Over the past few years, some aspects of customary, socially correct behavior has seemed to regress or at times even disappear. From leaders in the highest offices to our most beloved celebrities, we can read about name-calling, blaming, threats, and even outright violence. Is it really surprising when these behaviors trickle into our communities and work spaces? In order to guide our communities in a more positive direction, it helps to identify uncivil behavior and lead by example. With a lot of deliberate, consistent effort, our positive behavior can become contagious.
We’ve all dealt with the outburst from a client or Unit Owner who doesn’t get their way and writes a dramatic email or says something nasty. It’s easy to dismiss them as unhinged, ignore all their future complaints and get defensive in these unpleasant situations. It’s important to be self-aware of these human tendencies, because it can lead to habits that will not serve you well. If you hide from the tough conversations, you might miss out on the opportunity to connect with others, learn from the interactions and grow. Even though it may trigger tough emotions to deal with the challenging client, confronting them can nip problems in the bud. You may even gain an ally! Start by making a conscious effort to put yourself in the strongest mental state so that you are best-equipped to deal with the inevitable challenges that arise.
Self-Reflection: Be cognizant of how much media you’re taking in every day and the influence it might have on you. The trend of constant media and social network notifications may work well for those who benefit from extra views or clicks, but excessive exposure might have an adverse impact on our thoughts, attention and behavior. Sometimes we expend so much emotional energy reading the news that by the time we arrive at work, we’re depleted. Disconnect from the breaking news long enough to focus on what’s most important, both personally and professionally. How is the information you absorb moving you towards your goals and who you aspire to become?
Empathy: Depersonalize the situation whenever possible. In more cases than not, the client isn’t yelling because of you but because of the situation. Think about what they might be going through in their personal life with the challenges in the world and take a deep breath before responding. You may be the only person who listens to them today. If you can, counter their distress with a calming tone and a thoughtful response. Will your undistracted attention for the next ten minutes save you hours over the next month?
Situational Awareness: Some of us have also noticed situations where someone makes a bold political statement to strangers or in the workplace, under the assumption that everyone agrees. I’ve seen it make others in the room very uncomfortable or outright angry. While it’s tempting to share your opinion about the latest piece of legislation in Congress, don’t forget to take note of your environment, your relationship to the listener and the possible repercussions. For example, if you’re getting interviewed for a job, you may not want to risk blaming a person or administration for the current events of the day. Even if the community is in a location where the demographics seem to point to a particular opinion, you don’t want to put your foot in your mouth later. Once you learn about the political or ideological leanings of a person, just remember to keep it professional at work.
Keeping these habits in mind can help us deflect and appropriately respond to uncivil thoughts and behaviors. Some other challenges that you may run into at work can be ameliorated by practical strategies.
Write it down: Some people’s stress shows up as aggressiveness, while others’ stress manifests as anxiety. Anxiety can cause us to start thinking selfishly or otherwise worry about possibilities that may never happen. When others come to you with concerns or hypothetical situations, fight the inclination to dismiss them as unrealistic. Instead, try brainstorming your concerns (or your residents’ concerns) and plan some possible solutions. The anxiety becomes less of an abstract idea to obsess over and more of a concrete problem you can solve. What are the pros and cons of each option? What is the worst thing that can happen and how can you mitigate it?
Set Expectations: In a world where we can get instant groceries, dates and packages with the click of a button, some people expect the same instant gratification of their community manager. Asking to “speak to the manager” has become an internet joke. For managers, it can often translate to copying the entire Board of Directors to an email. Unfortunately, some creative solutions require time to develop, especially if they are to last. If a problem will take some time to resolve, let the resident know the challenges you are considering. Provide an estimated time for completion or resolution and keep them in the loop of any progress.
Acknowledge opposing views: Things aren’t always black and white in community management. Nor can we predict the future. So it’s important to acknowledge counter-arguments even when they don’t fit the narrative we want to create. If you make a mistake, predict something wrong, or there are possible negative consequences of your recommendation, talk openly about it. How might you pivot your plans moving into the future?
It can be instinctual to tune out anything that requires extra time or energy when it feels like you don’t have any to spare. With everything going on in the world, our emotional state and the example we set may be the least of our worries. However, as a leader of your community, you are in a position to be a calming and positive influence. Small, deliberate interactions can accumulate and create real change. You may find that you not only save time in the long run, but you also get a little peace of mind!
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There are seminal moments in our lives and careers. One of mine was circa 1985. I bumped into a board member of a condominium for whom my maintenance company had completed some projects. The question she asked me that lovely spring day on a bustling city sidewalk 35 years or so ago changed the way I approached business and I am certain it led to both my entry and inevitable exit from the community management business… “Tom, how come we can’t find a good management company? Are there any of them out there?” My mind raced as I thought through the three they had fired, all of whom I thought were among the better companies that I had worked with as a contractor. I gave her a tactful answer, but one she did not expect to hear. More on that in a moment.
As a young entrepreneur, I had begun to immerse myself in the study of leadership. I started working with community associations a couple of years before that fateful exchange. I became fascinated by the dynamics of volunteer boards, their communities, and the managers who served them. A few short years later, in a joint venture with a management company, I entered into a contract to provide part-time, on-site management for a small condominium. Eventually, I left my business and dove into management full time for the next 30 years. I had the privilege of working with some great managers and boards. For much of my career, I was also the company’s designated “Fixer.” If it was messed up, my job was to find a way to make it work. Of course, I was not always successful, but it was the best business education I could have received. Along the way, I saw the great, the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. Stepping away from the management business and working with clients from the community association field in a different capacity and in different markets has reinforced for me how unique communities can be. At the same time, I see common principles, fundamentals, and practices that produce results. So…here are eight characteristics that exist in the most successful and sustainable board/management company relationships.
1. Shared Expectations
The working relationship between a board and management company can be very dynamic and fluid. Times change, technology changes, society changes, people change, volunteers change, and properties age. These factors all may impact expectations. An agreement for management services provides a basis for expectation and accountability. It also needs enough flexibility to address the variables inherent in the relationship. COVID has been a testament to this. Who could have anticipated the workload and process changes that the pandemic would require? Agreement on contract terms and ensuring that these are in harmony with the board’s goals is crucial to a sustainable and successful relationship, which leads directly to our second characteristic.
2. Communication
In my management days, I would receive the occasional phone call from a board member along the lines of: “Would you be interested in sending us a proposal for management? Our company is horrible.” These days, the question is: “Can you help us find a new management company?” My first answer has remained the same. “Have you spoken to company executives?” Astonishingly, 90% of the time, the answer has been no! Changing management companies is a big deal. It can take far less time and effort to repair a damaged relationship than it would to make a change. Talk about it, set clear and reasonable expectations, see if it can be fixed. If not, then it’s time to move on, but not before.
