By Shayla Hartsell
Morgantown Board of REALTORS®

When you think of the best leaders in life and in our organization, they usually have similar qualities to each other. They take ownership, they’re empathetic, they lead with integrity, and want to serve their team and their community. Now imagine taking REALTORS® from all over West Virginia, with different levels of responsibility within the organization, different experience levels, and throwing them all into one group. This is what the West Virginia Association of REALTORS® Leadership Academy has done.

Leadership Academy gave me a great opportunity to not only meet other REALTORS® around the state that I may have not met otherwise, but it also sat me in rooms with likeminded people that I may not have otherwise been sitting with. This program was a great introduction into what the West Virginia Association of REALTORS® has to offer at the state and local level. We had the chance to travel to Charleston, the Greenbrier, Washington D.C., and Morgantown. Charleston gave us an introduction into local and state government. We had a chance to talk to some of our state officials that we may not otherwise have been sitting in a room with. The Greenbrier gave us a clear idea of what sitting on committees entails and why it’s important to be involved at your local and state committee levels. In Washington D.C., we had the opportunity to see how the National Association of REALTORS® operates, we listened to national speakers, and had the opportunity to sit down with some of our national leaders to ask questions. Morgantown was all about communication. We planned a very informative weekend with many speakers in the area to look at the different communication styles, social media communication, as well as formal communication.

No matter our level of expertise or our roles in real estate, we all took something from this experience to be better leaders for our organizations and our communities. Becoming a great leader doesn’t happen overnight. It takes practice, willingness to always learn, and being open to feedback. Leadership Academy gave us a great stepping stone to becoming better leaders for the future.