transformative journey.

Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Hope Adoviani with Alltech National Title, and today we'll be doing a quick presentation on elevating character in the workplace and what that looks like, right? So through this presentation, we're gonna discuss strategies for fostering a culture of responsibility and personal growth, and making sure that foundation starts at the top. Elevated character actually, in my opinion, surpasses elevated talent. I would actually rather have someone that maybe has the right character and skills that we could groom, versus someone who refuses to adapt or grow, but is super talented.

So elevating character through ownership instead of blaming is crucial in today's corporate environment. So this presentation is gonna explore the detrimental effects of blame and scapegoating. What is the blame game? Let's define it. Let's take it back to the basics.

We all know it since childhood. The blame game is a destructive workplace behavior, and even at home, where individuals deflect responsibility for mistakes or failures onto others. This could be at home where kids are like, it was their fault, they didn't make their bed. It was the dog. And then at work, it was the title department.

It was the closer's fault. Nobody wants to take that responsibility, so they point the finger. Blame game could be anything organic, inorganic, fiction or nonfiction, person or animal, something that is preventing an individual from doing their job or giving their full potential. This also aligns with what I like to call the master excuser, that quintessential dog ate my homework kind of situation and behavior and response. This type of attitude or archetype could be innate or learned, and it could change, it could not, it really depends on the person and how they want to adapt to that environment.

So scapegoating is the actual definition. Blame game is just the semantics, but scapegoating is the actual definition of singling out someone or a group for something bad that someone else has done. It involves singling out that person or group, similar to blame game, and it's just somebody else's fault. So title department's fault, like I said, this type of behavioral response is of someone who refuses to gather all the data, gather all the information, and they just find it easier to just kind of get out that nasty imbroglio, that situation, they're like, that wasn't me. It's just easier to point the finger at somebody else.

So very similar to the blame game, and these are just easy ways out. And if ownership was easy, whether it's positive or negative then everybody would do it, right? But it's just the easy way out, but people just, they don't want to take that responsibility. They don't want to take that risk on what if they're wrong, and they don't want to find out what the consequences are. Ownership matters.

Taking ownership fosters personal growth. You can't just take ownership on positive stuff, like shout out, I was the one who closed 80 files last month. No, you have to also take ownership on negative situations too, and that causes you to personally grow and improve as a person and individual. So it improves team dynamics as well, and creates a positive work environment because nobody wants to work with somebody who just keeps blaming other people. So little do people know, ownership of not just positive situations, but also negative situations actually fosters that personal growth we just talked about, and respect.

Respect of yourself and respect from your team. If one person starts to lead by example, especially from the top, other people will follow. So I call it RIPs. Remember your RIPs. Recognize, you got to identify all the data, identify all the parts of the issue before you start pointing fingers.

I know it's just your innate reaction, but you have to understand the whole story. Gather all your facts, and that way you can take responsibility and come up with an educated response. So what are some situations where fingers would be pointed, especially in our title industry? Anything. Honestly, you wake up, you go to bed, somebody is blaming the title company for something.

It could be anything and everything, especially since we take blame on copious things that could go wrong in a real estate transaction. It could be title issues. It could be closing delays. It could be a walkthrough, lack of client information, lack of communication, lender delays, or even internal company drama. Whatever it is, this is an underappreciated business.

We just have to take the blame. And it really takes a strong individual to be able to take that all day long, but also be able to understand the full situation and issue and be able to respond effectively. So no matter the issue, never blame or point somebody or throw somebody under the bus, especially a client or especially in a real estate because this truly reflects the company and an individual's character. So if somebody is like, it was a lender's fault, and then that email gets forwarded to the lender, the lender's like, well, wow, I thought this is a real estate transaction. Let's all be mature here.

So just recognize and understand the full story before you go ahead and just respond. Impact, understand how the blame game erodes trust, hampers productivity, and creates a toxic work environment. If you just start blaming and then it gets tasked to somebody else and then they start blaming and it becomes a trickle effect, it's not conducive and it's actually gonna cause delays. So understand the impact that blaming or negatively scapegoating can do to someone or to the transaction itself, especially if you're just forwarding an email and it's got negative information and everything just gets forwarded, it's not productive. Don't come up with excuses, bend the truth or point the finger.

This misuses the trust clients have in you, employees have in you, and creates tension within the unit or the transaction. So prevention, learn from strategies to discourage blame shifting and promote a culture of accountability. So learn from the situation and work on the prevention of the issue. By continuing to do this, you are fostering a culture of accountability and respect. RIPs.

