Partnerships in Community Management

Partnerships are a voluntary mutual agreement between two or more parties in which everyone works together to achieve a common goal or undertake a specific task which involves sharing risks, responsibilities, resources, competencies and benefits.

We work in partnerships in all aspects of our job. We are partnered with our boards, homeowners and vendors to provide a comfortable atmosphere of living within the community association. The partners all share a common interest to bring a concept of the total being greater than the sum of the individual parts. The vendor who succeeds at a project will help to make the manager successful in the eyes of the community as well as the board. The board, in turn, will develop trust and respect for the manager and the vendor.

The manager is the leader. As such, the manager must have understanding of the parties involved and what is the ultimate goal. This is many faceted, especially with the various issues involving an association from budgeting, maintenance issues and future improvements. Just dealing with the various personalities on the board is a full time job. The manager becomes the teacher thereby educating the vendor as to the needs of the community as well as educating the board as to their responsibilities to the community.

To have a successful partnership, you must clarify the common interest and have all parties in agreement. There will be a mutual dependency of sharing the risks, responsibilities as well as the successes and failures of the venture. Everyone must work together. Blaming one or the other will lead to the failure of the partnership.

The manager may be the facilitator but all parties have a stake in a positive outcome. Each must be the cheerleader for the others so that there is a positive ongoing working relationship. This will lead to long term successes with your board and vendor. Maintaining good communication that includes a structure for decision making and resolving conflict will allow the process to move with relative ease. Finally, the definitive outcome will be to have established respect and trust between all of the parties.

The overall winner of a successful partnership will be the homeowners - - along with the value of the community.

by Association Times' Staff Writer