Your property management agency’s culture will define the way your staff communicate and relate to each other, and your clients.
Conduct a search on SEEK for vacant property manager positions in Australia and you’ll find more than 4,000 jobs, which is mindblowing. With the shortage of willing hands at crisis point, it’s easy to understand why the best talent quit and join other agencies the moment they’re not happy where they are.
While salary is always a deciding factor in someone taking a job, it will only get you so far. If you want to hold onto the people who bring the most value to your business for the long term, in addition to offering flexible/hybrid work solutions, your company culture will make the biggest difference. Your property managers and admin staff will want to come to work each day, and this will flow through to create a better experience for your clients.
What is workplace culture?
Your workplace’s culture refers to the values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of the team. A ‘toxic’ culture can be filled with blame-shifting and siloed information. A culture people will seek out tends to be inclusive, supportive and collaborative.
Fostering the right environment requires time and leadership. As an owner or manager, you need to communicate your company culture while also displaying the behaviours you want to see.
It’s interesting to note some of the largest companies in the world have toxic cultures and high turnover problems. Meanwhile, small companies can set the bar and have fantastic staff engagement for many years.
How to create a workplace culture
Culture can be difficult to pin down but a good place to start is with a set of values. Try to limit this to three or four so your team can easily remember them.
Here’s an example:
We are Collaborative: We share information freely in order to support each other, and we solve problems together
We are Caring: Every client’s experience matters and we go above and beyond to provide quality service
We are Consistent: Systems and processes make life easier, and we are always looking for ways to improve
We are Courageous: We speak up when we have a question or if something doesn’t feel right.
When you bring on a new team member, run them through your agency values or talk to them about their own personal values. You’ll get a better idea of whether or not they will fit in with your team and your culture.
Don’t forget to reiterate your values frequently; you might want to put them on the wall where people can see them. It will help them set their behaviour each day.
The other foundations of company culture are your Mission and Vision. These set the goals and ‘true north’ everyone is collectively working towards. For example:
OUR MISSION: To be recommended as the most reliable and committed property management team in our area.
OUR VISION: We see a future where property management is seamless and stress free for investors and renters.
When someone has to make a decision, they can refer to these statements and consider whether the outcome will reflect them.
The benefits of a clear company culture
When you have a clear culture, your team will be more aligned. Individuals will be less likely to compete against each other and clash over small issues. You will have more freedom as a leader because your team will have the confidence to solve problems together, and it makes it easier to identify someone who is a bad fit.
The other benefit is having a team of people who love coming to work each day. There’s no denying property management can be a challenging environment but if your people feel a sense of camaraderie, they will be loyal to each other and the business. Back this up with clear KPIs and rewards for achieving them, and you’ll make fantastic progress towards your personal mission to grow your business.
Setting values like trust and responsiveness will impact your agency’s reputation as well. If your team is focused on these, your clients will experience a better level of service. Positive outcomes will snowball and those all-important word-of-mouth referrals will increase.
As reported by LevellingUp, statistics show a company’s culture has a direct impact on employee turnover. A Columbia University study showed the likelihood of job turnover at a business with high company culture is 13.9 percent. In organisations where culture is less positive, this increases to 48.4 percent.
If your business has a culture of positivity, striving to improve and always learning, you’ll reduce turnover and be able to attract better candidates.