Mentoring that Matters

The Property Council Emerging Leaders Programme (ELP) kicked off in 2019 as an exclusive opportunity to those who are employed by Property Council member companies. The programme enables mentors with strong leadership, management and diverse industry experience to pass on their knowledge to those at the beginning of their property career. This year, we’ve matched 15 mentoring pairs to share knowledge and extend networks, with the aim of developing future leaders in the property industry.

We caught up with one of the 2019 pairs; mentor Andrew Brown, Chief Executive of the Wilshire Group and mentee Charlie Todd, a Sales & Leasing Broker at JLL, to reflect on the successful programme.

Mentor, Andrew Brown, signed up for Property Council’s ELP so he could give back to the industry in which he’s carved out a successful career. Keen to support the next generation of property professionals, he worked with mentee, Charlie Todd, who wanted to accelerate his property industry knowledge and have someone to whom he could address any burning questions.

For both, property was a conscious career choice with the diversity of roles prompting Andrew to undertake a Bachelor of Commerce, Valuation and Property Management. “At the time, in the late 1980’s, property as an asset class was a stand-out performer with good job prospects, but unfortunately things had significantly changed by the time I finished my degree, as the 1987 share market crash knocked the bottom out of the industry.”

Decades later, mentee Charlie Todd enrolled at Lincoln University where he also studied for a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Valuation and Property Management. He’d always wanted to work in the property industry and during his last year of study, he was offered a part time position with JLL which lead to a full time job.

As part of the programme, a training day is facilitated by the Property Council, at which Charlie had the opportunity to learn how to get the best out of the emerging leaders initiative. “We learned how we should approach certain situations with our mentor should they eventuate. The

ongoing support has also been great with regular catch ups with the Property Council and my mentor.”

Both Andrew and Charlie speak highly of the emerging leaders programme, saying the impact has been invaluable. “ Being able to share learnings and experience while providing constructive feedback and direction to Charlie, has helped him with day to day challenges. Some of that included different ways of tackling an issue in order to achieve a better outcome.

Charlie echoes that sentiment saying his main takeaway was that there’s always more than one solution to most issues. The emerging leaders programme has had a positive impact on his life and career. “Having Andrew, who has many more years of experience than myself and who is willing to help me become a better person and be better in my career is awesome.”

“It’s great to see the high calibre of talent entering the property industry today who are eager to learn and challenge themselves,” says Andrew. I would definitely recommend the programme to other mentors as a way of supporting and fostering talent.”

For Charlie, it’s a no brainer. The ELP is a great opportunity for anyone that wants to benefit from years of experience passed down to them, rather than figuring it out on their own. The value that you get out of having a mentor is second to none.”

For more information or to apply for this year’s programme, click here.

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