In this tight economy, many are exploring sophisticated ideas about what will increase productivity and accelerate growth for agents and brokers. While the options may have merit, the real key to success lies in the basic notion that teamwork and collaboration lead to better outcomes in our businesses.

Assuming that is true, one might wonder why we don't see more collaboration to boost sales and lift productivity for agents and brokers. One reason may be that while a team beats the “Lone Ranger” any day, it's sometimes hard to know what everyone on the team is doing at any particular time–a necessary situation for teamwork to be successful. If we want teamwork to drive organic growth, we need to know how we can get the team communicating and how we can get them to work together.

A useful model is provided by professional sports teams. In preparation for competition, the team's managers and coaches videotape and study their own past games. They look closely at what has worked and what hasn't, and they invent ways to improve and duplicate winning strategies. Next, they take that information and disseminate it to the whole team to make everyone better and increase the team's chances of winning.