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Recruiting the management team for an estate development is like mastering the perfect recipe.
Getting the recipe just right is vital to the success of the estate as a balance must be found between intelligence, experience, social skills, and personality types, to build a team that is able to protect the estate and its assets, while connecting with the community and delivering a quality service that meets the needs of the homeowner.
Buyers investing in a retirement estate are not only looking for facilities that will suit them now but more importantly, for an estate that will meet their needs at an even later stage of life. Having a reliable maintenance team so they don’t have to do difficult maintenance work on their properties, having social meeting places, like coffee shops and dining halls, as well as medical care is very high on the list of priorities for buyers looking to invest in a retirement estate or development.
The ideal team is one that is in tune with the elderly community they are serving and can relate to them, to be able to serve them properly. Specific skills that are important include patience, professionalism, empathy, flexibility, communication skills, and a passion to serve.
A key quality that members of an estate management team must have, besides the skill to do the job, is emotional intelligence – the ability to identify and regulate your emotions and to understand the emotions of others as well. Managers with a high emotional quotient (EQ) are better able to build relationships, reduce team stress, defuse conflict, and improve job satisfaction for the rest of the team.
Another factor to consider when building an estate management team is the different types of personalities.
The ideal personality types to have on a team include the driver, adventurer, energizer, cheerleader, stabiliser, and perfectionist. When these personalities are combined you will have a team that is able to stay on task, and successfully handle disagreements, a team with a high morale that sometimes takes risks, and executes projects with precision. Consideration can also be given to creative and analytical thinkers. Creative team members find new ways of enhancing the estate offering or marketing the estate, while analytical thinkers ensure that projects and maintenance, for example, are completed on time and on budget. Creating healthy team dynamics will ensure that the team works together cohesively.
So how can estates ensure that their management team is the right fit? The use of personality profiling tests and psychometric tests can be very helpful. These tests use a standard and scientific method to measure candidates’ suitability for a role based on the required personality characteristics and aptitude (or cognitive abilities) and help to identify the hidden aspects of candidates that are difficult to extract from a face-to-face interview.
Chairperson for People Assessments in Industry (PAI) as well as Chairperson for Assessment Standards South Africa (www.assa.com) David Bischof says that psychometrics can assist in helping people understand the type of role they play on a team (often referred to as Work Styles), but also information on their personalities, interests, and values.
‘Diversity in the team and the understanding of this and how people are similar or different, can enable a team to function more effectively and productively,’ says Bischoff.
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According to Bischof, tests are widely used both locally and internationally not only for recruitment but also for development, talent management, team building, and succession planning.
‘While not a perfect predictor, a well-developed and researched psychometric assessment can provide reliable, valid, and fair information to assist organisations in making efficient recruitment decisions based on position requirements,’ he says.
‘Psychometric tests can also be used to identify development areas for people relevant to their positions and career aspirations and to provide robust information to organisations on potential successors for important roles. Areas covered by psychometrics assessments include the measurement of areas such as cognitive ability, personality, values, interests, work styles, and emotional intelligence.’
There are many tests available online as well as registered practitioners who do the testing themselves. When choosing the most appropriate psychometric test for your estate’s culture and values, you must consider the purpose, validity, reliability, cost, and ethics of the test, as well as the expectations and preferences of your stakeholders.
Recruiting the right management team for estate development requires careful consideration of various factors. These include emotional intelligence and personality types. When finding the right balance, you can assemble a management team that possesses the necessary skills, traits, and understanding to successfully protect the estate, connect with the community, and deliver a quality service that meets the homeowners’ needs.
