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Stacey Moseley
Social media is more than a marketing tool and can help principals engage with employees, a senior executive from a Western Australian-based real estate group has said.
John Percudani, managing director of Realmark, said that existing real estate agency management styles are largely driven by sales targets, KPIs and ‘command and control’ structures.
“I believe there is a new stream of thought awakening as management teams are starting to realise that traditional management methods don’t always recognise the complete contribution of an employee.
“It’s not just their units per hour or their sales performance but it is also important to look at how they advocate the company’s brand and their contribution to the cultural environment."
According to Mr Percudani, employees want a voice and want to feel that they are contributing, not just on an individual level but on a macro level. The best way to do that is by utilising social media networks to open up channels of discussion, he said.
“At Realmark we have opened up the dialogue by holding regular idea forums and we have also introduced an internal Facebook page for sharing ideas and issues, congratulating others on successes and building internal networks across separate offices,” Mr Percudani said.
“Social media is an effective platform to help create camaraderie amongst colleagues and a greater understanding of what the brand stands for, this in turn encourages employees to be advocators of the brand, which is the most effective advertising you can’t buy.”
At the same time as Mr Percudani’s comments on employee engagement, Realmark held a professional development conference for its employees which featured presentations from a number of national and international special guests and business coaches.
Mr Percudani said the ‘JumpStart’ conference helped the company refocus as a team and increase exposure to new ideas and strategies.
“Jumpstart was certainly not just another sales conference; it was aimed at all staff to empower them both on personal and professional levels,” he said.
“Our investment in this day was simply a case in point of our commitment to excellence and to continually reassessing our approaches to business for maximum results.”
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