Built by agents, for agents, Keller Williams is the future of real estate. The Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ Keller Williams office was founded to do one thing. Support agents in building Careers worth having, businesses worth owning to create lives worth living. They have succeed. Why? There are a number of reasons focused on the tremendous amount of training and technology that they provide their agents, but there are a few other intangibles that set KW Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley apart from any other real estate office in the area. By creating a agent centric Culture that is studied by other companies and universities. By caring for its own agents in their times of need and by allowing the top agents in the office to participate in the leadership of the office through the creation of the Associate Leadership Council (ALC).
Here are some examples of how each of these three areas is helping agents in the award winning Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ Keller Williams office.
Keller Williams Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Arizona Culture
Why has the Stanford University School of Business done 3 different analysis of Keller Williams Realty? CULTURE… The reports consistently show that the real estate company of choice focuses on a blended approach to corporate management and leadership, with a top-down business model but a bottoms-up approach to decision-making. This approach creates a Culture that is the envy of not just the real estate community, but the business community as a whole.
“While its franchising process is centrally controlled, the company willingly cedes significant decision-making authority to its associates [agents] and relies on culture to ensure that its operating model and people are successful,” excerpt from – “How Important is Culture?: An Inside Look at Keller Williams Realty.”
A great Culture is not just an accident. It is the part of the DNA of the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ Market Center. This Culture gets it origin in the KW Mission, Vision, Values and Perspective.
The Keller Williams Mission
To build careers worth having, businesses worth owning, lives worth living, experiences worth giving, and legacies worth leaving.
The Keller Williams Vision
To be the real estate company of choice for agents and their customers.
The Keller Williams Values
God, Family, then Business.
The Keller Williams Perspective
A technology company that provides the real estate platform that our agents’ buyers and sellers prefer. Keller Williams thinks like a top producer, acts like a trainer-consultant, and focuses all its activities on service, productivity, and profitability.
At the core of Keller Williams Realty is a conviction that who you are in business with matters. We believe that the company we keep can contribute to our lives in untold ways. To help cement this understanding, we’ve formalized a belief system called the WI4C2TES that guides how we treat each other and how we do business.
Founded in 1983 by Gary Keller and Joe Williams, Keller Williams was built on one premise: How high we go as a company will be determined by how high we lift our people.
Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ Keller Williams is a company BUILT BY AGENTS, FOR AGENTS.
As a result, we understand that you are the key to our company’s success, not the other way around. We provide proven models and systems so you can focus on building your business.
We stand behind our agents – not in front of them. Because your clients choose YOU – not your company.
Built on the philosophy that people matter most, WE PUT OUR ASSOCIATES AT THE CENTER OF EVERY STRATEGIC DECISION THE COMPANY MAKES – literally.
“Keller Williams believes that AGENTS ARE STAKEHOLDERS IN THE SUCCESS OF THE MARKET CENTER and therefore should share in decision making. Together, they [top agents and office leadership] jointly make office decisions relating to financial planning, recruiting and retention, marketing and advertising, training, technology, social events, and philanthropic giving.” — Stanford University
Finding and SERVING THE HIGHER PURPOSE OF BUSINESS is at the heart of the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Arizona Keller Williams culture. We believe in supporting the financial, physical and emotional well-being of our associates.
Culture… This is just another example of what sets apart the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ office from other real estate companies in the area.
Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Arizona KW Cares
Early on, Keller Williams realized that it’s agent might be faced with a financial hardship due to major emergencies. KW Cares was the brainchild of Keller Williams agents who had a dream to reach out and support fellow KW associates. Mo Anderson, vice chairman of Keller Williams Realty, took this dream and brought it to fruition as a public charity. Today, KW Cares is supported by associates from across North America.
KW Cares is a charity created by and for Keller Williams Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley associates and their families. It’s here to help any agent who’s faced with hardship as a result of a sudden emergency. The charity is the heart of Keller Williams culture in action – finding and serving the higher purpose of business through charitable giving in the market centers and communities where Keller Williams associates live and work.
What is KW Cares?
KW Cares provides grants that are there for a degree of assistance for Keller Williams associates and their families experiencing hardship. Hardships that are as a result of a sudden emergency. Hardship is defined as a difficult circumstance that a person or family cannot handle without outside help. Together Everyone Achieves More.
It has truly become the heart of the Keller Williams culture in action, finding and serving the higher purposes of business through charitable giving in the market centers and communities where KW associates live and work. The Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Arizona Market Center participates in KW Cares and also has an Agent in Need fund to directly support agents in the office. http://www.kwcares.org/happy-outcomes
History of KW Cares
Designated a 501(c)(3) public charity in 2003, KW Cares raises money through Keller Williams market centers and regional offices in order to provide emergency financial assistance to members of the KW family in need through its grants program, and to support other board-designated charities and causes aligned with the mission and values of Keller Williams Realty and KW Cares.
KW Cares annually also donates a 10 percent tithe to selected charities outside of Keller Williams.
