Reinventing Engagement: A Paradigm Shift for Real Estate Associations
For years, the conversation within organized real estate has consistently revolved around the elusive goal of “member engagement.” Having transitioned from active practice within the real estate sector to the association side in 2017, I’ve often shared a candid perspective with rooms full of real estate professionals: “For the decade I served as a broker, my focus was squarely on my business and my agents. As long as the MLS System functioned daily and my team could operate, I rarely concerned myself with the specific activities of the board or provincial association.” This sentiment, while perhaps surprising to some, highlights a fundamental disconnect that many associations struggle to bridge.
In a previous article for REM in 2024, I noted that the significant fees paid by Realtors across Canada support approximately 70 different strategic plans. Almost universally, these plans feature “improving member engagement” as a primary objective. Yet, there remains a persistent lack of clarity within the industry regarding the true purpose of this engagement, or what tangible benefits it is expected to yield. This ambiguity often manifests at the leadership level, where new directors joining various boards and associations frequently arrive without a comprehensive understanding of the organization’s full scope. They soon find themselves echoing the common refrain: “Every member should know what we are doing.” This aspiration, while well-intentioned, often overlooks the complex realities of member priorities and the efficacy of current communication strategies.
The Disconnect Between Association Engagement and Realtor Success
It’s a common misconception that a Realtor’s professional success directly correlates with their level of engagement with their local board or provincial organization. While we occasionally hear anecdotes of individuals who sought and obtained board positions, subsequently building robust referral networks and garnering additional business opportunities from their involvement, these cases represent a small fraction of the industry. The vast majority of highly successful real estate agents operate thriving businesses without dedicating significant time or attention to the latest decisions or initiatives undertaken by their associations. Their success is driven by market savvy, client relations, and operational efficiency, not necessarily by attending every town hall or meticulously reading every organizational update.
This fundamental disconnect creates a significant challenge for association leaders. Frustration often mounts among decision-makers when members express surprise or dissatisfaction about an organizational change only after its implementation, despite the association having launched an extensive communications campaign leading up to it. This highlights a critical flaw in assuming that merely sending information equates to effective communication or meaningful engagement. Members are not necessarily indifferent to important decisions, but their capacity and motivation to engage with unsolicited information often differ from what associations expect.
Navigating the Communication Conundrum in Real Estate
A recent survey conducted by the BC Real Estate Association among B.C. Realtors brought to light two unsurprising, yet crucial, insights into the communication landscape. Firstly, a significant number of Realtors reported being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of emails they receive from various organizations attempting to communicate with them, yet ironically, email remains their preferred method of communication. This creates a paradox: members desire information via email but struggle to process the deluge. Secondly, many respondents admitted they had little understanding of BCREA’s functions or the value derived from their modest monthly fees, a lack of awareness compounded by their admitted tendency not to read the very emails designed to inform them.
These challenges are far from novel. They represent a persistent pattern within organized real estate. It’s a familiar scenario: newly appointed directors, often prior to receiving comprehensive governance training, confidently propose video content as the panacea for communication woes, believing it to be the missing medium that will finally capture members’ attention. The prevailing logic suggests that by simply integrating video into the existing ecosystem of member portals, newsletters, direct emails, social media posts, MLS System pop-ups, and town halls, those previously disengaged will suddenly become enlightened. However, experience repeatedly shows that the open rates and viewership statistics for such videos often correlate precisely with the number of existing board members, staff, and an already engaged core of “keeners.” The broader, disengaged membership remains largely untouched, proving that simply adding another channel does not solve the underlying issue of relevance and attention.
Rethinking Engagement Metrics: Beyond Likes and Opens
Given the persistent nature of these challenges and the absence of a “silver bullet” solution for engagement, a crucial question arises: Why do nearly all strategic plans continue to advocate for increased engagement, and why is this engagement still predominantly measured by superficial metrics like email open rates and social media likes? These metrics, while easily quantifiable, often provide a skewed and incomplete picture of true member involvement and satisfaction. They gauge interaction, not necessarily impact or understanding.
