Why I Believe Culture Beats Strategy Every Time

Tina Ashton -  Harcourts Chief Growth Officer

As more and more join the blue team, Harcourts Chief Growth Officer Tina Ashton shares how interfirm collaboration and knowledge-sharing drive business growth across the network.

 When people ask me about my role as Chief Growth Officer at Harcourts, I've become convinced that culture—specifically, a culture of genuine collaboration—is the secret  to thriving organisations.

At Harcourts, we've built something special. It's not just about individual offices hitting their targets (though that's lovely when it happens).

It's about creating an environment where sharing knowledge isn't just encouraged—it's hardwired into who we are.

The Power of Interfirm Collaboration

Within our Harcourts network, we've discovered that interfirm collaboration creates opportunities that simply wouldn't exist otherwise.

When an office in Adelaide works seamlessly with one in Tasmania, magic happens. Clients receive better service, agents expand their networks, and both businesses grow stronger.

Let me share a recent example that perfectly illustrates this. We have an annual leadership event that is coming up on the Gold Coast with business Owners from across Australia.

The Group spend 3 days sharing what works and focussing on how they can increase profitability and lower expenses. This is the epitome of collaboration and creates and unity of satisfied Owners & strong relationships between offices.

The newly created bonds leads to a strong referral system within our group and  collaboration across our network. It's not mandated from head office—it's simply how we operate.

The Ripple Effect on Growth

This culture of openness and collaboration has had a profound impact on our growth. When knowledge flows freely, everyone benefits. New offices get up to speed faster because they're not starting from scratch.

Experienced offices stay innovative because they're constantly exposed to fresh perspectives.

But perhaps most importantly, our clients notice the difference. They experience a level of service and expertise that comes from our collective knowledge, not just the individual skills of one agent or one office.

The Bottom Line on Building Together

Here's what I've learned about culture and collaboration: it's not about grand gestures or fancy team-building exercises. It's about the daily choice to share rather than compete, and to view your colleagues' success as your own.

At Harcourts, we've discovered that when you create genuine partnerships between offices and foster authentic knowledge-sharing between business Owners, something remarkable happens.

Individual success becomes collective success, and collective success becomes sustainable growth.

The real estate industry can be tough and competitive.

But I've seen what happens when people choose collaboration over competition and I believe our model is instrumental in our position as the fastest growing real estate group.