ELDERS REAL ESTATE

DREAM TEAM
ELDERS REAL ESTATE
TEAM CULTURE A TESTAMENT TO AMAZING BUSINESS RESULTS

Elders Real Estate Darwin, Leanyer, Palmerston & Virginia are proud recipients of the REINT Large Agency of the Year Award for the past three years. They are the first real estate company to win the prestigious NT award more than once. They are the number one Elders office in Australia in terms of size and turnover, and have been finalists in the REIA National Awards for three years running.
These things don’t happen by accident.
The workplace culture at Elders Real Estate Darwin, Leanyer, Palmerston and Virginia is of a very unique kind, which is testament to the amazing 60 plus team that works across four offices and three departments; sales, property management and administration. Elders’ staff take pride in their ability to work cohesively and to help each other.
In a world where big businesses often become corporatised, the success of Elders lies in its having gone the other way. The workplace environment has remained personal with a sense of family. The secret behind this is a system, which they like to call “leadership without a title”. Everyone in the business is seen and treated like a leader, and all opinions are valued and treated with integrity. One of the strengths of Elders is its corporate administration team who are the beating heart of the entire company. Many businesses treat their administration staff poorly but at Elders they are the “rock stars”. Without such a strong administrative unit, the sales and property management teams couldn’t do their jobs. Chris Deutrom, Elders General Manager, points out that there is not a lot of “I” talk around the office, it’s all about “we” and “us’. It sounds cliché but if there is a secret to our success, it is the team culture!
Chris Deutrom joined the team as Director over four years ago and promptly moved from his secluded office out into the open. He attributes his strong relationship with the entire team to his accessibility and his “herd mentality”.
He has a professional and personal relationship with each individual staff member, meeting them regularly to discuss professional, personal, income and family goals. Our goal was to have an environment that meant our staff were the envy of our competitors because of the great working conditions and the enjoyable working environment. We have a personal trainer all staff have access to, and last year we flew ex Navy Seal Paul de Gelder in to Darwin to give an inspiring talk to staff and their families. Our social functions always include partners as we truly believe that they are an important cog in our business. If your partner sees you working in a great environment they are more supportive and encourage you achieve greatness.
We care about our employees on a professional and personal level, something you don’t see all that often in business. Each Friday at 4.30pm, during work hours, Chris personally pours his team members a glass of champagne as a thank-you for their efforts during the week. We hold an Annual Awards night – this year’s is masquerade themed – to recognise the best performers within the team. The awards are highly coveted and guarantee the recipient’s place on an overseas work trip. There is never negative competition between employees; it is an overwhelmingly healthy and supportive team environment.
Recognised as the leading Elders Real Estate team in Australia, Chris presents at national Elders conferences on “team management”. He says it’s about “making your office the Google office of your city”. In other words, maintaining a business that people want to work for. And there’s no doubt about it: real estate agents want to be part of the wonderful team at Elders NT.

“We move as a team, we act as a team and we celebrate as a team.”

70 Smith St, Darwin NT 0800 • +61 8 8981 1822 • www.eldersrealestate.com.au