My theory posits that this reliance on vanity metrics stems from an organizational culture deeply entrenched in quantifiable feedback. Directors, many of whom are successful Realtors running their own businesses, and association staff have become “wired” to equate engagement with measurable intelligence. In their own commercial endeavors, metrics often directly translate to success. This mindset, while effective in a sales environment, can be misleading when applied to the complex dynamics of member associations. The feedback loop—where activity is tracked, reported, and celebrated—has, unfortunately, become an affirmation of success itself, rather than a genuine indicator of effective governance, member value, or organizational impact. This creates a dangerous echo chamber, where easily measured, but ultimately shallow, interactions are prioritized over deeper, more meaningful connections and outcomes.
From Engagement to Accountability: A Leadership Imperative
In my current role with BCREA, I’ve recently articulated a perspective that may seem counter-intuitive to the pervasive call for engagement: aspiring to have over 26,000 Realtors actively engaged in every facet of our operations sounds less like a goal and more like a recipe for disaster. Effective governance necessitates a certain degree of autonomy for the board of directors and the organization’s leadership to competently conduct the affairs for which they have been elected or appointed. Constant, broad-based engagement on every decision can lead to analysis paralysis, slow down critical initiatives, and dilute the strategic focus required for effective leadership.
However, this need for autonomy should never be misconstrued as an open license for leadership to operate in isolation or to cease communication altogether. The fact that stakeholders may not be diligently reading every email does not imply their indifference to the ultimate outcomes of crucial decisions. The challenge lies in striking a delicate balance. To navigate this tension between essential leadership autonomy and a multi-generational status quo often characterized by complacency, the strategic focus must fundamentally shift from mere engagement to robust accountability.
Rather than a board of directors or leadership team misinterpreting member complacency as indifference, they must approach every decision-making process with an “assumed over-consequence.” This means that regardless of the visible engagement levels from members, the decision-making process itself must be weighted significantly more heavily on rigorous due diligence, thorough research, and clear justification than on pre-emptive communication campaigns designed to garner likes or opens. In this paradigm, engagement transforms; it becomes focused on gathering the precise, targeted input needed to inform critical decisions, rather than on broadly communicating every single decision or activity hoping for affirmation. This ensures that when decisions are made, they are founded on solid rationale and a deep understanding of potential impacts, thereby fostering trust and demonstrating leadership responsibility even if direct member interaction is not constant.
Redefining What Meaningful Engagement Truly Means
One of the most common ways associations hear from their membership is when a change is introduced that catches them off guard. The feedback isn’t necessarily against the change itself, but rather a frustration with the process used to arrive at that change. Members often express, “I’m not necessarily against the change, but I’m frustrated with the process used to get there.” This sentiment underscores that the ‘how’ is often as important as the ‘what.’ Conversely, I have witnessed and been involved in numerous significant sector-wide changes that were implemented seamlessly. These successes were predicated on a strategy of targeted, pre-emptive engagement with key stakeholders, coupled with a comprehensive communication plan meticulously designed for both before and after implementation. This integrated approach collectively forms a robust change-management strategy.
So, what does this fundamental shift mean for the real estate sector and its representative organizations? I propose that if your organization chooses to embrace the term “engagement,” it is imperative to first define precisely what that means in your context and articulate the specific reasons for pursuing it. Leaders must be able to clearly explain why they seek engagement and what ultimate purpose it will serve—what tangible outcomes are expected, and how these outcomes benefit the membership and the industry as a whole. Continue to communicate, as transparency is vital, but move away from using engagement as a mere source of affirmation that people are paying attention to your activities. Instead, transform engagement into a measure of the confidence and conviction you have in your decisions, supported by a strong foundation of due diligence and strategic foresight.
Ultimately, Realtors will engage when it is truly meaningful for them to do so, when the information is relevant, timely, and impactful to their professional lives or the broader industry they care about. If associations are prepared to engage genuinely and strategically when these moments arise, members will not only support the decisions being made but will likely evolve into powerful advocates for the organization and its mission. This shift from demanding engagement to earning it through accountability and purposeful action is the key to building stronger, more resilient, and truly valued real estate associations for the future.