Our association has been part of the statewide Professional Standards program since July of 2003. Since that time we have grown rapidly and the internet has changed the way everyone does business. The internet to a certain extent has contributed to anonymity and lack of accountability all around. I am told that before, when we held hearings ourselves, people seemed to take it more seriously because there was the feeling that someone was watching you. There were consequences for poor behavior. What you did mattered.
Its not just here – its everywhere. I heard it loud and clear in Miami before I got here. This deterioration in behavior is felt in every organization throughout the country. Enron, Bernie Madoff, AIG bonuses….”please” and “thankyou” and the Golden Rule have gone out the window. I submit that the rise of poor behavior is endemic in our country.
Many people have expressed a growing concern over the lack of professional behavior in our association. What I am very proud of is that you care. You are willing to draw the line and say “no more!” We are more fortunate than a lot of large associations whose agents never see the same agent twice. Here, our Agents are your neighbors, you went to highschool with them, you go to church together. You look them in the eye all the time. Trust me - you all are self-policing to a large extent and are very willing to “rat”.
However, I submit that blaming poor behavior on the statewide process, ”out of site, out of mind” is not valid. The rise in poor behavior merely coinsides with our timing… and where we hold hearings isn’t going to cure a damn thing. Hearings are supposed to be strictly confidential. Trust me – if we hold them here, we will run them by the book. The first bit of chit-chat and that person would be OUT of the program. Did you know that we have had 3 Ethics complaints filed so far this year? I didn’t – AND THAT’S THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!
So what does work? What can we do about bad professional behavior? There are several programs that work and that a Professionalism Taskforce is being formed to explore. We need to concentrate our efforts on doing something about the problem and stop focusing on the statewide program that is secret and confidential. The statewide program works but only is a tiny part of the issue.
One idea is the Memphis Association has a program called “Professional Standards Advisors (PSAs)”. Volunteers are trained in knowing the difference between bad behavior and COE violations. A member – or a member of the public – with a complaint is encouraged to call in on a hotline and say “Call me, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”. Each PSA is assigned a block of time to monitor the hotline. They discuss the problem with the caller and determine the best route for resolution. It may be that they help fill out the complaint and send it on to Professional Standards or maybe all that is required is to allow the caller to vent. Anyway, they have the training and latitude to resolve the problem. This idea has a chance of doing something positive about behavior without the liability.
What about letting you rate each other in transactions? More tomorrow…
CVG