Management companies can bolster the relationship by maintaining periodic executive-level contact with volunteer leaders, especially when the players change. This may be after annual meetings, changes in board liaisons, and any time there is a manager reassignment. Likewise, new boards are wise to get on the same page with the management team as soon as possible during these transitions. Don’t let the relationship fall off the rails!
At their core, business relationships are human relationships. Just like in our personal lives, we get busy, make assumptions, and don’t always get the message right. Communications suffer and issues fester. The electronic age makes this a bigger challenge. Consumer expectations for immediate gratification (the Amazon effect) have challenged all customer service industries. Businesses can rely so heavily on technology to gain efficiencies that they adopt a transactional mindset without realizing the negative long-term impact on the relationship. Zoom meetings are great for efficiency, but we miss the cues that the full human interaction experience provides. Tech and society will continue to change, but some things remain the same. Community management is a relationship business. Relationships require effective communication. And it needs to go both ways.
3. Mutual Benefit
All sustainable business relationships are mutually beneficial. A zero-sum game benefitting the client will inevitably lead to poor management performance. A company that can’t make a profit will fail. Historically of the real estate management niches (commercial, rental, and community associations), community association management is the least profitable. A review of the history of the industry and market pressures helps one to understand how we got here. The full story would be an article all by itself. The net result is that community association management as a professional field has become increasingly commoditized. Profit margins are always tight.
This can lead to the zero-sum game benefitting the company, which is likewise unsustainable. Unintentional service creep can happen slowly over time with managers and boards losing focus on contract specifications. A manager may lose focus of contract out of sheer work volume and when the board is unaware and seems happy with their performance. Regardless of intent, the reality of this situation is that the relationship is being abused and could end badly.
In the end, the old axiom is true. You get what you pay for. The logical corollary should therefore be that you should pay for what you get. Maintaining awareness of and regularly revisiting contract specifications for any adjustments to meet the needs of the community are the keys to ensuring mutual benefit.
4. Flexibility & Reasonableness
Great service companies will go above and beyond from time to time. Community management is such a dynamic field that a manager will inevitably see the need to do something technically outside of their scope. They want to make their clients happy and just take care of it. But there is a danger of an unintentional death spiral.
I’ve seen this play out many times. Management agreements typically include provisions to charge for work outside the scope of defined routine services. Many managers fear a negative reaction from clients and shrink back from noting that a requested service is a billable item. Sometimes, the assignment is completed and that’s that. Everyone is happy. But sometimes, the requests keep coming. The manager becomes overburdened. The task list gets longer and longer. The board grows increasingly dissatisfied, and the manager grows increasingly resentful. All the while, more times than not, the board has no idea that they are making unreasonable requests because the manager never said a thing about the contract terms.
When there is healthy communication about the best way to handle non-routine services, boards can make business decisions to allocate funds that allow the company to bring in the resources necessary to accomplish the task or facilitate service by an outside party. Reasonable boards understand that a set-price contract cannot be a blank check. (See Mutual Benefit and Communication)
5. Get Out of the Box
Fundamentals and time-tested principles apply to every relationship, but every situation is unique. One of the most valuable skills board and management companies can have is the ability to see things as they are and recognize when glue diligence (“that’s the way we’ve always done it!”) needs to be replaced by due diligence, which may involve finding a non-standard solution. This is where my experience noted in the introduction had such a profound impact. The board member who complained about perfectly good management companies didn’t have a performance problem. She had a system problem. She lived in a 27-unit condominium with a seven-person board and half a dozen or so active communities. Most unit owners were retired. I loved that community because it had such a remarkable commitment to volunteerism. If you lived there, you were on the board, a committee, or both. However, the volunteers had no context to see how much management work was being generated by all that activity. They were NEVER going to be satisfied with the level of time and attention a portfolio manager could give them under the terms and price of a standard management agreement. They needed to adjust the system, adjust expectations, or both.
Without analysis, we easily default to assuming that people stink. Just fire them and get somebody new. If you can’t see whether you have a performance problem, a system problem, or some combination thereof (usually the case to some degree), you’ll always be answering the wrong questions. Wise board and management companies invest the time to make the determination and have the creativity and flexibility to change the system if needed.
6. Clarity on Roles
The board’s highest and best role to benefit their communities will always be to lead. It sets the culture, goals, and standards for the community and its management. Everything a professional management company does can be grouped in one of two baskets – supervisory or advisory. Most boards have no problem rightly holding management accountable for the supervisory tasks it performs on behalf of and at the direction of the board. Highly functioning boards allow management to assist and guide as it fulfills its role. This allows the relationship to function at its highest level – as a partnership. This can involve helping volunteer leaders to translate strategies that worked in their professional or personal lives into the context of community associations and the statutory requirements, governing documents, and best industry practices that apply. Both parties may need to check their egos at the door: Board members might have to recognize the realities of an organization slightly outside their area of expertise, while managers who may passionately recommend a particular path have to recognize that the board is the boss and responsible for the decision.
Ideally then, as a leadership body, the board sets the targets (Why, What, and When), taking into consideration feedback and recommendations offered by professional management. Leadership gives management the resources to accomplish the resultant goals and delegates the details (How) to them. In that paradigm, management can focus on getting things done and reporting to the board. The board can focus on gauging results instead of getting bogged down in the process. For the board to stay out of the weeds and maintain a bigger picture focus, management must demonstrate competence and proactivity, and be willing to be accountable.
That said, there may be factors that make a certain level of “co-management” ideal. Communities that are blessed with volunteers who have subject matter expertise and time may allow them to successfully achieve more without having to pay more for management. Also, small associations suffer from the inequity of scale, requiring more time and attention than their management fees can reasonably command and making the co-management model more likely.
7. Get Things Done Without Being Pennywise and Pound Foolish
It is important to remember that a key role of a manager is to facilitate, not necessarily to do. A manager’s area of expertise is the administration of the community, governance, and business aspects of community associations. As such, they may maintain professional designations such as CMCA®, AMS®, PCAM®, and LSM®. If they were also credentialed professional engineers, insurance brokers, architects, or licensed lawyers, associations would never be able to afford them. Yet, some boards expect managers to provide opinions and services outside their area of expertise, usually to save money. Wise boards understand that there are times when bringing in specialists is an investment. Wise managers, especially those with high levels of subject matter experience, know how to leverage that knowledge and put their boards in a position to make good business decisions.
Managers may feel pressure to have all the answers and assume they are expected to have all knowledge at the top of their heads. As a wise man once observed, it’s perfectly acceptable to say, “I don’t know,” if it is followed by a comma and not a period. “Can I get back to you on that?” can be the best answer a manager can give at the moment. Wise boards allow space for a manager to provide accurate information. Wise managers don’t wing it. This leads us to the final, and perhaps the most crucial characteristic of great board/management company relationships.
