Condominium Boards
The Road to Effectiveness
Did you know that getting people excited about sitting on their condominium’s Board of Directors can be a bit of a tough sell – honestly, who could blame anyone for being reluctant to make the commitment? Condominium boards have earned themselves a bad rep. All that Owners hear about are the horror stories: hours of work, mountains of thankless emails and drawn-out board meetings… Sure sounds like fun, right?
The truth is, that sitting on a board can often be a rewarding, engaging experience, and really shouldn’t involve that much work at all.
The path to a successful board is simple:
Engagement ~ Be part of the solution instead of complaining about the issues… If you commit, then make sure you participate. Nothing is more frustrating than Board members who sit there for the whole meeting and do not participate.
Code of Conduct ~ Codes of conduct, confidentiality, and ethics are a must. Everyone needs to be courteous and work together in order to get things done all the while being cognizant of the requirement for confidentiality.
Goals & Priorities ~ It is important that all the Board members work towards a common understanding of the priorities and goals, all the individual agendas should be checked in at the door.
Manageable workload ~ Over filling the Agenda gets no one there in a hurry… Every board member should have an area of responsibility to avoid burnouts, be sure to come to the meeting prepared.
Schedule in advance ~ Scheduling the meeting in advance should avoid a lack of quorum and the frustration that comes with it.
Communication ~ Lack of communication is the most frequent complaint from Owners who want to know what is going. Most owners do not understand what the board does and are none too happy when the contributions are going up. Communicate with the owners as often as possible, the pill will be easier to swallow.
Should you have any questions or concerns relative to your specific Condominium, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Nathalie Skyrie, CPM®, ARM®
Senior Condominium Manager
D: 403-813-3171