Making an impact on an annual basis – Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Arizona RED Day
Introduced in 2009, RED Day, which stands for Renew, Energize and Donate, is Keller Williams Realty’s annual day of service. Each year on the second Thursday of May, associates celebrate KW Vice Chairman Mo Anderson’s birthday by spending the day away from their businesses to serve worthy organizations and causes in their communities.
Local offices select projects around the area. From assisting at shelters, to working of cleaning up parks to volunteering at schools or local non profit organizations. It is amazing to see the stories from different offices around the country and now around the world as Keller Williams Expands and brings Red Day worldwide.
Associates from across the nation devote an entire day to fulfilling the needs of worthy organizations and causes in their communities.
KW Relief
“Our first priority is finding our associates,” said Anderson. “We are gathering all our resources together so that we can get assistance to them as soon as we know where they are. We are currently processing all the generous donations that we have received this week so that we can turn around and send those resources to our KW family members who desperately need them.” That was Mo Anderson, Vice Chairman of the Board, within hours of first landfall of Hurricane Katrina. A refrain that has been echoed after hurricanes, floods, wildfires and natural disasters that have directly impacted Keller Williams Associates. While other organizations are scrambling to respond, KW Cares and KW Relief have trucks loaded, ready to respond.
Helping Agents. Helping the Community. Helping, Caring, Acting, Loving. This is just another example of what sets apart the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Arizona Keller Williams office from other real estate companies in the area.
Keller Williams Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ Associate Leadership Council – ALC
The Keller Williams Realty Associate Leadership Council – or ALC for Short is made up of a group from the top twenty percent of the Keller Williams agent group in the Market Centers. Each year, the Team Leader of the office reviews the previous years productivity and issues invitations for associates to participate in this group. The purpose of the Associate Leadership Council is to guarantee that the associates have a direct path to provide input and decision making for the operation and well being of the Keller Williams office.
The Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ ALC is not just a figurehead group. The Keller Williams Policies and Procedures ensure that this group is actively involved in the leadership of the company, holding ownership and management accountable to live within the budget and participates in attaining the goals of the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ Market Center, i.e., production, drive profit, education and standards and principles. This is NOT a sales meeting nor is it a complaint session.
The Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley Keller Williams Board of Directors
The ALC acts as the Market Center’s “Board of Directors”. They are the guardians of the culture. A covenant agreement of ALC responsibilities is entered into by all ALC members with their Market Center peers.
Selected members from the Local ALC represent the Market Center as members of the Regional and International ALC. This is an honor to be selected by your peers.
The Agent Leadership Council sets Keller Williams Realty apart from the rest of the industry. At Keller Williams Realty, the associates have true “input” into the policies of the company. It is a true vehicle that allows agents to express themselves and participate in the policies and leadership of the company.
Typically, the top 20% of the associates in the market center comprises the Agent Leadership Council. They meet at least once per month and make major decisions in conjunction with the Team Leader (Broker) and the Business Operating Partner.
ALC Meetings are open to all agents in the office
The monthly meetings are open to all agents in the office. Agents in the office can serve on the ALC committees and the ALC member that serves as the committee chair reports back to the ALC at the monthly meetings. There is also an agent leadership council for each region of Keller Williams Realty as well as one for the entire company.
Keller Williams is an Open Book Company. This means that the financial profit and loss statement is made available to the ALC meeting and the market center on a monthly basis. This review ensures that the best people are making decisions, those that actually earned the money that is being tracked on the profit and loss statement. This leads to a system of integrity for the Keller Williams Profit Sharing System.
By treating the associates as business leaders and partners, and not just agents or employees, the company fosters a true win-win environment. It has been said that this model is the only one that ensures that the Keller Williams Office Owner and Agents are on the same side of the table as stakeholders, and not adversaries sitting across the table from each other or detached somewhere in a cloud.
Another role of the agent leadership council is to be of assistance to associates in the office. New agents have lots of questions and who better to answer them than the agents who have been there and know how to handle certain situations.
Also, since these ALC members are active in selling real estate, they are available to be shadowed by agents who want to see how a successful agent goes about earning business.
Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ ALC committees
Each ALC has standing committees that focus on various aspects of the business. The standing committees are education, culture, recruiting, financial planning and technology.
The Team Leader of the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ works with the Keller Williams ALC to ensure that the culture and working environment of the Market Center is not only one that you want to join as an agent, it is also one that you will never want to leave or need to leave. This is just another example of what sets apart the Tucson-Marana / Oro Valley AZ office from other real estate companies in the area.
A side note from the creator of this site, Robert Earl.
“I have had the pleasure of serving on a Keller Williams Market Center Associate Leadership Council for 12 years of my real estate career. The ability to work with the other associates in the office to set the tone for the culture of the office and to actually be involved in the decision making process of the company is something truly unique to Keller Williams. I also cherish being selected by my fellow agents to represent the Region as an Agent member of the International Agent Leadership Council (IALC) and again by my fellow Team Leaders and Office Owners as a Leadership member of the IALC. To present issues put up for a vote at the annual Family Reunion meeting of the IALC is a professional accomplishment that I will remember well after my career is over.”