8. Trust & Respect
I was thrilled to get an “Aha” moment when I was introduced to a principle that was so simple, so profound, and so applicable to community associations. The basic premise of Steven M.R. Covey’s The Speed of Trust is this: When trust is present, things happen quickly and cost-effectively. When it is absent, everything takes longer and becomes more expensive in the long run. Trust is everything. It underpins all the other seven characteristics. Boards need to trust that their managers are advocating for them and acting in their best interest. Managers and management companies need to trust that the board is dealing fairly and reasonably with them. Trust begets respect. Both are essential to any highly-functioning relationship.
Let’s Do This!
There is far too much negative media about community associations. Certainly, there are bad players out there, but I am proud to be part of a field where so many dedicated people are working to get it right. Whenever I hear a negative comment about boards, I always take the opportunity to share that my experience has been that the vast majority of volunteers I’ve worked with serve for all the right reasons. That is particularly impressive considering how many goofed-up situations I’ve been asked to jump into. The same goes for managers and management company executives. Those that stick with the industry tend to be incredibly dedicated professionals with a servant’s heart, qualities that are all too rare these days. When community volunteers and the professionals who serve them choose to fulfill their responsibilities in a collaborative way and to an elevated level, it has a positive impact on the quality of life and investment of every community member. And they put themselves in a position, not only to leave a legacy of success, but to enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done. It is always worth the effort.
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The culture of an organization either creates the space for sustainable, defined success or makes it difficult, if not impossible. A healthy culture allows the organization to tap into the knowledge, talents, experience, energy, and intellectual capital of participants. It does not permit ego, politics, or dysfunction to get in the way.
In this context, culture can be defined as the environment that establishes norms of behavior for the people in the organization. It involves the connection between the goals and values of the individual and those of the group. Culture is embodied in author Seth Godin’s statement: “People like us do things like that.”
Organizational culture provides the context in which the stakeholders understand their roles and can concentrate on doing their best. Healthy cultures in community associations put boards in a position to establish desired results and provide the necessary resources to achieve them. Focusing on those results delivers rich payoffs. Building a healthy culture yields exponentially compounded interest in terms of time, energy, progress, and community spirit.
Culture is the difference-maker, and yet, community association managers and volunteers almost never talk about culture directly. It’s about time we did.
Three Cultures
Organizational culture tends to fall into one of three general categories:
Intentional Culture- Values, goals, and norms have been identified, codified in some form, and provide the basis for principled action. People in the organization are clear on “The Why.”
Unintentional Culture- Values, goals and norms are left to chance. Defining them depends on who the influential people are in an organization at a particular time. Frequently, decisions are made and actions taken on an ad hoc basis. Sometimes leaders focus on rules and written procedures without explaining why they matter. Other times, there is no focus at all. Everybody works too hard at reinventing the wheel or making it up as they go. If such a community is fortunate, things will go well riding on the backs of a few good people.
Actual Culture- Values, norms and goals have been identified. There may be mission, values, and vision statements with lofty aspirations printed on glossy marketing materials and plaques on walls. Yet, leaders and members of the organization violate those ideals on a regular basis without correction. The inherent hypocrisy of the organization destroys morale and trust.
Most organizations fall into the unintentional category. Their leaders may have no concept of culture or fail to recognize the benefits of the time investment necessary to build a successful one. They cannot see that the hard work up front will significantly decrease their time and effort in the long run. They are so caught up in the day-to-day operation that they miss the bigger picture.
What About Community Associations?
Why, specifically, do many community associations tend to have an unintentional culture? First, boards can be mired in tactics, too busy putting out fires and stuck in the weeds to elevate their perspective.
Second, exclusive devotion to the standard board meeting model can cause an unintended consequence. Leaders and managers are trained to follow the legal requirements for board meetings. They correctly conduct the association’s business in accordance with open meeting requirements and the standard meeting agenda. Well-planned and executed board meetings are highly effective in handling the day-to-day business of the association. However, regular board meetings are horribly ill-suited to address bigger picture issues, complicated projects, and strategic planning. These discussions will never fit into a standard board meeting agenda in the best of times. Switch it up by scheduling some town hall or special meetings to listen to what members have to say, get ideas flowing, and deal with big picture issues.
Getting to Higher Ground
Getting out of the weeds is not easy. Leaders and managers first need the awareness that business as usual leaves too much to chance. Then, they must recognize that the work to build healthy organizational culture is a time investment that will pay dividends. For some groups we’ve worked with, it took disgust borne from crashing and burning to motivate them to meaningful change. In our next segment, we will offer a roadmap to intentional culture for community associations.
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For various reasons, many managers fall short in this area. They are in reactive mode much of the time. Acting without planning quickly creates a vicious cycle of rushed response and crisis triage. Many never learn the secret of slowing down in order to speed up.
It’s no surprise then, that many of the annual calendars (a.k.a. “management plans”) in use tend to be less than complete and not always user-friendly. An effective calendar identifies as many controllable activities as possible. It breaks down those activities to specific deliverables. It creates a mechanism to track activities and proactively plan for upcoming events. It is a tool to analyze the workload and make adjustments. It promotes accountability and communication. Creating and implementing a detailed annual calendar will make you the Coach Wooden of community association management!
Manager par excellence Karen Harris, CMCA, AMS, of the Old Georgetown Village Condominium in North Bethesda, Maryland, began utilizing a detailed annual calendar 16 years ago. She notes:
“The annual calendar system is a comprehensive management tool that enables the manager to “manage.” It initiates the planning and discussion between the Board and Management at the beginning of each year, giving everyone the data and participation necessary to promote buy-in.
With an emphasis on organization and goals throughout the year, it keeps management on track, prompting action instead of inaction. In the field of property management, unexpected emergencies always pop up. If you are on top of everything else, you can minimize overall stress. Sitting in the driver’s seat is the best place to be whenever possible.”
Note: This blog is geared towards managers, but a detailed annual calendar can be hugely valuable for volunteer leaders of small and self-managed community associations. In addition to the benefits noted above, the calendar memorializes processes and supports continuity of services as board members change over time.
Yeah, but…
Buying into the concept can be a challenge. It is a lot of work up front. And it requires accountability.
