In commercial property, one of the biggest risks isn’t lack of effort, experience, or intent.
It’s the things people don’t realise they’re missing. You don’t know what you don’t know.
I’ve worked across regional centres, metro offices and CBD markets long enough to see the same pattern repeat itself regardless of size or location. People are capable. They’re busy. They’re doing their best with the systems, documents and processes in front of them.
The problem is that gaps don’t always look like gaps.
They sit quietly in assumptions that were never questioned. In processes that were inherited rather than understood. In documents copied forward without context. And in decisions made under pressure, based on “the way it’s always been done”. Often, no one realises there’s an issue until something goes wrong.
That’s where upskilling matters — and why we approach it differently at the Australian Academy of Property. Upskilling isn’t about pointing out mistakes or criticising how people work. It’s about surfacing what hasn’t been visible yet: the blind spots, pressure points and risk exposures that sit behind everyday practice.
It’s about helping people connect dots they didn’t know were disconnected, ask better questions, and understand the why behind their processes — not just the steps themselves.
This is also why upskilling works across every stage of a commercial property career.
Junior professionals gain clarity earlier. Mid-career professionals uncover gaps they didn’t realise were there. Experienced professionals gain confirmation, refinement and sharper risk awareness. Different starting points. Same outcome: better judgement and reduced risk.
Importantly, this isn’t just a front-line issue. It’s a leadership one. In commercial property, risk rarely announces itself. It builds quietly — through inconsistent processes, unclear authorities, inherited templates, undocumented decisions, and assumptions that “someone else has checked that”. When those gaps eventually surface, it’s rarely the individual who carries the impact alone. It’s the agency.
Upskilling helps leaders see where risk actually sits across people, systems and documentation, not just in performance metrics. It creates shared understanding, clearer accountability and stronger commercial judgement across the business.
Strong agencies aren’t built on people “just getting by”. They’re built on clarity, consistency and informed decision-making. And that starts with taking risk seriously — before something goes wrong.
(c) Wendy Thomson December 2025
