Whether it’s AFL-star Luke Hodge, Martin Scorsese or Neil Armstrong, we know that great leaders come in all shapes and sizes. They aren’t always the smartest in the room, the most experienced or the longest kick of the football, but their presence lifts the team and the project.
Similarly, the best property developers achieve greatness in their own way – but they do share common traits between them. If you want to be a truly successful property developer, you need to understand these following characteristics and how you can make them your own.
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Solution Oriented
Problems will arise, it’s an inevitable part of any project. How you handle the bumps along the way, can mean the difference between a successful outcome or not.
The best property developers don’t get bogged down with problems, they focus on solutions. This doesn’t just keep the project moving, which saves time and money, but it also keeps the morale of the team members high.
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Decisiveness
Understanding the adage ‘time equals money’, needs to be at the forefront of your thinking. This doesn’t mean that you should cut corners to reach the finish line quicker, it means that wasted time is wasted money.
This often comes with experience, and developing a gut instinct that you can rely on. You should also realise the potential of the team you have chosen. Use the experts around you to form educated decisions in a timely manner.
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Negotiation
Clever property developers, who have significant experience in development projects, will have formed relationships that can be leveraged to make good deals.
For those that are yet to form these relationships, negotiating can be a hard task. Research is the key to understanding the value in each deal made; you don’t want to hit too low or too high. You also want to be skilled in articulating the deal – no one likes to feel walked over, make sure the person you’re dealing with understands their benefits.
Being creative with deals sets the best negotiators apart from the rest. Sometimes there may be more ways to put together and deal; what isn’t valuable to one person, may be valuable to another.
Think outside the box and you could turn deals not just in your favour, but in everyone else’s too.
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Care for the Customer
It is very easy to get distracted and focus on the numbers of the project – it is important to always remember, however, that you are building something for someone else. The best property developers always have the user interests in mind. They are the ones that build homes, apartments and office spaces that people enjoy and remember.
Don’t lose focus on the reality of what you are doing.
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Emotional Intelligence
You may have a photographic memory, or hyper intelligent, but a property developer needs to manage people. The best leaders have incredible communication and interpersonal skills.
In property development, you are going to interact with a very broad range of people from a spectrum of backgrounds. It’s diplomacy, sincerity and empathy that separate the good from the best.
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The Right Team
In the end, it isn’t the property developer that gets things done, but the team assembled. A good leader has experience enough to choose the right people for the right job – and understands that this will mostly vary project to project.
If the right team is assembled form the start, a good property developer will allow each member to contribute in the capacity that they were recruited for – without micro-managing.
Theodore Roosevelt summed it up well, when he said “The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it."
