Opportunity of a Golden Decade Ahead: VILLAGE SUMMIT 2023 

Village Summit concluded in Sydney yesterday, with DCM Group CEO, Chris Baynes, declaring a ‘golden decade’ ahead for Village Professionals. 

Speaking on the fantastic job Village Managers did in supporting residents, Chris explained,

“We have waiting lists at many, many retirement villages, so we are in the golden decade where demand exceeds supply.” 

Across the month of November, the DCM Institute presented Village Summit in five capital cities. This single-day event brought together the largest network of Village Professionals in Australia with more than 600 delegates attending across the county. 

“There are sales to be had. We’re getting price uplift and greater appreciation by families, the media, the government.”

Golden Decade = Opportunity 

“Village professionals can turn a village’s culture around like ‘that’.”  

Thoughts shared by Matt Church in a stirring presentation on leadership at Village Summit in Sydney yesterday. 

Ranked among one of the top ten motivational speakers in the world, Matt Church (pictured) returned to Village Summit 2023 with a keynote address to prime those in attendance to make the most of the opportunity presented by the ‘golden decade’ ahead. 

Matt inspired attendees to see themselves as leaders, and to understand how the choice to lead can have a big impact on the people around them. He says:

“There are many such ‘moments of truth’ in our days, where what we choose to say and do, how we show up, and the intent we hold as we go about our lives, impact the people and world around us. Leadership happens in moments, not meetings.”

Sector leaders agree, village management is the key 

The conversations around the ‘golden decade’ with leading executives in the sector spoke to the role of the village manager in the years to come. 

Sally Taylor, Managing Director of Retirement by Moran spoke on the increasing care needs of residents. “Our job is to adapt to their [the resident’s] needs and partner with care providers where it’s needed. That will be once again falling back on the Village Manager and the village management team.” 

Daniel Dwyer, CEO of Fresh Hope Care noted a big part of their mission is to address social isolation of residents. “If we’re truly combating loneliness and creating a sense of community, that’s a huge piece… that a village manager is dealing with.” 

Training and professional development can’t be overlooked 

As the sector looks to the decade ahead, its clear that the training and professional development will continue to be key. The NSW Rules of Conduct require an operator to invest in the training and professional development of their staff. This is on the radar of Department Auditors. 

Further, the Retirement Living Council’s Code of Conduct requires signatories to also be investing in the skills and development of their people. 

Speaking on the need to invest in their people, CEO of RetireAustralia, Brett Robinson spoke at the Brisbane event stating,

“The investment and support you [the DCM Institute] provide to us and our organisation in developing our leaders is wonderful. Days like today are incredibly important to all our people to step out of the issues that they stare into every day in our villages to get their heads up and out and learn and grow.” 

For more information about the DCM Institute and our professional development program for Village Managers, contact dcmi@thedcmgroup.com.au.