Conscious Communication Case Study with Rhodium Residence Management
Before
Rhodium Residence Management was set up by Dean Main in April 2011 in response to a gap he spotted in the market. He couldn’t find a company to provide concierge services and property management to a high enough standard for the ultra-prestige sector of the property market. So, he resolved to create an extraordinary company who could provide the very highest levels of service in London. The company has grown year-on-year and as of September 2017 has more than £1.5 billion pounds of property under management and a team of forty-one, together with on-going contracts that will require expansion of the team to over 150 people.
With this pace of growth Dynamic Coaching were employed to address a number of issues:
Create a communications protocol within the company that ensured the highest levels of professionalism
Replicate best practice across different locations with unique challenges
Maintaining the highest standards of customer service as the team grows five-fold
Ensuring all members of the team are empowered to be their best, to be pro-active, entrepreneurial, and responsible
Continual improvement, setting the standard for the industry
Action
The first stage of this process was the introduction of Conscious Communication protocols throughout the company. This was achieved by every member of the team attending three workshops, where new communication protocols were learnt, practised, and understood. The protocols included:
The four steps of learning
Understanding of System 1/System 2 brain functions
Conscious Set Up
Clean Questions
Conscious Feedback
Development Tasks
Barriers to Effective Communication including Human Needs and Brain State recognition
The team recognised that the workshops were an investment in themselves, and the part they play in the company’s current and future success.
Feedback sheets were filled in at the end of each workshop. Some quotes from the participants were:
“Made me think about how I communicate with others and identify areas for improvement.” Juliet Goldin – Legal Advisor
“The exercise of: what is working well, isn’t, and could be better, was fantastic and raised so many points” Nipa Bhanu – Associate Director
“From today’s training, it was the first time I actually took a bit of a back seat and really listened. To really understand how the brain works and how I can train my brain to work differently. I naturally am a little self-deprecating and sometimes always go to the negative, so I have learnt how I can overcome it.” Heidi Cotton - HR
“Interesting content that was actually different!” Mark Richardson – HR Manager
After
Behavioural changes that have happened as a consequence of the workshops:
Interviewing. As the business is embarking on a five-fold growth of personnel, recruiting is a critical function. Interviewers have introduced a less rigid form of questioning, utilising the Conscious Communication protocol of Clean Questions which have the impact of allowing candidates to open up, and moves the interview beyond standard questions and answers, resulting in getting a better understanding of the candidate’s personality, which is a Rhodium point of difference in the super-prime market.
Handover protocols. In order to achieve the highest standards to their residents, Rhodium House Managers have introduced new handover protocols to ensure that incoming Concierge are fully briefed on any issues, and they are set up to have a successful shift.
Individual Review Process. A review process has been introduced with formal reviews at 6 and 12 months, and informal reviews at 3 and 9 months. The format of the reviews utilises the Conscious Communication protocols of: Conscious Set Up, Conscious Feedback, Clean Questions and Development Tasks.