10 Reasons to Use a Thorough Annual Calendar and Include it with Status of Items Noted in Every Management Report
1. You will save time by being more efficient – no time wasted on fixing errors and communicating embarrassing problems. 2. You will rush less, thereby greatly improving the quality of your work. 3. You will have the confidence that you have more things under control. 4. You will have less stress and worry. 5. Your clients will have more confidence in you. 6. You will reduce the potential for unnecessary expense. 7. Your rear end will feel better. (Since you won’t forget important events and deadlines, those things can’t bite you in the butt!) 8. You will control your time better. 9. You will set yourself apart from the pack. (Most managers in the industry do not do this). 10. You will have a clue why you do what you do – once you embrace the concept and use it as a tool, everything makes more sense and a whole new world opens up to you.
Busting Four Commonly Held Myths
1. Myth: “I don’t have time.” Reality: If you don’t have time to do things well now, when will you have time to do things poorly later? Reality: Planning properly and executing a plan saves time because you are far more focused and efficient than when you wing it and perform tasks randomly. Reality: Successful managers learn to recognize the difference between a time investment and a time expense.
2. Myth: “My clients don’t care – they don’t read my reports as it is.” Reality: Even if they don’t read it after the first time they see it, no client has ever failed to be impressed when first introduced to the concept.
3. Myth: “If I tell the client everything I plan to do and for some reason can’t deliver, they will hold me responsible. What they don’t know won’t hurt them or me.” Reality: Whether the client holds you responsible or not, you ARE responsible. Some think being held responsible is a bad thing. Reality: If you keep winging it, it’s only a matter of time before you will be held responsible for a major error because you failed to plan – better to be held accountable for little things if they don’t go 100% according to plan. Reality: Your client will find your willingness to be accountable and honest refreshing. They will trust and respect you for it.
4. Myth: “If I give them all that data, the Board meetings will take longer and they will nag me about everything.” Reality: The first meeting or two might be longer, but you will find that because they know you have things under control, the meetings are shorter…and they get OFF your back.
OK! I’m a believer… now what?
When is the Best Time to Create or Review a Calendar?
1. When you take over a new client from another company or manager (helps you to learn the property QUICKLY)
2. Right after a budget is adopted and while you are completing your 12 month spread (helps you merge the physical and administrative plan with the financial plan)
What do I Need in Front of Me to Build my Calendar? 1. 12-Month budget spread 2. CC&Rs or bylaws 3. Policies that might impact management activity (ex. ARC) 4. Contracts 5. PM schedule (if it exists…and if it doesn’t, make one!) 6. Annual meeting file 7. Anything from the files that helps you to identify when things are to happen at the community (paid bills, etc)
The 10 Steps to Success
Step 1: Identify the tasks you can control and do routinely, and those tasks and projects that are on the plate this year in the following areas:
Step 2: Identify the steps you need to complete each task
Step 3: Identify deadlines and decide during which months these tasks should be completed – work backward from deadlines (ex: contract award process).
Step 4: Draft the plan on a chart in a format that allows you to see the total picture and how tasks relate to one another
Step 5: Review the plan and adjust the timing of events as possible so that you don’t overload yourself.
Step 6: Roll out the plan in the next management report. Let the Board know their input is appreciated and that the plan will be adjusted if needed as time goes on.
Step 7: Schedule time to review your plan during the month, verifying you are on task in the current month and prepared to handle next month.
Step 8: Mark completed items in the chart to track performance and include in the monthly management report.
Step 9: At the end of the year, analyze performance vs. plan, learn from the past, and adjust the plan or your performance as necessary.
Step 10: Enjoy the benefits of being a truly professional manager!!
Means & Methods
Any plan is better than no plan. Annual calendars or management plans exist in various forms ranging from lists by month to tasks plugged into Outlook or Google Calendars. To achieve all the goals outlined above, it is most helpful to have one master document. To find a sample and template you can use, we’ve placed a link on the Association Bridge website for you. Look for the Samples You Can Use! box.
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Association Bridge was formed in large part due to my experience teaching CAI’s old “Essentials” program for community association volunteer leaders. Ken Ingram of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston and I were tapped to teach the full day program for a few years at Reston Association. RA member associations are typically very small communities known as “clusters.” By the early 2000s, some of these small associations were facing some serious challenges. The class gave them access to resources that board members in larger associations would probably take for granted.
I will never forget hearing a board president proudly explain his excellent system for keeping the books for his cluster.
“I use different color ink in the checkbook.”
“Oh, you mean to help identify different types of expense and income or something?”
“Well yeah, kinda…”
“OK, can you share the system with the class?”
“Sure. You see, everything in green ink is cluster activity, and everything in blue is mine…”
“Yours?”
“Yeah. That’s how I can easily separate the cluster activity from mine in the account.”
“Wait, are you saying you collect your neighbor’s fees, deposit them in your personal bank account… and pay cluster expenses from the same account?”
“Well…yeah.”
Yikes!
Time & Attention
Teaching the class was an instructive experience. Board members were searching for creative ways to get two things all community associations need if they are to be managed effectively – time and attention. I frequently heard the refrain, “Our management company doesn’t do ANYTHING!” Without fail, some follow up questions revealed the boards weren’t paying for very much of anything. Some gave up and went fully self-managed. They were doing a lot of work themselves to make up the difference between what they wanted from management and what they felt they could afford.
It reminded me that small associations have to make tough choices, all borne from the inequity of scale. Certain costs simply do not scale. Managing a 20-unit building will likely require the same number of site visits as would a 150-unit building. The time required to create board packages, produce monthly financial reports and attend meetings will not scale to the unit count. Neither will the costs of independent audits or reserve studies. This can apply to capital projects as well. A 3-story high rise and a 10-story high rise could have the same building footprint, meaning that the cost to replace their respective roofs may be about the same. Bottom line: Inevitably, unit owners in small condominiums are very likely to pay more per unit in total fees than their counterparts in larger condominium associations.
As a result, boards of smaller associations frequently opt for less service, requiring investment in the time and knowledge base of volunteers to make up the difference. That burden can be very difficult for volunteers.
There may be solutions that require some creative thinking. While I applaud the resourcefulness and sense of duty shown by the board member who co-mingled personal and association finances, I pray he never gets in a beef with a fellow unit owner. That association clearly did not have any crime coverage. I doubt they had proper directors & officers liability coverage, either. Not all creative ideas are great ideas.
What Can We Do?
The goal is to identify the needs and wants of the board and membership, and then design a plan that is in harmony with them. It is a mistake to assume that small associations can’t afford “good” service. Such thinking is a variation on the sin of fee targeting. Many a community has found that a cheap price results in a high cost later on. Whether it comes in the form of making up for deferred maintenance, the bottom dropping out of resale values, disengaged unit owners, or dissatisfied residents, sooner or later everyone bears the cost of short-term thinking.
Analyzing the Operation
A Responsibility Grid is an excellent tool to help see where you are and where you have gaps. First, list the tasks involved in operating the association along the left margin to create rows. Then, along the top of the page, create columns by listing the volunteers and paid personnel or contracted parties who have roles in the operation. A sample grid you can use can be found HERE.
