Emma Blaney from Productive Property People explains how.
Your culture is the personality of your organisation. It is the combination of your mission, vision, values, strategy, ethics, goals, environment and all that other good company stuff rolled into one nice word. Culture gives your organisation an identity which customers, internal and external, can connect with. A strong, positive identity can not only help improve your image but can assist in retaining great talent and great clients.
Many company cultures are developed for customers, aiming to deliver exceptional services and, of course, exceed expectations. But this can only be delivered by our internal customers, our people. Despite continued advances in technology, property management remains a people driven business. We need our people to have the knowledge, skill and ability to work with and meet the needs of our customers to achieve this customer centric vision.
Developing a culture of learning means creating an environment which promotes and motivates all employees to consistently and continuously absorb knowledge. This is not reflected simply in what you say, but the actions and impetus place on learning in your organisation. Culture is easy to talk about, but hard to implement however there are some simple steps to develop a strong learning culture.
Creating the right culture in any company starts from the top. Leaders are the ones who instigate the overall culture of the business. To create a culture of learning, leaders must commit to their own development, utilising every opportunity to further their own knowledge, skills and abilities.
Whether you deliver training in house, support industry wide training or just allow everyone time in their week to read relevant material, the opportunity must be there. Property managers having challenging roles with huge demands on their time. Encourage professional development by allowing appropriate time and resources to make learning happen.
Property managers have to know a lot about a lot, and you will probably find that people have their strong suits. Create a culture of learning by sharing what people know. Set up a knowledge hub where everyone can save relevant, useful material and nominate internal champions so people know who to ask when they need support.
Most organisations now have appraisal systems based on KPIs and individual targets. Set goals around learning to show your commitment to your teams’ development and the importance your company places on enhancing knowledge and skills.
To develop an exceptional learning culture, Warwick Estates have created The Warwick Academy. The Academy has been shaped to meet the learning and development needs of the ever-growing Warwick team. The Academy offers a wide range of learning opportunities for employees at all levels across the business, utilising a bespoke virtual learning environment to provide equal opportunity for learning and development for their team across the country. In addition, The Warwick Academy has achieved approval as an NCFE centre under the Investing in Quality Licence (IIQ). This enables Warwick Estates to design and deliver bespoke certificated courses, just for their employees!
In such a fast evolving, people driven business can you really afford not to have learning at the centre of your culture?
Emma Blaney is the Founder of Productive Property People who offers tailored consultancy services for companies and individuals operating in the leasehold sector.
