Queenstown plays host to Ray White’s top leaders

SOME of the top business owners in the Ray White Group joined together in Queenstown for an exclusive two-day forum to foster open dialogue plus inspire and uplift these exceptional individuals to further develop their leadership.

Ray White Head of Performance and Recognition Bianca Denham congratulated the 77 attendees, from 46 businesses, on their extraordinary efforts and results for the last year.

“This is our event that recognises our most prestigious in the network, our Chairman’s Elite business leaders. We’re proud of not only the size of your businesses but also the sophistication,” Ms Denham said.

“These two days are an opportunity for you to share your thoughts, learnings, questions and challenges with like-minded leaders.”

Ray White Group Managing Director Dan White provided an update on the group’s performance across Australia and New Zealand talking about its growing market share, listing share, top performers, leadership and how the group plays to strengths in the current market conditions.

“We are here to celebrate your leadership. We wouldn’t be where we are today as a group without you,” Mr White said

“How can we be better leaders and move the company forward? How do we keep growing and bring more value to our people in a time when the market is contracting?”

Richard Harding, Director of Ray White Lower North Shore Group presented to the group on ‘Leading Leaders’ about developing a great leadership bench and how you create leaders in your business.

“When you’re looking at your people and how their lives are changing because of the market, it gives us a lot to think about as leaders,” he said.

“This is a journey, if you’re a leader, you’re always learning. Challenge yourself and challenge your team. Question – is this right in what you’re trying to achieve?”.

Mr Harding discussed his leadership model and business pillars which include culture, process, leakage and growth. He discussed how growth in his business wasn’t measured by profit and revenue but his people and culture.

But it was the curiosities that got the conference room at the Hilton buzzing with excitement, discussions, questions, debates, ideas and learnings.

The top business owners loved being able to present their curiosities to each other.

Avi Khan of Ray White AKG in Brisbane said curiosities were in Ray White’s DNA.

“The network also prides itself on the ability of its leaders and aspiring leaders to use them as a springboard for growth. This conference, Ray White has shown their top leaders that they value our curiosities just as much and they want to use our ideas as a springboard to grow together. Collaboration became the incubator for growth in this conference. It allowed us to debate ideas and challenge our norms. When we challenge each other, beautiful things happen,” he said.

Mr Khan, Director Ray White Daisy Hill, Ray White AKG, Ray White Brookwater, Ray White Greater Springfield and Ray White Marsden pictured above with Tiger Malan of Ray White Burleigh Group, said he enjoyed being in a space where they were encouraged to debate ideas and challenge norms.

“When we challenge each other, beautiful things happen.”

Duncan Good, director of Ray White Wanaka presented his curiosity on ‘Is the PA model flawed’? Peter Belcher and Rachel Johnson from Ray White Takanini and Karaka spoke about how ‘onboarding is always a struggle’.

Aimee Carding, Director of Property Management from Ray White Sherwood | Graceville in Brisbane was curious about how to improve the relationships of real estate businesses with their property management departments.

“Queenstown is such a beautiful place to have some space to breathe. These two days have been a great opportunity to catch up with other business owners and it’s inspiring hearing others point of view and experiences,” Ms Carding said.

She said she loved hearing about what other business owners were curious about, “it certainly gets you thinking!”

Andrew Bell from the Surfers Paradise juggernaut wanted to know how Ray White positions itself against independent and boutique agencies.

Meanwhile Luke Richardson, Ray White Accounting Solutions Director, and Fran Babic, Head of Professional Services at ANZ Bank gave a session on understanding banks and balance sheets.

Mr Richardson said ‘profit is payment for leadership’.

He gave different scenarios of what a strong borrower looked like compared to weak borrower on paper, He said it was important for a business owner to maintain the key metrics/margins that the Profit team uses to analyse the business operation day-to-day. For example cost of sales, desk costs, profit pre drawings etc.

With the family’s backing, the profit team was born in the GFC and has quickly become one of the fastest growing specialist teams at Ray White ever since. No other group has such a view over its network’s profitability and real time like-for-like office metrics.

Carey Smith, Ray White New Zealand Executive Chairman presented on the importance of establishing ‘roles and structures’ within a real estate business..

He said by clearly delineating the responsibilities of each individual a business can enhance productivity, collaboration, and accountability.

This also ensures that every member of the team understands their specific contribution to the overall objectives of the business.

As companies grow, change, or face new market demands, it becomes crucial to reassess and adjust roles and structures accordingly.

Mr Smith spoke about his journey into leadership, starting right back when he was a young boy (the youngest of 5 children) and the stories in his childhood and into adulthood that framed up his initial mindset towards leaders, business, the working journey and learnings that led him to understand ‘The Business Lifecycle’.

He explained how all businesses go through an ‘incline and decline period’ and stated “that is why there is such high value in introducing new people into your business. For a business to continue to have the oxygen that it needs. It must have the people”.

“If you can empower the next person through delegation, you’ll be an extremely powerful leader,” he said.