By Ben Hennessy (HENNESSY REAL ESTATE)

Ask most business owners and they will confirm, the quality of your team of employees can truly be what makes or breaks a business.

Business trainers often refer to the ‘culture’ of your team and again this analogy is borne out by the great sporting coaches who seem to possess an innate skill to mold and forge the ‘character’ of the team, to bring out the best of the individual and of the team as a whole.

With grand final fever upon us, we again see the truth of the phrase that a champion team beats a team of champions every time.

Finding and forging a great team in business is never a simple task and there is certainly no ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Often the business owner grows and evolves as a leader over time, learning from past mistakes and developing skills for people management that helps build a positive and rewarding team culture.

There has been voluminous research conducted on what most employees would like more of, any guesses of what was in first place?

The answer may surprise you, because it was not ‘more money’!

Overwhelmingly, the research has suggested more intrinsic factors are the most important to employees, with top of the list being praise and recognition.

Factor such as an employee’s trust in their company’s leadership, an employers’ commitment to employees and their success, a culture where employees are encouraged to share ideas and individual opinions and a workplace where coworkers feel like family or friends, all trumped the almighty dollar in importance to employees.

Don’t get me wrong, a well-earned pay-rise is still a fitting way to demonstrate appreciation for the great efforts of your employee, but often a simple heartfelt ‘thank you’ can mean just as much if
not more to your team member.

Worth remembering for all of us, for any team environment we are in.

Ask any small business owner about one of their biggest headaches and it is invariably staff-turnover and retention.

While staff turnover is still undesirable for larger corporations, they usually have well established structures for onboarding new staff, with dedicated HR personnel to drive the process.

In small business, the business owner usually has to wear multiple hats of being the team leader, HR manager, accounts manager, sales manager, sales person and general rouseabout to keep the whole show running!

So building and maintaining a great team is a priority for any business owner since the success or otherwise for a business usually lies in the strength and quality of their team.

For me, I certainly feel blessed by the many wonderful people who have been part of the Hennessy Real Estate story so far and would like to acknowledge the wonderful efforts of all our team members, both past and present, in giving their all, putting their heart and soul into their roles and the clients we serve.

I truly am very grateful.

In the often male-dominated world of real estate sales, it is probably rather unusual to have a sales team comprising mainly of women.

Likewise, our all-female property management team has never been a conscious choice, rather always just choosing the best person for the job.

However, I certainly feel privileged to lead such a committed team of capable women in our real estate business.

Over the coming weeks, we will be getting to know more about the wonderful women in our agency as they contribute to the coming weeks’ articles, and first cab off the ranks is one of our newest additions to the sales team, Rochelle Rose.

Introducing Rochelle Rose

How amazing is it starting a new career and to every day feel so grateful to be doing what you love!

My name is Rochelle, working as a sales agent at Hennessy Real Estate in Gunnedah and surrounds and its my absolute pleasure to be working alongside the powerhouse sales team made up of our mentor, owner, sales agent and principal Ben Hennessy, Sales agents Cindy Whitfield, Sara-Jane Canham and sales manager Justine Dixon.

It has been an absolute rush making my career change when I did, and I have absolutely no regrets.

Having had children young, we moved around the countryside quite a bit so the timing never felt right time to be in real estate.

I really did wake up one day and just decided I was ready to go for it and from that moment to the time of accepting my job offer, including resigning from my previous job and starting my new career, was seven days!

I can’t help but think it was all just meant to be, it all just happened so seamlessly, the timing could not have been any better and I was more than ready to jump straight in and get started.

And what a time to change careers! I am in good company in the sales sector for real estate not only in our office but women sales agents feature as some of the best agents in the state.

Having once been a male dominated sector, the appeal of flexibility of hours, financial reward for time and effort put in, having the unspoken understanding of work life and family balance is simply amazing and a passion for helping people with their real estate needs is what drives me.

With the property market not slowing down through lock down and with the median house price on the rise, buyers have been flocking into the market.

Families are looking for more room and city people are looking for a tree change.

Country towns are trending with the relaxed lifestyle offered, great infrastructure, ample employment opportunities and the best season for our farmers in years.

Springtime is here, the property market is in full bloom with properties being sold before hitting the market, buyers wanting to list interest for specific property types and sellers enjoying the choice of whether to sell now or hold on to the home as a great investment.

It’s an exciting time with interest rates so low and government incentives available, buying property is becoming more achievable than ever for many people.

It is a thrill and a pleasure to work in this amazing industry in our great region!

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