From the desk of 2020 RRC President Richard Waystack, CRS
We’ve all been on a remarkable roller coaster ride these past few months. To help our members navigate uncharted professional challenges, the Council—from top to bottom and side-to-side—is adopting a proactive rather than reactive approach. Our mission is to focus on initiatives that could reassure our members, provide a source of strength and go a long way to helping our organization stay in front of developing concerns.
Yes, we’re harnessing the resources of the Council to ensure we can serve and assist our members during this unprecedented time in history. The Council strongly believes that with greater business agility comes a greater ability to rapidly respond to any “new normal” circumstances and quickly initiate strategies that can preserve—and likely strengthen—our position as the industry’s premiere education provider and business development organization. Simultaneously, we are ready to help our members continue to forge stronger relationships through education, networking and professional growth.
The Council’s recent discussions concerning our own business agility—discussions held both before and during our recent unexpected journey—brought insightful points to light. For example, we know that RRC continues to be recognized as the premiere education provider in real estate. However, are we proactively adapting the way we deliver education to reflect what real estate professionals want? Are they looking for in-person delivery or online platforms?
Here’s another question that came up as we traversed these last few months. Should we look at education through a less formal lens? We saw an impromptu approach to education work so well by We Are CRS, the Residential Real Estate Council’s official Facebook group for CRS candidates and designees. As a “new normal” transformed our industry, this group’s ability to nimbly respond to immediate needs was inspiring. There were Facebook Live Q&A sessions hosted by veteran CRS members and Certified CRS Instructors. Our community also shared links to informative podcasts that served up need-to-know information on timely topics.
In addition to education, the Council is also investing time and energy in identifying ways to proactively reinforce our CRS Designation as the premier credential in our industry. To do this, we need to create an organization that can take appropriate action before any need occurs. With that level of agility, we can do more than protect the CRS Designation’s value—we can strengthen it and bring even greater benefits to our members.
We haven’t answered every question yet. And we’re not rushing into any initiatives. Is it appropriate to slow down implementation and give careful consideration to what our top priorities should be? I think it’s absolutely appropriate! We need to feel confident that initiatives are in the best interest of our organization and truly reflect our members’ needs. As leaders, we have to look at how every initiative affects the health of our organization today and all members in the years to come.
