For Chief Appraisers, are a few RMA CART meetings enough?
For fee appraisers, are USPAP courses every two years enough?
Are you learning enough to scale your value?
How much knowledge outside our valuation bucket are you reading (books), attending (seminars) or listening to (podcasts)?
Curiosity is linked so closely with success because it drives you into the unknown, which is where you make discoveries, develop relationships, uncover opportunities and experience growth.
Many valuation professionals don’t ask for help and believe that they’re alone in their struggles which makes it 10x harder.
Curiosity is vital and satisfaction is the prize. Your budget may be tight, but you’re ALWAYS worth it.
10 Advantages for Curious Appraisers
- Drive for Learning: Taking only valuation courses isn’t learning new business ideas. Curiosity fuels appraisers’ desire to learn and acquire new knowledge for improving culture, workflows and team productivity.
- Problem-Solving: Not asking new questions results in a “rinse and repeat” model which diminishes appraisers’ relevancy. Ask questions, seek alternative solutions and explore different perspectives leading to improved productivity.
- Continuous Improvement: Not “sharpening your saw” is the antithesis of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book. Seek feedback, identify areas for growth and take proactive steps to enhance your performance.
- Adaptability: Some appraisers have “open to work” on their LinkedIn profile, so adaptability is crucial to be better equipped to embrace new technologies, processes and ideas.
- Creativity and Innovation: Creative thinking (ideation) and innovation generating novel ideas and approaches can result in an improved culture, better life-work balance and job satisfaction.
- Networking and Collaboration: Chronically working on your laptop is the opposite of engaging with others, asking questions and building relationships. This can lead to valuable collaborations, knowledge sharing and career opportunities.
- Critical Thinking: Appraisers are built for critical thinking. Curiosity encourages the evaluation of information from various sources to make informed decisions and avoid being misled.
- Leadership: Valuation professionals could use a double shot of new leadership style to inspire and motivate others. This starts with asking questions, seeking input from their teams and being open to new ideas.
- Resilience: Appraisers are persistent head-down workers. But by adding curiosity, appraisers can bounce back from the current real estate malaise and foster a mindset that views challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
- Customer-Centric Approach: This may show up for fee appraisers who realize that Chief Appraisers want more succinct reports, tie the subject to a specific market and stop pasting pages of demographics and not analyzing the relevancy of the data.
Enhance your career and contribute to the success of your organization.
Curiosity is the engine of achievement.
Be curious.
