Kellie Wright doesn’t want people to keep “falling in to” strata. Here’s why:
When I was 8 years old I wanted to be a teacher. I was one of those kids who loved school and I admired my teacher, I thought she knew everything and to top it off she was kind. I wanted to know everything like she did and I wanted everyone, except the naughty kids, to like me.
At no time, either growing up or once I was grown up, did I ever think I wanted to be a strata manager. Gosh I’d never even heard of one.
For how many years have we been saying that we want to make strata management a career choice? We want to recruit great people to the industry and keep them in the industry.
So why have we not advanced in our goal?
Why do a lot of strata managers cringe when at a party and someone asks what they do for a living?
Why does every strata manager have to explain that no, they aren’t a property manager?
Why do we still receive totally inappropriate resumes when we advertise for a strata manager’s role?
We should no longer be an industry where people “fall in” to being a strata manager.
We can’t sit back and rely on our industry body to sell strata management as a career. We’ve all got to do our part and we need to start with lifting the image of our industry. And by that I don’t mean we all have to start wearing Armani suits and carrying Versace handbags. What I mean is we have to stop focusing on the negatives of strata living and start selling the positives. Stop thinking our only purpose is to listen to people’s complaints and start seeing ourselves as a value resource.
Feel good stories are not newsworthy, you won’t get a press release printed unless there’s an uproar about Charlie the Cockatoo who has been banned from the building or a Committee who isn’t fixing the leaky roof. It doesn’t help that approximately 95% of strata managers openly tell their clients that they would never live in a strata titled property. If we can’t sing the praises of community living how do we expect the general public to see it as a positive?
How do we expect professionals to aspire to work in an industry where all they hear are horror stories?
Personally, I love living in strata. Sure I’m fussy about which strata scheme I would live in, but I believe community living has so many benefits.:
- Less time maintaining and more time relaxing.
- More facilities right on my doorstep and all looked after by someone else.
- Close to everything I could possibly want.
- The feeling of safety and security.
There are so many exciting things happening in our industry.:
- So many new communities being built with beautiful architecture and design.
- So many new and innovative facilities. So much advancement in energy saving solutions.
- The introduction of software packages for voting electronically – our Government hasn’t even been able to work out how to bring in electronic voting yet the strata industry has.
Let’s all start singing the praises of the strata sector and reap the reward of more great people in our industry.
And for anyone who is interested, it took me almost 40 years to follow that dream of being a teacher. Now I teach in strata.
Kellie is the founder and managing director of Strata Influence, delivering individualised training programs to strata managers. Kellie is also the owner of Wright and Lee, Private Strata Advocates.
Hi
well said.
But why shouldn’t we wear Armani suits and carry Versace handbags – people would take notice, as they do of other professionals, it shows we are successful – and then they will want their children to pursue strata as a career – as they know it will provide a good living – every parent wants that for the child they have spent a fortune raising – to know they can provide for themselves.
Well sometimes I sit on the side.Sometimes I comment.
Mostly I sit on the side and watch with interest and a sense of satisfaction as the Women in Strata blog grows stronger and more popular and it’s especially heartening when we have guest bloggers of the caliber of Kellie Wright, who provides informed opinion and,very importantly,has worked in the industry for some time.
I feel you ladies are very quickly achieving something very critical to your cause…you are getting noticed and being spoken and written about more and more. Without this happening you would be running around in circles.
So I wish you luck in your quest to bring your industry closer to where you would ideally like it to be. Kellie mentioned attracting more great people to the industry..the way to do that is to let people know about its existence and the opportunities to work in it. I think your Women In Strata blog is going a long way towards achieving that goal.
Kellie, A wonderful article and I thought I was reading my own biography with everything you said. Teacher aspirations led me to University lecturing and then I ‘fell into’ strata as an owner of a self managed scheme!
As SMAs, need to raise our profession to be seen as a specialist area and for people to not confuse it with property management (better described as rental management) and I speak with respect for sales agents (to a degree), but we do not want to be categorised with the selling of property.
I am on the Professional Standards Committee of SCA and with your permission would love to share your article with them.
Maybe you and our Committee could come up with some marketing slogans and ideas that will educate the buying public and recruiting agencies. I recall when I was newly registered as a CPA, how the Australian Society of Accountants underwent a major campaign which saw that professional body promote itself at a global level such that ‘everyone’ in business knows what the letters CPA represent within and without the profession.
SMAs need a new level of recognition and respect.
Thank you for sharing your experiences which resonate with my own. The strata management industry (not yet profession) is not well understood despite the growth of people living in strata schemes and unfortunately has a negative perception partly because of our association with the real estate industry (who rank very poorly on the listed of trusted professions and industries). A few weeks ago I took my mother to her Dr and she asked me not to say to the Dr that I was working in the strata industry but that I was still a pharmacist.