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; that’s five and often six days a week.
Mr Broom is director of the Ray White Springfield agency in Brisbane’s 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.
“I have a big thing about the ‘three buckets’ in your life that you can influence a tremendous amount of control over,” Mr Broom tells Close-Ups.
“One 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.”
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.
“That 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.”
Finding a creative outlet outside of work is a great way to reduce stress.
“I find cooking really quite cathartic and soothing,” Mr Broom said.
“Over the last couple of years, the kids have started to want to be a part of it.
“So I’ll get home at the breakfast bar and we’ll do all of the prep work and we’ll be running through – ‘How was your day?’, ‘What homework do you have?’, ‘What obstacles did you face?’. And they’ll ask me too.”
Helping staff with obstacles and offering advice is all part of the real estate principal’s day too. Mr Broom meets with most of his team members two or three times a week.
“One of those sessions is purely, ‘How are you feeling?’” he said.
“It’s not just asking what’s happening but what’s happening in your world?
“I like to start all of the meetings with, ‘Give me some good news’.”
Other one-to-one meetings are work-related with questions such as, “What have we got coming?”, “What have we got going?” and “Where are we stuck?”.
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.
“I 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.
“The 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’?”
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 can’t be solved.
“One 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.”
The first season of Close-Ups focuses on health and wellbeing. Find all 8 interviews here.
