Maria Konnikova wrote an insightful article in the New Yorker explaining why most people organize information in a list format.

Lists tap into our preferred way of receiving and organizing information at a subconscious level; from an information-processing standpoint, they often hit our attentional sweet spot.

Lists not only help facilitate understanding, but they also assist in later recall of important information.

If you’re managing a real estate office or working with agents, here are some places you should be using lists.

Recruiting. During an interview, help the candidate categorize the dissatisfaction they feel in their current job/career by creating a list. Prioritizing the list will help them feel and remember the dissatisfaction.

Coaching. You have important concepts that you want your agents to understand during a coaching session. Present the information in a list. It will be easier to remember and refer back to later.

Training. If you want someone to consistently do something, create a checklist. This will be good for your brain and the person you’re trying to train.

Follow-up emails. When you’re finished with a meeting and write a follow-up email to those who attended, use lists to summarize. Here is what we discussed (bullet list). Here are the action items (second  bullet list).

There are many more applications (another hint–don’t make your lists too long), but you get the idea.

Getting people around you to hear, digest, and act upon the information you’re communicating is the main part of your “job description” as a leader.   

Make it easy on yourself and those on your team by using lists.