Winner of the 2019 Strata Community Manager – Rising Star award Megan Parkins has a unique approach to her role that looks beyond the traditional management of books and records for a scheme.
“I believe the industry is evolving to the extent that managers need to be able to provide more than accurate advice to the client with regard to statutory processes and procedures”, she says.
New to strata business, Megan is combining her amazing people skills (being one of a family of nine brothers and sisters helps) with her previous experience as a Business Development Manager within the construction industry.
This ability to bring everyone together to move forward is Megan’s main objective in her position, and is also a major strength. From her point of view, it ensures she can “act as a trusted advisor to our owners who look their manager to guide them through best practice not just statutory processes.”
Mostly Megan’s focus is on undertaking regular reviews and enhancement of her clients’ existing processes and protocols to ensure the schemes she is involved with are more than just well-maintained buildings.
On a daily basis, Megan manages a large and prestigious portfolio of multi-tiered residential, commercial and mixed schemes with over 1,500 lots across 26 plans. The portfolio comprises of 9 schemes over 80 lots and 8 Building Management Committees (BMC) with a combined asset value of over $1.8 billion and standard management fees exceeding $600,000.
For Megan, attention to detail is what makes a proficient strata manager and she has some tips that she is happy to share, which are:
- Being able to design communication protocols
- Ensuring that you are on top of everything
- Providing the same attention for everyone
In winning the award, Megan feels proud to be recognised so early in her career. Even with that, her portfolio appears to be her best achievement. Commencing as an Assistant Strata Manager to Dynamic’s two most senior strata managers in early 2017, she was promoted to the role of strata manager responsible for her own schemes in 2018.
This has afforded her a level of exposure and experience in highly complex schemes and meeting procedures rarely encountered by entrants to the industry. As a result, she has recently commenced participating in the company internal succession planning by mentoring a number of existing assistants to assist in their development into more senior roles.
“This initiative has provided me with my own professional development as a future leader, and also provided excellent opportunities with our team to further their careers within the organisation and had a really positive impact on team culture.”
For the aspiring contestants of next year who want to follow in Megan’s footsteps and fast progression into the business, you should follow Megan’s of advice: “don’t be afraid of big and complex issues: you should always try and not be scared of them”.
Words by Helene Guyon