Condo Board Must Control Condo Association Operations

Whether you are a Board Member, Community (portfolio) Association Manager, or Site Manager, establishing control and ascertaining responsibility is critical in creating a successful community. Often, control is applied inappropriately and can negatively influence management's effectiveness. Administering greater control to the degree of micromanaging can reduce the productivity of one's staff. If you find yourself constantly sitting in your site manager's office, calling or sending e-mails frequently to check on daily operations, or stepping in to supervise employees during the workday, the degree of control you are seeking may be too much.

Appropriate Control

A Board's primary role is to ensure that the Association is run correctly, according to a community's needs, governing documents, and state and federal laws. Most importantly, Board members should remember that they are policy makers. Despite individual experience & qualities, Board members are generally there to apply their skill and knowledge to the creation of policies and procedures. They are the vision for the community's future. Policies and Procedures evolve through Board or Committee actions and should represent an appropriate degree of control in assuring effective community management. Once established, it is the duty of Management and the On-Site Staff to carry out these Board directives. A specific reporting procedure, coupled with the community's unique policies and standard community association industry practices, aids in an efficiently run community. Mistakes often happen when a Board member or the Board in its entirety removes one or more of these safeguards from its system in an attempt to take immediate control of a task. Just as when you remove an equation from a spreadsheet, such a step will affect each facet of the spreadsheet down the line. In the end, your bottom line is incorrect and time has been wasted.

Enough is Enough!

Applying too much control? Micromanaging? Of course, this answer largely depends on the capabilities of the team member(s) working under your direction. Generally speaking, the manager and on-site employees should be skilled enough to operate without constant supervision. If proper interviewing techniques were employed, you must trust that the person you hired knows how to do the work. As supervisor, one should assign the tasks, give realistic timelines, verify progress, and let the subordinate proceed with minimal interruption. Board members should be able to step away from the management office and the day-to-day events that transpire and instead drop by only for brief visits or some specific purpose. In some cases, merely staying in touch with management through regular Board meetings and reports is sufficient. Having worked on site for years, I found that a monthly visit from my direct supervisor and regular contact via email or phone provided me with the support and guidance necessary to complete my tasks. Often, we forget that our managers are working on multiple projects while being frequently interrupted by residents, guests, and owners - - either in person, on the phone or via email throughout the day. The last thing one may need (or appreciate) is their supervisor stopping in for a status report - - or a mere cup of coffee - - every day.

Can't We All Just Work . . . Alone?

If we aren't confident in our manager or employee's ability to perform his job in a realistic and timely manner, then additional training may need to be provided. One may even need to consider possible replacement of the employee. However, frequently looking over their shoulder will surely not make the person more efficient. An employee who is less than confident in their abilities may become nervous and thus less effective than if left to work through a task without an overseer. An employee who knows how to do his job may be sidetracked by a supervisor's priorities or too polite to speak up about their own priorities. This kind of control will detract from completing the tasks carefully laid out - - whether preventive maintenance programs, establishing reserves, or fulfilling other operating plans. The net result will be that your employee either fails or gradually gets behind in the work already laid out for him.

Your Way Or The Highway?

I watched a colleague of mine supervise his employees one day. As they toiled at their task, my colleague continued to interrupt his employees in the process, providing guidance about things that did not directly relate to the outcome of the task - - such as how to tie a tarp or fill a wheelbarrow. While the experience might have saved them some time on other projects, the timing of the training actually held up the process. The net result was that the employees were frazzled and my colleague became stressed. Despite completion of the task, I am sure the employees had no pride in the job that they did because of the frequent criticism and interruption throughout the process. They were frustrated by the perceived dissatisfaction of their employer.

Our goal as managers is to complete tasks. How it gets done is often less important than the experience the employee has getting successfully through the process. Next time you feel the need to tell someone whom to call or how or when to complete a task, ask yourself "if they do it their way, will it substantially impact the results, or would it just be the same results via a different process?" The answer provides the appropriate degree of control that you should apply to the process. Trust the employee to do a task, with a measured degree of verification, and you'll find that you've built up the employee's confidence and loyalty. If completed incorrectly, the processes can be analyzed and steps taken for a more efficient outcome in the future.

At the end of the day, it's not how you got there but that your team gets through the day in a productive, positive manner meeting the goals that have been set. If everyone remembers their role and fulfills their duties - - with just the right amount of "control" - -the community & its operations will be well served.

Source: Association Times