Retaining Your Good Community Association Manager

I’m sometimes asked why there is so much turnover in the community association management field. Why do so many managers quit, leave the industry and change careers? Why is it so difficult to retain good, quality individuals as managers?

My management company has been in this business for over 38 years; to improve our service and retain employees, we conduct exit surveys with every individual who decides to leave our company. Over and over, the reasons are hauntingly the same; it’s not the workload, or their co-workers, but it’s the difficulty found in not being able to please certain board members.

As community association management professionals, we've all encountered community association board members who were difficult to work with. Fortunately, they represent a small percentage of all community association board members. Overall, I have the utmost respect for community association board members and applaud them for their willingness to volunteer their time to run their association. The vast majority of board members with whom we work are demanding yet reasonable, dedicated in their service and talented, amiable people.

I know that the job of a board member can sometimes be viewed as a thankless one, offering no salary, little appreciation, long hours, occasional harassment and sometimes even legal exposure. Serving on the board involves running a corporation, including financial planning, learning to interact with other board members and making decisions on behalf of the best interest of all homeowners. These elected volunteers can find themselves unpopular for increasing assessments and disciplining property owners by enforcing the community association rules. However, maintaining the association grounds and enforcing rules can pay off, as it generally serves to increase the market value of everyone's property.

Unfortunately, we do have some “difficult” board members. They usually also have problems working with us as well as most of the other board members and many of the homeowners. Since this type of individual is sometimes the most vocal person on the board, he or she often takes charge of the association meetings and can leave the rest of the board sitting on the sidelines, not taking part in the discussion or decision-making. In some cases, the reasonable people on the board decide to resign. I’ve heard a resigning member say, “Hey, I’m just a volunteer, so I can just quit. It’s not worth the battle, and who needs the headache?”

These few “difficult” individuals often have chosen to treat their management company as adversaries rather than fellow team members. Their approach is to question everything for the sake of questioning everything. They're not looking for rational explanations; instead, they're looking for a fight. They expect the worst of the management company, community manager and fellow board members instead of realizing that, through team effort acting in the best interests of their association, they will enhance the lives of their residents and the property values in their community.
They view getting their way is their job and even appear energized by causing conflict. Managers and fellow board members learn to dread board meetings, knowing that the difficult board member will do his or her best to disrupt and distract rather than focus on necessary decision-making and leadership skills.

Difficult people have some common traits. Can you identify with any of these?

Their attitude is “I’m out to get you” or “you’re out to get me.”
They always want more evidence or information, but never have enough.
They set false standards and reject the facts.
Their own research is biased or purely subjective.
They are skilled at intimidation.
They are highly emotional, often thinking with their heart, not their head.
They behave selfishly.

The job of the manager depends on the support and cooperation of the board. If you see a “difficult” individual taking control of your board, you can do things to make a difference. There are usually 5 to 7 board members; which means each volunteer – including you - can have input in decisions and that your opinion counts. It is your collective association government and if you choose to stand up and be counted, you can tremendously support your manager’s and other board members’ efforts. You were elected to serve your membership and you should exercise your right and obligation to be heard. Sometimes it may seem easier not to speak up or disagree with the difficult person, but you may be surprised to learn that many other board members share your views and feelings.

We know that in addition to having a good group of board members, it takes a special type of person to be a community manager. The best professional community managers possess extensive people and administrative skills. They increase the market value of the communities they manage by working with the board to control expenses while properly maintaining the common areas and adhering to a preventive maintenance schedule that adds desirability and extra worth to the community.

Effective managers understand the principles of human resources, contracting, accounting, psychology, insurance, physical maintenance, education, government relations, board management, construction and law.

Effective community managers share the following traits:

They want to achieve customer satisfaction.
They care about making a difference.
They always go out of their way to make sure that the owners are taken care of.
They understand that their role is to support the board and guide them in the appropriate direction
They eagerly work behind the scenes to make sure the job is done right, credit the board and committees for succcess.
They strive for quality and are terrific at job planning and organization.
They work constantly to improve and are responsive, upbeat and friendly.
They are tireless motivators with perpetual patience.
They are willing to assist as team players.
They are reliable, steady and consistent.
They routinely go the extra mile to get the job done, and go above and beyond the call of duty.
They have a great attitude and are always helpful and dependable.
They deliver professional results and are terrific with people.
They have an unequaled ability to handle any job in a fast, efficient manner.

Fortunately, many community managers demonstrate these traits day after day. Managers working together with positive, functional boards is the ideal environment in which to optimize the success of your community.

Eleanor Hugus
CEO
N.N. Jaeschke Inc.
San Diego, CA