Once the tasks and responsible parties have been listed, fill in the grid boxes, describing each party’s current role in each task. Soon, you will have a snapshot of the operation, seeing the interrelation of the parties involved. This frequently leads to Aha! moments. We’ve noticed that many Boards have a tendency to assume most issues are performance problems. The Grid helps to reveal weaknesses in the system, allowing everyone to differentiate system problems from performance problems. The Grid may point out that someone else in the organization is better suited to take on a certain responsibility. Or you may find that some tasks aren’t being performed at all under the current system. Once clarified, performance issues can be more effectively addressed.
The trick is to use the Grid to address system problems by making adjustments. The context of seeing the operation in totality helps the board to identify areas where more support is needed. You can redline the grid until it makes sense. It takes the guesswork out of the picture, communicates responsibilities with clarity, and increases the likelihood of finding successful solutions. The final grid can then be a tool to adjust contracted specifications and position descriptions as needed.
What Are The Options?
Many contracts are designed to be “competitive” without regard to the actual workload required for the job. Standard “full service” management may not provide the required attention needed to support volunteers in your specific case. Some approaches to bridge the gaps include:
Customizing the management agreement to provide more attention in specific areas. Quantify time and attention where possible. If a minimum weekly site visit and monthly or quarterly property inspection with written report will address many of the issues a community is experiencing, include those as specifications in the management contract. Set the expectation and create a system that takes some of the burden off the shoulders of volunteer leaders. It may be that some specifications can be decreased to help compensate for additional cost, such as decreasing the number of board meetings attended.
Decrease the management contract to “financial-only” or “financial-plus” service levels to free up assets and redirect them to on-site management. This is where it gets creative. I cut my management teeth as a part-time on-site manager for five different associations over the span of ten years. Two of them had fewer than 50 units. All of them had something in common. They were all too small to justify full-time, on-site management, but too busy to be well-served by off-site management.
Adjust the scope of the management contract to dedicate a specific allowance of time. If the management company is willing to consider an out-of-the-box option, they could provide more attention by defining a number of hours per week for dedicated attention, including on-site time. Some management companies in the northwest use this model.
It takes a village. Depending on the configuration and condition of the property, a combination of services might make sense. Perhaps the volunteer base is strong, and you can engage management on an a la carte basis to provide only the services needed when you need them. Perhaps you just need a management company or consultant to set up the annual calendar and preventive maintenance programs and come back to audit the system periodically. Perhaps a maintenance position can be beefed up with a system to provide valuable eyes, ears, arms and legs for Management and the Board. Perhaps strategically scheduling a contracted annual architectural and engineering inspection to coincide with the annual budget process combined with “financial-only” professional management gives the association the best bang for the buck. The possibilities are endless.
In the End
The quality of volunteer leadership will always be vital to the success of any condominium association. The smaller the association, the more important this is. Smaller associations have special challenges. Even volunteer leaders who have the time and talent to assume certain management roles are wise to seek resources to set up systems and find best practices. National organizations like the Community Associations Institute and the National Association of Housing Cooperatives can be very valuable resources. Associations in the Washington Metro area can tap into additional resources such as the DC Cooperative Housing Coalition, the Montgomery County Office of Common Ownership Communities, and the Office of the Virginia Common Interest Commission Ombudsman Small associations may have special challenges. But they don’t have to give up, and they don’t have to settle. There are resources and options for volunteer leaders to provide quality service to their members. It may take some creativity and a realistic view of the expenses related to inequity of scale, but it can be done.
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Management Insider #2 provided a historical analysis of the current state of affairs. Armed with that knowledge and a deeper understanding of underlying issues, we are in a position to move towards solutions. Trust and perception of value are at the core of the downward press on management fees. Creating spaces where these two factors become strengths in the management-board relationship gets everyone off the hamster wheel of dissatisfaction. There are no easy answers. Not every approach works in every situation. And there will be boards and management companies that don’t get it and never will. That’s OK. This blog is not for them.
System vs. Performance: I learned long ago that most boards assume that management problems are performance issues. Unless I figured out whether issues were actually a performance issue, a systems issue, or a combination of the two, everyone was asking and answering the wrong questions. The analysis must be case-specific. Every community is different. Dig deep into needs and expectations, and compare that reality to the resources in place to meet them. The right system with metrics and accountability puts people in a position to succeed. Outstanding performance can mask deficient systems. Management companies must resist the urge to tell clients they will take care of everything without fully appreciating the implication. Overpromising and oversimplification serve no one in the long run.
Enough with the Price Per Door Already: Management fees per unit per month are somewhat helpful to gauge costs, but it is an incomplete metric. Unit count can have little correlation with the work required to manage a community. Age of structure, type of construction, logistics, reserve funding, deferred maintenance, neighborhoods, internal demographics, and expectation for service will all play a part in the system and performance required to manage a community. I am floored when I hear of management companies who provide pricing without so much as a site visit, a meeting with a board, or a review of documents. Estimate the workload. Price it accordingly. A cookie-cutter approach can work for some clients. But without some analysis, there’s an awful lot left up to chance. Management companies that can explain the rationale behind their pricing and system set the table to earn respect and trust.
Value the Work: Set price contracts must assume a certain workload. Boards can have the unrealistic expectation that no matter what happens, the monthly management fee should cover it. That makes zero sense. Managers, fearing the wrath of their clients, are sometimes either unaware of contract terms or nervous about charging for extra work. Until those work hours and efforts are acknowledged, a manager’s time is not likely to be respected. Communicate in advance, explain the business model, agree to terms as needed, and change when appropriate.
Migrate Management On Site: A common complaint about portfolio managers is that they do not spend enough time or attention to their clients. This may be a system problem. Twenty-six years ago, my mentor Arthur Dubin advocated bringing management on site in an article for the Journal of Property Management. He said, “A growing number of condominium associations are choosing on-site management better serve the needs of the owners, residents, and boards of directors. This reallocation of resources has often proved successful in both cost efficiency and quality of service.” A quarter of a century of experience has proven him right. Boots on the ground and brains on site can be the most effective allocation of resources in many circumstances. Some creativity may be required. Even if the shift means association payroll increases while management fees decrease, everyone wins in the long run. Lower fees that result in higher total profits over several years with a happy client beat higher profits from unhappy clients that fire you after two years every time.
Those are just a few perspectives and strategies to help both boards and management win. If a community has a pattern of dissatisfaction, there’s a reason. Dig a little deeper. Challenge your assumptions. Let’s begin to get off the hamster wheel.
