Ginger Wilcox, president of BHGRE, writes that if you don’t follow calendars and time, growth activities will always give way to routine.
I spend a lot of time talking to broker owners about growth, including hiring, expansion, and business results. When you ask what’s getting in your way, you get a quick and consistent answer.
time.
There isn’t enough time to focus on recruiting, planning, or growth.
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After listening to this for years, I learned something important. Most leaders don’t have a time problem. They have trouble concentrating. They spend their time on exactly what they believe is most important.
It is this distinction that most leaders get stuck on.
Scheduling growth work
If you look at hundreds of brokerages, the pattern is clear. Many leaders never plan for growth initiatives. And when they do, most people treat that time as optional. The explosion of deals pushes out the hiring blocks. Plans disappear when operational issues feel urgent. Over time, fire drills become a strategy.
Continuous growth leaders are strict about adhering to growth time, even when it’s uncomfortable. They feel that most operational issues are urgent, but they understand that few things are more important than building what comes next.
2026 looks like it will be a relatively stable year. Growth will not be driven by market conditions alone, as trading volumes are not expected to skyrocket. Therefore, concentration becomes even more important.
Adoption and expansion require protected time. It cannot be managed between fires or left to ad hoc plans. If growth is important to you, you need to put it permanently on your calendar.
first 2 hours of the day
One of the clearest indicators of focus is how leaders spend the first two hours of their day. This window will show you what actually takes precedence. If growth continues to be put on the back burner, it will no longer be a priority.
Many leaders confuse activity with progress. Nowhere is this more evident than in recruitment. When results slow, leaders often spend more time planning the hire than actually making the hire. They hone their proposition, rethink their value proposition, and wait for the right moment to start. While this work may feel productive, it slows down the work that produces results.
Effective recruitment doesn’t have to be complicated. This requires understanding who you are hiring and consistent outreach and follow-through. What gets in the way is that we don’t have protected time week after week to have real conversations. If your hiring is inconsistent, you have no chance of building a pipeline.
Growth also requires a clear separation between operations and leadership. Operations keep the business running and Leadership builds: When leaders spend an entire week solving problems and exceptions, they have no time for strategy.
It means letting go of work that feels important but doesn’t lead to growth. Delegate sooner than you feel comfortable, say no to meetings that don’t advance the business, and step back from your default problem-solver role to allow the business to grow beyond you. Your time is limited, and where you spend it shows what you value.
Performance improves when leaders are disciplined about what they measure and reinforce. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. Offices that are consistently growing are aligned around a small number of performance metrics and review them frequently.
Focusing on growth requires getting through the calmest weeks as well as the most difficult. Without the protection of a calendar, growth will always be replaced by days.
Ginger Wilcox is the president of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
