“We knew teams were making a powerful impact on real estate. There are many fantastic studies out there covering the inner workings of teams, but we felt there was a need to understand teams from leadership’s perspective,” shares Renwick Congdon, CEO of Imprev.

Healthy competition between teams boosts productivity, retention, engagement and job satisfaction but nearly half of Imprev’s respondents agreed that teams are hard to manage. Although 73 percent of organizations have policies and guidelines for teams to follow, like adjusted commission structures and legal guidelines, organizations felt managers could do a better job serving teams.

Finding solutions that work isn’t as hard as it seems. “Based on brokers’ feedback, the key at the moment seems to be putting more comprehensive policies and frameworks in place to ensure team leaders and brokers build strong, mutually beneficial relationships,” says Congdon.

Organizational changes, such as providing guidelines, technology, orientations and mentoring to support teams proved most beneficial to brokerages. One broker’s suggestion was to, “Train them [managers] how to build a team that is sustainable. Teach them how to hire properly.” These solutions may seem simple but don’t underestimate how costly and time-consuming it can be to develop or update materials and train teams to implement new technology.

Still, as you think about how to train your team to better help your business, it might be worth the effort and cost to make a valuable asset more effective. Teams helped organizations build their businesses and influenced total sales volume over the last five years for almost 80 percent of respondents. Most agreed that teams aren’t a competitive threat and don’t diminish the power of their brand. And more than 65 percent continue to encourage the creation of teams.

The study found that teams were responsible for roughly 30 percent of overall sales. Improving that even by 5 percent could bring in meaningful revenue while building more cohesive and engaged teams.

“With a clear structure, a brokerage is more likely to build a mutually beneficial relationship with teams and drive greater success overall,” says Congdon.