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I had a conversation once with a young manager. She was learning to navigate the sometimes challenging terrain of management-board relationships. At the time she was working for a management firm that had, in my opinion, lost their way. At one of their company functions, a more experienced manager had shared an anecdote about golfing, drinking, and intense schmoozing with his board president. She concluded, “I guess it’s true – the best strategy for job security is being buddies with the board president.”
NO, NO, NO!
Our young manager had a misguided understanding of what customer service is all about on a deeper level in the specific field of community association management. How can managers and other professionals truly serve their community association clients?
What Are We Really Doing Here?
Miriam-Webster says a contract is “a binding agreement between two or more persons or parties.” I think there is a fundamental element missing from that definition. In order for the performance of a contract to meet the expectation of the parties, the definition should finish with the words, “…that provides mutual benefit to both parties.” A zero-sum gain approach to a contractual relationship is short-sighted. If the party performing the service is forced into a low-price box, or is otherwise constricted in the performance of their duties, the relationship often proves unsatisfactory and tends to be short in duration.
When the agreement is some form of service contract, one of the benefits to the client is they receive services that they do not have time and/or expertise to perform themselves. Digging deeper, that means a client is forming a partnership of sorts with a party who brings value to the table. The more mutual the benefit and the deeper the partnership, the more successful the relationship can prove to be.
Supervisory + Advisory = Partnership
Management contracts and position descriptions describe the work that will be performed on behalf of the client. This is proper and important, because it establishes expectations for service. It is describing supervisory functions. Yet, a contract or position description does not always describe the expertise with which those tasks may be performed. Furthermore, the greatest potential value of the relationship may be largely unstated, except perhaps in the fluffy marketing material provided in a proposal. Excellent management companies and professional managers are able to provide recommendations and guidance that can change the status quo and set the table for progress and improvements in the community. It is these services of an advisory nature that make the relationship most beneficial to the client. Yet, while most boards are happy to take management to task for deficiencies in their supervisory duties (and reasonably so), they may never get to the level of receiving or accepting advisory services. In the end, no one wins.
The Challenge? Fear & Schmooze
Some managers are afraid of getting fired. Some may be inexperienced. Some may lack confidence in their abilities. Boards may micromanage for any number of reasons. An “on-the-cheap” mentality may have led to a vicious cycle of mediocre service. Mediocre service invites micromanagement. A manager who never passes the test of capability in supervisory duties will never earn the trust necessary to be an advisor.
Some management companies are afraid of being fired. They fear telling clients anything that they think will put the contract at risk. This sometimes plays out in a blame game. Companies throw their own managers under the bus to appease an angry client and never deal with core issues. Saving the client by skewering your own people creates a cancerous organizational culture and impedes true partnership. It’s based on personality or politics, not leadership, values and vision.
All of these factors are unhealthy. They easily lead down the slippery slope of schmooze. Trading professionalism and respect for a shallow relationship based on low standards may keep the relationship going for a while. But no one is well-served, especially not the community members. That is why I see this as so insidious. Community Association 101: Board members and the managers who serve them have a duty to care for the best interests of community members as a whole. Anything that works against that violates this fundamental principle of leadership and stewardship.
It’s Not Always Evil
Sometimes people just don’t know. A dedicated volunteer leader may not realize what is available. To illustrate: While performing an operational audit for a client, it became clear to me that volunteers had been performing management duties for a long time because they did not have a clear picture of what a professional could do. During that engagement, there was a need to find an interim on site manager. I was able to connect them with two PCAM-credentialed managers for short periods of time. Both of them blew the board away. A new world opened up to them over the course of a few short weeks.
When the Customer is Right
“The customer is always right.”
– Chicago Retailer Marshall Field, 1905
There are times when our clients are always right. Like when expressing how they feel about something. Or when they communicate an expectation. Whether or not a feeling is justified or an expectation is reasonable is a different matter. In the moment, it’s irrelevant. That IS how they feel, that IS their expectation. We spend too much time judging the feelings and opinions of others. It’s a damaging, waste of time. Just listen. Acknowledge. Identify.
When the Customer is Wrong…or Perhaps Uninformed…
Sometimes a manager’s conundrum raises its ugly head when a client has difficulty accepting reality. There could be different reasons for this. Fear, ego, or simply a lack of understanding can be powerful obstacles. In this critical moment, a manager may feel she has a choice – tell the client the truth, or tell them what they want to hear. The truth is, a professional manager has a duty to provide their best advice, whether it will be accepted or not. The art is in the telling. Managers with high will discern whether their challenge is in the timing of the message, its presentation, or both.
Rolf Crocker, CEO/Principle of OMNI Community Management, LLC, in Fair Oaks, California, is one of my favorite thought leaders in the community association business. He has a unique perspective and a knack for helping others reach clarity. He taught me a rhetorical device to guide clients to what should be an obvious answer. A version he usually uses is as follows:
“This is the point in the conversation where I ask you if you want to hear what you want to hear, or do you want to hear what you need to hear? If it’s what you want to hear, we can talk about the weather, the market or your favorite sports team.”
This approach is genius. He’s making his point while allowing his listener the room to make light of it – for a moment.
Getting to Mutual Benefit
Boards and managers need to be deeply rooted in the fundamentals of business, ethics, and leadership. Management has to suck it up and prove value, sometimes without being paid for it at first. It’s a tough row to hoe, but “trust me and pay me” won’t always work. Once the opportunity for value is proven, boards need to see that value, respect it and pay for it. We must be responsible for ourselves, remember who we serve, and stay true to that, no matter the short term cost. Tell truth to power, tactfully but unfailingly. Forging and maintaining successful partnerships is one of the most fulfilling human experiences we can have. Please don’t blow it by throwing away principles and relying on a relationship based on influence. Those come and go. Partnerships based on respect, trust, and shared values are those that last. Done right, everyone wins.
Is this a pipe dream in the commoditized and occasionally political world of community association management? Nope. I’m proud of the relationships I forged with the communities I served. I am also comfortable with the few relationships ended by one party or the other. Those partnerships were fatally flawed and needed to end. My principles remained intact and there are no regrets. I’m not alone. There are some great managers, companies, and boards out there who get it. They are profitable in every way. Just ask Rolf.
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We work/live/hang around with certain people for a while. We have experiences with them. We get to know them. We disagree on a few things. We begin to get annoyed with them. We draw conclusions about their motives. We remember the disagreements.
Here’s where it gets weird.
We strategize to get the results we want, with assumptions about evil intent and ugly history close in our mind and heart. We overstate. We accuse. We blame. They are doing the same thing with us. The disagreements deepen. On the surface, conflicts appear to be about the matter at hand. But just under the water line, the real conflict lurks. We are simultaneously talking about the issues of the day and the distrust of the past. These bi-level communications can last forever. Things bog down. Nothing gets done. History repeats again and again in the vortex of a vicious failure cycle. Dysfunction reigns supreme.
