The Participation-Earns-Opportunity Rule
Allocate shared opportunities to people whose visible effort protects the relationship
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 94%
Kapedani does not hand company-developed real-estate-agent relationships to any licensed loan officer automatically. His decision rule asks whether the person is visibly participating enough for him to trust that the relationship will stay intact. He looks for people who check into the office, participate in meetings, contribute ideas about improvement, and show evidence of active work such as pre-approvals. Those signals identify the people most likely to follow through when a relationship is assigned. The mechanism links scarce opportunity to observable contribution: define the behaviours that indicate engagement, watch for evidence, then route the relationship to those who demonstrate it. The output is both safer relationship stewardship and a clear incentive for team members to contribute to the working environment rather than merely hold a licence.
Origin
Kapedani explains the criteria he uses before assigning Easy Fundings' real-estate-agent relationships to individual loan officers.
Core principles
- 01A shared relationship should go to someone who will protect it
- 02Visible participation provides evidence of reliability
- 03Opportunity follows contribution rather than entitlement
- 04Allocation criteria should connect directly to the work required
How to run it
- 1
Protect the shared asset
Identify the referral or relationship the organisation has created. Define what good stewardship requires from the person who receives it.
Pro tip Treat the relationship as an asset that can weaken through neglect.
Watch out Do not confuse distributing a lead with protecting a long-term relationship.
- 2
Choose visible signals
Select behaviours that show active participation and reliability. Kapedani names office check-ins, meeting participation, useful feedback, and visible pre-approval work.
Pro tip Use several signals so one attendance metric does not become the whole test.
Watch out Signals that favour presence over outcomes can disadvantage effective remote contributors.
- 3
Verify current effort
Look for recent evidence that the candidate is working and contributing. Confirm that observed behaviour supports confidence in their follow-through.
Pro tip Prefer work evidence over assurances that the person will become active after receiving an opportunity.
Watch out Past reputation should not replace current evidence.
- 4
Allocate deliberately
Give the relationship to a participant whose evidence matches the stewardship need. Explain the connection between contribution and opportunity.
Pro tip Make the criteria known before allocation so the rule can shape behaviour.
Watch out Opaque allocation can look like favouritism even when the decision has evidence.
- 5
Watch the relationship
Confirm that the recipient remains engaged and serves the shared relationship. Reassess future allocations using the resulting evidence.
Pro tip Use relationship outcomes to refine which participation signals are genuinely predictive.
Watch out Initial participation does not guarantee continuing stewardship.
In the wild
Easy Fundings gathers groups of real-estate agents and develops partnerships for its loan officers. Kapedani says he favours officers who come into the office, join meetings, offer useful feedback, and visibly produce pre-approvals rather than handing those relationships to anyone.
→ The relationship goes to someone whose current behaviour gives Kapedani evidence that it will remain intact.
Common mistakes
Allocating by licence alone
Eligibility to perform the work is not evidence that the person will actively protect a shared relationship.
Using one shallow signal
Attendance alone can reward visibility without proving contribution or follow-through.
Keeping criteria hidden
Unexplained allocations reduce the rule's motivational value and can appear arbitrary.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for sales teams where the company creates referral relationships that individual producers must actively serve.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when remote contributors lack equal access to the selected participation signals or when opportunity should be allocated by specialist fit.
From the transcript
“we got to make sure that our relationship stay intact”
“if people come check into the office if they participate in our meetings if they give us our opinion what can we do better or…”
“I just don't hand it to anybody”
From the episode
Funding a Loan is "EZ" with CEO Tano Kapedani