The National Association of Realtors has taken a small, and welcome, step forward. By eliminating eight committees and advisory groups, tightening application standards and signaling a broader commitment to governance reform, NAR responded to a member expectation: progress toward a more modern, effective and accountable structure.
However, NAR’s system has included 90 or more working groups. This reduction is a meaningful start, but it underscores how much opportunity remains to streamline and strengthen how the association operates.
Organizations like NAR don’t set out to become overly complex. Over time, with good intentions, they add groups, each one created to address a need, include more voices or tackle emerging issues. This growth is natural, not unhealthy.
But without periodic adjustments, even well-intentioned structures can become cumbersome, and today’s rapidly evolving environment makes recalibration even more critical.
The complexity NAR must navigate
Few organizations operate at the scale of NAR. With more than 1 million members and a wide range of stakeholders, its governance worked to balance representation with effectiveness. That inclusiveness has, at times, produced overlapping responsibilities, slower decision-making and diluted the potential strength of member involvement.
The recent changes show NAR is listening. My members remark that they are hearing the “right words” from NAR recently, but now are expecting to see action follow. This small trim of bureaucracy is a tangible move in the right direction.
But simplifying a system of this size requires more, especially at a time when the industry itself is demanding greater agility.
Efficiency and inclusion can coexist
As NAR continues its work, it should remember that efficiency and inclusion are not mutually exclusive.
A more streamlined governance structure is essential. But so is ensuring that the full breadth of industry insight continues to inform those decisions.
NAR has a unique opportunity to build a modern, scalable approach to engagement — one that allows it to “crowdsource” ideas, feedback and solutions from across its membership and stakeholder ecosystem. Adjusting participation models can dramatically expand who contributes, without growing the size of the formal governance structure itself. NAR also should not rely solely on formal work groups for input, but employ “informal governance” strategies.
Perhaps NAR could move all “Forum” meetings online in advance of conferences, ensuring a wider range of members can contribute and removing the need to travel to conferences in person. In-person meetings where decisions are made would continue face-to-face and would be equipped with a more robust set of feedback from the broader community that participated in the forum virtually.
In this model, a more focused set of committees becomes more effective because it is supported by broader, more dynamic input.
Utilizing online surveys throughout the year on various topics could give NAR additional insights on industry policy and association programs from thousands more members than any city ever could find guest rooms for during a convention.
Transparency strengthens trust
As governance evolves, transparency should be a central priority.
For many members, governance has sometimes felt like a “black box,” where decisions emerge from processes that are not always visible or well understood. This has been especially true for MLS policymaking of late, exacerbated by the heightened interest of opportunistic plaintiffs’ attorneys and federal regulators.
Without transparency and broad involvement, resulting policies often earn criticism and see a lack of adoption.
Future reforms can address this directly: clearer communication about how decisions are made, more visibility into what input is being considered and more consistent feedback loops so members understand how their perspectives are shaping outcomes.
Transparency is not just a communications strategy; it is a trust-building mechanism. And trust is essential for an organization operating at NAR’s scale.
Unlocking participation from untapped experts
Another important opportunity lies in who participates.
Many brokerage owners and leaders — those most immersed in the market — are underrepresented. Not due to lack of interest or qualification, but because the current structure often requires unreasonable time commitments and in-person participation.
If NAR wants to align governance with expertise, it should implement more flexible and accessible ways for these leaders to contribute, whether through virtual engagement, targeted advisory roles or more efficient meeting structures. Perhaps doing a significant amount of real estate business should be atop the list of requirements for service and leadership.
The industry would benefit from making it easier for its most experienced practitioners to participate meaningfully.
Rethinking the conference model
The same applies to NAR’s conferences, which can be time-intensive and costly. These should be redesigned to be shorter, more focused and more aligned with how professionals operate today.
As one example, I am always amazed at the small group assembled for the “Business Issues Policy Committee,” which addresses a broad swath of perhaps the most important issues related to the regulation of real estate practice. Other, specialized policy work groups could combine, and the new committee could meet in a large venue such as the one that hosts the “Residential Economic Issues and Trends Forum.”
NAR volunteers would leave more informed by this integrated agenda, and the resulting actions would benefit from tapping a broader pool of expertise and experience.
A more streamlined format — potentially organized into role-specific tracks for agents, brokers, MLS leaders and association leaders — could ensure that attendees receive the updates they need, participate in decisions and fulfill key responsibilities in a fraction of the time. I am convinced NAR volunteers could do all this during a three-day conference.
This redesign could increase participation dramatically of the real players in the industry while also improving outcomes.
Building on a strong 1st step
Moving to slightly fewer groups is progress, but it also highlights how much work remains.
The path forward includes more streamlining of the formal structure, expanding access to input, increasing transparency, enabling broader participation and modernizing the systems that support governance. It also means ensuring top players have meaningful involvement.
This is not about appeasing members and checking the “governance reform” box. It is about ensuring NAR can lead effectively in an increasingly complex and changing marketplace.
As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. NAR just took one.
NAR must continue this process, thinking boldly and innovatively to identify many more opportunities to rebuild something even better.
Craig Cheatham is in his 20th year as president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, an invitation-only network of the largest, full-service residential real estate companies in North America and their affiliated businesses. He previously served as CEO of the International Federation of Real Estate Licensing and Regulatory Bodies and COO of a state Realtor association.
The post New NAR committee policies represent a promising start appeared first on Inman.