Leading a successful real estate office requires energy as well as business acumen and Phill Broom ensures he is ready for the busy day ahead with his morning exercise workout.
Not just occasionally; thatโs five and often six days a week.
Mr Broom is director of the Ray White Springfield agency in Brisbaneโs south-west and brings years of international business experience to the role as well as his passion for real estate.
For Close-Ups, a series of video interviews with industry leaders for real estate software company Rex, Mr Broom outlines his approach to building a healthy work-life balance.
โI have a big thing about the โthree bucketsโ in your life that you can influence a tremendous amount of control over,โ Mr Broom tells Close-Ups.
โOne is to have a bucket for mindfulness, your friendships, your relationships, your internal wellbeing and mentally, doing lots of reading, lots of thinking, lots of talking whenever you can.โ
Bucket number two for Mr Broom is exercise, usually running, swimming or cycling on weekday mornings and Saturdays too when it fits with his work schedule.
The third bucket is a creative outlet, which for Mr Broom is cooking.
โThat last one allows you to be grounded but also creative,” he said.
“We spend a lot of effort and energy throughout our day concentrating on doing deals or helping people.โ
Finding a creative outlet outside of work is a great way to reduce stress.
โI find cooking really quite cathartic and soothing,โ Mr Broom said.
โOver the last couple of years, the kids have started to want to be a part of it.
โSo I’ll get home at the breakfast bar and weโll do all of the prep work and we’ll be running through โ โHow was your day?โ, โWhat homework do you have?โ, โWhat obstacles did you face?โ. And they’ll ask me too.โ
Helping staff with obstacles and offering advice is all part of the real estate principalโs day too. Mr Broom meets with most of his team members two or three times a week.
โOne of those sessions is purely, โHow are you feeling?โ” he said.
“It’s not just asking what’s happening but what’s happening in your world?
โI like to start all of the meetings with, โGive me some good newsโ.โ
Other one-to-one meetings are work-related with questions such as, โWhat have we got coming?โ, โWhat have we got going?โ and โWhere are we stuck?โ.ย
As well as his previous corporate experience in sales and marketing, Mr Broom has worked as a real estate coach and mentor and brings a process-driven approach to the office.
โI think process can seem alien to some salespeople but it sets you free,” he advised.
“It gives you a guide to which way you can go so you can direct your energies to where they are best served.
โThe question I ask a lot of the team is, ‘What is the best use of your time, energy and resources right now? Is it better to do this, this or this? If that’s causing you to have a block, then can we solve that by removing it from your daily regimen or can we delegate it away’?โ
That routine is an effective method to manage stress and create a sense of calm.
Mr Broom says when people are faced with a stressful situation they sometimes feel like it canโt be solved.
โOne of the easiest rituals I found that works, irrespective of how challenging or difficult the scenario, is just to chunk it down,” he said.
“Break it into small little pieces, start with the edges and work your way in. Eventually you’ll unravel it.โ
The first season of Close-Ups focuses on health and wellbeing. Find all 8 interviews here.