Sound familiar? Congress, anyone?
The pattern can set in with any organization where we silly humans are involved. The more emotionally or physically close the people and the longer the relationship, the more entrenched the pattern. I’ve seen it happen in social circles, in businesses, in families, and yes… in community associations.
Learning How to Break the Cycle
Breaking the failure cycle is not easy, but it’s achievable in most circumstances. It took me a while to appreciate the uniqueness of my career in the community associations field. Since my first on-site management contract, my main, though unstated, role had been to fix broken things and build trust. In the ensuing years, I was thrust into similarly challenging situations. I’m not complaining. The experience turned out to be the best education I could have gotten. It led to me doing most of the consulting for a management company and the formation of Association Bridge.
Here’s what I learned…
Don’t Let the 5 Percenters Rule the Roost
One of our silly human tricks is to focus on the negative. 95% of things might be working well, but we only focus on the 5% of that which makes us unhappy or divides us. Community association leaders and managers will always spend a significant amount of time fixing problems. It’s a big part of their jobs. But that can create a challenge. A constant focus on the 5% makes it hard to see the other 95.
I learned a secret. There is a reason people decide to move into a particular community. There are shared goals, values, and aspirations there. I’ve never worked with a community where its members didn’t have more in common than that which divided them. They just couldn’t see it at first. They were so into the weeds that they could not see the forest. The weeds are where the 5 percenters live and flourish. And yes, that includes those with wildly diverse demographics.
The problems are real. Different opinions are real. But the bigger picture is just as real. Getting out of the weeds of distrust and dysfunction requires elevation.
Get to Higher Ground
There are a few strategies that can help to elevate the discourse and begin to turn failure cycles into success cycles. Here are three of my favorites:
Use Affirmative Inquiry: Identify that which members have in common. Establish shared values and goals. Then apply those to the 5 Percenters. Seeing the bigger picture helps to set a context and changes the game.
Let Data Drive the Discussion: Much conflict comes from what I call “Theoryworld.” Absent reliable data, people will always rely on what they know – their opinions. Do the homework, communicate the data vigorously, and let that drive the discussion.
Fresh Blood: Sometimes new leaders with a fresh perspective can help groups come together. In other cases, a “disinterested third party,” a facilitator with no dog in the fight, can help bridge the gaps.
Trust is almost always the key. Stephen M.R. Covey made an astute observation in his excellent book The Speed of Trust. When trust is present, things happen quickly and cost-effectively. When trust is absent, things take longer and cost more. Who doesn’t want cheap and easy? Getting to higher ground begins the process of melting distrust and creating a culture of trust.
Yeah, Sounds Great, But….
Does this stuff actually work? Here are some real-life examples of “Breaking the Cycle”:
Case Study #1
One association had an incendiary newsletter that torched the board over every decision. They undermined confidence and deepened divisions in the community. After about a month, I realized that its editor was a board member’s wife.
I expanded my “Board Orientation/Tune Up” program into a two-part community leadership program. The community had several committees, including the newsletter committee, which were contributing to the dysfunction to one degree or another. The first session was for all committee members and board members. This was followed a week later by a board-only session. There was a clear communication of both the letter and spirit of the law and governing documents. Both sessions included a section about best practices in leadership. We applied universally accepted principles to the community association paradigm. This created a space where the group could follow up with a productive planning session. They were able to agree on goals for the year and a program to reach them. Two years of progress ensued.
Case Study #2
Another condominium we took over had severely underfunded reserves and an unrealistic budget. They had also been the victim of theft from their prior attorney, who had pocketed the fees provided by members in collections. The stories were heartbreaking. Community members were equally upset about the condition of the property and the prospect of higher condominium fees. I facilitated a town hall meeting to share the difficult news. The Board, worried about a violent reaction, made sure to hire an off-duty police officer to keep me and them from being attacked.
By the end of the presentation with the data clearly shared, we had unit owners offering to organize to perform some repairs and property clean-up as volunteers. Once members saw clearly the reality of their situation, working together to find solutions became the obvious alternative to blame and complaint. Despite the increase in fees and many challenges, there was a palpable improvement in community spirit at the next annual meeting.
Case Study #3
At an annual meeting 16 days into a new management contract, I had a unit owner point her finger at me and tell me she was going to hold me accountable for everything the board did. In the ensuing months, she took full advantage of owner comment periods at board meetings to remind everyone of every bad decision that had been made over the last 30 years and to call into question board members’ intelligence. I got to know her and at one point suggested she consider running for the board to be a part of the solution. She declined. I still remember the look on her face when I told her that at some point the community would need to learn how to agree to disagree in an agreeable fashion. You would have thought I had two heads. After a pregnant pause, she whirled away and exclaimed disgustedly, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”
After a full analysis of the operation and a particularly vigorous and expanded budget process, the community understood the needs of the building and where their money was going. At the next annual meeting, my finger-pointing friend rose to deliver her usual diatribe, only to be encouraged to cease and desist by her fellow unit owners. Deferred maintenance projects were eventually initiated. The turnaround put this previously notorious community in a position to win a Community Association of the Year award.
The Bottom Line
We spend too much time and energy allowing our opinions get in the way of getting things done. We are missing opportunities that are right in front of us. Imputing the motives of others has no value. Even if you are right, it doesn’t help.
Stop. Just don’t. Find facts and stick with them. Get to higher ground. Focus on strengths. Find the shared values, goals and aspirations. Let that create context and culture. Put people in a position to be their best. And then…watch success happen.
The iconic Sgt. Joe Friday had the right idea…
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Change is hard. New is hard. Fear makes bad news hard to take. Is it any wonder that from time to time community association managers, advisors and volunteer leaders find themselves at odds with community members or each other? Sooner or later, they all will find themselves duty bound to share a message someone won’t want to hear.
Money Hurts
This happens a lot when money is involved. People hate to spend money especially when they cannot see the value of the expense. Here’s where community associations remind members of the government, either consciously or subconsciously. I recall hearing a quote from the Wall Street Journal along the lines of, “People have the same warm emotional connection to their homeowners association as they do the Internal Revenue Service.” Ouch!
Drill down a little and it makes sense. Citizens expect infrastructure and services, but they may chafe at paying the taxes that make them possible. Why? In a word, trust. Governments, with their inevitable bureaucracies, have complicated, enormous budgets that the average citizen cannot comprehend. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to tell how well utilized those taxes are. The end result? Distrust and an assumption of waste…or worse. Association Fees are a community association’s tax. If members are not clear that their money is being spent wisely, it’s tough to take. Members may well default to their assumptions of waste…or worse.
