CAROL LEVEY
MISS MANAGEMENT
MANAGING A MANAGER’S RELATIVE
I
Carol Levey will be speaking at the
Education Conference and Trade
Show on May 13, 2015 at the Denver
Mart Expo Center.
am a property manager operating a larger
apartment community with a solid team in
place and I’ve recently been put into an awkward situation. An executive has a favorite
niece who has been assigned to me as a leasing
specialist. Although I like the young lady and she
has some people skills, she seems to think that
our rules don’t apply to her (such as arriving late,
not in company attire, leaving for personal appointments, etc.).
When my regional introduced the idea of the
“niece” I got the definite impression that regardless of my opinion, I needed to adjust to the idea.
I don’t want to misstep, but her behavior is not
good for my team or my leadership. Do you have
any ideas?
A- First of all, do you believe that your company leader cares about his niece? Of course he
does. If this is true then it also would be true that
your property, your team and especially you were
chosen because of his caring, not in spite of it. I
have a granddaughter that was given an opportunity to work on the east coast at a property belong-
ing to a client. The opportunity was subject to my
approval. My enthusiastic approval was based upon
the great example, learning experience and career
potential this team and its leader could bring to
my loved one.
Unless you are expressly told by this uncle that
his niece should be given preference over the rest
of the team and is approved to disregard company
policy including your leadership and his, you should
represent your property, team, company, yourself
and her uncle with uncompromised “best practices” from day one and throughout this young
lady’s employment.
This is your normal commitment and will include definite and transparent communication about
existing policies explaining the importance of each;
and the discipline that supports these policies. She
will, or not, become a valuable member of your team.
Either way she will learn valuable lessons from the
experience. As you report to your region