Taking Ownership

Imagine a world where business leaders and companies didn’t wait around for the government to help make the economy more productive. Imagine businesses being left to their own creative and innovative devices to improve their own businesses, their practices and their relative success. Imagine creative business models that allowed businesses to shine and prosper despite periods of economic downturn.

That is essentially what Todd Hirsch, Senior Economist with ATB Financial, asked us to consider as part of the February 10, 2012 Weekly Economic Bulletin, which was also published in the Calgary Herald on February 10, 2012. Don’t let complacency be your—and your business’s downfall. Don’t be a frog tossed into a pot of cool water that simply stays put when the heat is turned up. Get out of the pot.

How can we relate this principle to the self-regulation of Alberta’s real estate industry? The Real Estate Council of Alberta remains the governing, standards-setting body for the industry and will always be there to step in as a regulator when necessary. However, especially over the past few months during RECA’s self-regulation consultation, RECA is making it crystal clear that we expect each individual industry professional to step up to the plate. Just as businesses cannot expect government or governing bodies to make them successful, Alberta real estate industry professionals should not expect RECA to bear complete responsibility for the maintenance of high standards within the industry. Sound policies and legislation help, but individual industry members have an active role to play.

As professionals within Alberta’s real estate industry, you have a vested interested in ensuring it maintains a positive reputation and that requires personal accountability and responsibility, and a commitment to high standards and professionalism. As part of a self-regulated industry, industry professionals must take it upon themselves to be involved in the regulation of their industry as a whole; that is, in fact, what self-regulation is all about.

Being known as an industry or a profession with a sound regulatory structure and appropriately high standards improves the overall reputation and brings with it the potential for continued—and even greater—success. As consumers come to expect more from Alberta’s real estate industry professionals—and the industry as a whole – it is as if the heat is being turned up on that proverbial pot of water.

How do you take ownership in Alberta’s real estate industry as one that is self-regulated?