See The Enemy
If you are going to ask for higher fees, spend a wad of cash, or change anything people are familiar with, you need to be ready to explain why. You may need to combat distrust. Fortunately, this is much easier to accomplish on the micro level of a community association than is it for the Federal Government! The information might be somewhat complicated, but it can be available and explainable.
If the direction is sound, it’s based on sound data. But members may not be aware of the data they need to trust the messenger. And until the messenger is trusted, the message is lost.
There are two insidious enemies that can erode the trust of your members:
The Law of Omitted Data: The concept is that if a person has some knowledge about a subject but does not have all the facts, it is likely that person’s degree of misunderstanding will grow exponentially over time. The impact of the law can be devastating in the group dynamic, especially when the Telephone Game factor gets added to the mix. I’ve seen this blow communities apart.
Theoryworld: The absence of experience or real life information doesn’t stop people from trying to be experts. We imagine scenarios and responses and all kinds of possible permutations and combinations of things that might happen. Discussion and arguments in Theoryworld last for-EV-er! They have an annoying tendency to bear little resemblance to reality and waste valuable time and energy. Theoryworld is exhausting and leads to regrettable decisions.
When data is bad or missing, misinformed opinions and fear can set in and emotions can run high. It gets personal. People mistakenly see each other as the enemy. The real enemies, the Law of Omitted Data and Theoryworld, are hiding just under the surface.
How can you vanquish these enemies? How can you fill in the blanks and bridge the gap between theory and reality? How can your group make good decisions and actually get things done?
Fight the Real Enemies
Your first reaction to manifestations of the Law of Omitted Data or Theoryworld may be to correct or defend. Don’t. That adds fuel to the ego-driven fire, even if you are 100% right. Rather than counteracting bad data, seek to fill in the gaps of understanding with good data. Your goal isn’t to win an argument. Ego is a major part of the problem. Elevate the dialogue from ego-based to principle-based– from emotional opinion-based to fact-based. In so doing, you create a space in which the data can drive the discussion.
The presentation of the data requires more than logic. It means acknowledging ego and emotion, both yours and others’. This is another real life scenario where gobs of emotional intelligence will make a massive difference. Here are a few strategies to get there:
Find trustable outside experts. A message from a disinterested third-party can have an impact. Share their information or let them do the talking.
Show and tell. A picture really does paint a thousand words. And seeing it up close and personal makes things real. Cruddy pipes, scary boiler rooms, a mudslide behind the pool. You don’t have to sell it. Just allow people to see reality.
Show your work like doing arithmetic in the third grade. Even if the level of detail seems excessive, the fact that the research was done and you are willing to show your process can build bridges and confidence.
Conversely, make it clear the presentation of detailed data isn’t a snow job. Bullet point summaries, charts and graphs– anything that aids visualization is good. The supporting materials can be in the back.
Accept all options and ideas at first, even if every bone in your body tells you they never work. Instead of saying “no” up front, let the group decision making process say “no.”
Don’t worry about making a case. Create a space where the case makes itself. Trust the process. Be patient – time will tell the truth. Let the data drive the discussion.
What strategies have you used to defeat the Law of Omitted Data and Theoryworld?
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“Tom, aren’t there any good management companies out there?”
That was the question posed to me by a condominium association board member circa 1988. I was in my formative years in the management business. That client knew me in my first incarnation of self-employment. I had completed a very successful plastering and painting project. I had only begun to venture into part-time, on-site management services the year before. That one question helped me to crystallize an Aha! Concept. Let me explain.
The Devil’s In The Details
I really enjoyed working with this group, even though they were rather “high maintenance.” They were enthusiastic, dedicated, and genuinely nice folks. They had an older building, the logistics of which amplified the inequity of scale faced by most small associations. They had a central HVAC plant to serve less than 30 units. The units were large and spread through only four stories, so even the cost per unit for roof maintenance and eventual replacement was much higher than most buildings.
There were other factors that added to this condominium’s challenges. Most units were owner-occupied. There was a seven person board, and there were several active committees. In a way, this was the perfect condominium – it seemed like every unit owner was involved! But this led to an unintentional consequence. At only 20+ units, they didn’t seem to justify much of an on-site maintenance or management presence. All that active participation meant that volunteers were in the details of every facet of the operation, which led to innumerable questions and a desire for fast and detailed response. Off-site “cost-effective” management and engineering services were always going to be reactive. This group was never going to be satisfied with the status quo. I knew a little about the history of that condominium, and knew they had already fired most of the companies I would have recommended at the time.
The Aha! Concept – System or Performance?
I’ll always remember this client because it helped me to formulate a frame of reference that became a core issue for much of my consulting work ever since. I noticed that most boards defaulted to a common position when something was wrong. They tended to conclude that they were getting lousy results because somebody wasn’t doing their job. This was one of the first clients to help me realize that you have to figure out if you’ve got a system problem, a performance problem, or a combination of the two. Until you figure that out, you are always answering the wrong question. It is unlikely you will get the results you seek. My 1988 client needed to find a way to get more proactive attention (and pay more), or lower their expectations. Status quo approaches were never going to give them what they wanted.
It’s Not Easy
It can be tough for volunteers serving on a board to see things clearly to determine the root of their dissatisfaction. There are a myriad of potential reasons why.
It’s not their full-time job. They may lack the time or expertise needed to accurately diagnose the situation.
They may be too close to the situation to see it clearly.
They may have been fortunate to have had an excellent manager or other service providers who regularly exceeded the specifications of their agreements. Great performance can mask a deficient system. God help the next good, but not great, manager…
They may be resistant to the idea that it might cost a little more to get what they need, exacerbated by a market flooded by management companies inclined to over promise and roll the dice.
They may not recognize that all associations have life cycles. The systems that met yesterday’s expectations may not be able to handle today’s realities, much less tomorrow’s. Of if only I had a dime for every time I heard “Well we’ve done just fine with x for the last ten years, we shouldn’t need it now.”
There may not be many free thinkers out there prepared to offer creative solutions, or companies geared up to offer those customized services, especially to a smaller association.
Fresh Eyeballs
It may be time to take a fresh look. Seek out and listen to innovative ideas. Take advantage of opportunities to network with other volunteer leaders. See if your city, county or state facilitates programs for board members. The Community Associations Institute is an excellent resource for any community association. CAI Press includes a hugely diverse library of material. Professionals in the field and volunteers contribute articles and educational seminars through CAI National and local chapters. An underutilized feature of CAI membership for volunteers is the networking aspect that is available through participation in local and national programs
If nothing seems to be working, don’t give up or settle. Maybe most importantly…don’t assume. Dig a little deeper. Look a little harder. You might just find what you really need.
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