So the importance of ownership. Well, it's gonna cause personal growth. Taking ownership accelerates learning and skill development leading to career advancement. I would rather advance somebody internally who knows how to take all the facts and data and respond effectively versus somebody who just kind of points fingers. They're never gonna grow.

Team dynamics. Ownership fosters trust and respect among team members. Improving collaboration and results. Workplace culture. Of course, nobody's gonna wanna work with somebody who keeps throwing them under the bus, whether it's their fault or not, that's just not gonna create a positive work environment and you're gonna cause a lot of drama and a lot of tension and then people won't wanna come to work.

So it's just a waterfall effect. A culture of ownership creates a positive proactive environment where innovation thrives. You want to have people who wanna come to work and be valued and have that input. So trust the responsible response. Understand, gather facts and perspectives to fully comprehend the issue at hand.

Collaborate, work together to find solutions focusing on the problem rather than blame. Come with solutions, not get me out of here. Analyze, identify root causes and systemic issues that contributed to the problem. Learn from it, grow from it as a team, as a company. And prevent, implement those strategies and processes to avoid similar issues in the future.

If you're a manager, a branch attorney or an owner, use that as a training exercise. Don't throw people under the bus, but like, hey, this was a situation, here's how they handled it. Here's a good way, here's a bad way. How do we prevent this in the future? So learning from mistakes, you gotta admit fault.

I mean, this goes back to childhood. Admit the fault, acknowledge mistakes promptly and sincerely, it'll prevent a lot of delays and this builds trust and integrity in a company. Reflect, analyze the situation objectively, identify lessons and areas for improvement, adapt and share, implement the changes and communicate those with your team. So here's like a little negative response and a positive response. Transforming through ownership.

A negative response is an issue arises and the employee immediately blames someone time and time again, it's a pattern, right? Files and projects get delayed, other employees learn that behavior and then it's like everybody's acting the same way because what is perceived becomes patterned. So other employees learn that behavior, it creates toxic work environment between people and employees and departments and there's possible high turnover because people won't wanna work in that environment. Employees gossip, they whisper, they point fingers and now there's tension between individuals. Repetitive behavior becomes patterned and becomes a reflection of that company.

So you really gotta rise above it. A positive response would be an initial problem arises, the employee acknowledges those shortcomings, takes ownership of the issue, just stops it right there instead of tossing the ball to somebody else, learns and adjusts the way of doing things, file and projects continue on a timely course and no one else gets involved. The ball's not being tossed across. between individuals. Repetitive behavior becomes pattern and becomes a reflection of that company.

So you really got to rise above it. A positive response would be an initial problem arises, the employee acknowledges those shortcomings, takes ownership of the issue, just stops it right there instead of tossing the ball to somebody else, learns and adjusts the way of doing things, file and projects continue on a timely course and no one else gets involved. The ball's not being tossed across the court to everybody. There's no drama or toxic environment and then personal growth for that employee. From those positive responses or issues of how that person responded, you can implement ownership training.

You can revise your performance metrics. Like I saw you how you handle that situation. I'm gonna give you an eight out of 10 because you handle it maturely and that is a good reflection of the company. Appreciation to that individual for taking ownership and then a learned and adapted behavior with personal growth, minor consequences and a positive reflection of the company. So elevate your character.

I'm gonna say it time and time again. Elevate your character by embracing responsibility. Commit to taking ownership in your role regardless of your position. Remember, it starts from the top. It starts from the management team and then it fosters positivity.

Like, wow, look what the manager did on behalf of their company, on behalf of their team. They took that responsibility. I mean, if a manager's doing that, that looks really bad. So encourage a blame-free environment by starting from the top, use it for training and growth and lead by example, everybody. Demonstrate ownership in your actions and inspire others to do the same.

So I'm gonna say it time and time again. If there are individuals or employees who push back and they refuse to grow, refuse to adapt, especially in your accountability culture that you're trying to build, maybe you should probably elevate that talent too in order to elevate the character. So just take a look at your team and if you wanna grow toward this culture, there's only one thing to do. So thank you, everybody. That's your quick presentation for today and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

And that's a wrap on today's journey with Mo Shamil from the Title Agents Podcast. Reminding you that mastering the art of innovation is key in the title industry's fast-paced world. If you're finding it tough to keep up with the changes and challenges, remember, you're not alone. Our calendar is open for you. Find the link in the show notes and let's connect.

Make sure to hit subscribe to not miss out on strategies that elevate and insights that empower. Together, we'll navigate the future of the industry. I look forward to our next meeting in the upcoming episode. Keep pushing, keep innovating, and see you in the next episode.