My last post was about condo boards creating committees to govern and manage a condominium corporation and how effective committees can be to ensure that you have the best people to tackle a problem but it creates community when everyone works together to solve problems and then everyone wins. A condo board must be willing to be inclusive in order to maintain a successful building. Why would a board struggle to deal with issues that are beyond their scope when there are people living in the building who have the knowledge? Think about it...how silly is it that there are people sitting and waiting and able to assist the board and they struggle daily to complete a project or task that they are incapable to completing for any reason when all they had to do was reach out to their neighbors and ask them to help. All owners in a condo corporation have the same stake in how the corporation operates. Utilize your resources. It's not just poor governance it's bad management and leadership and puts the corporation in jeopardy. If a board is unable to create a community then the owners need to step in and demand action from their board. In order to be successful everyone needs to understand their strengths and weaknesses and a condo board is not different. A condo board needs to look around an evaluate the skills of and strengths and weaknesses of their board and once they've identified reach out to fill up the weaknesses. This is the only key to good leadership and the only way to be successful. A board of directors is not an exclusive club and shouldn't be treated that way. They should stay away from creating an us and them attitude the board should be able to turn around year after year with different members elected by the owners to bring a different perspective, different skills, knowledge and experience and include as many owners in committees as possible to work together to maintain a successful board of directors to create a strong successful corporation.
We see too many boards using the same divisive language and developing the same attitudes. Boards often refer to "we" as the board or continue to make excuses because a board is a "volunteer" position. Well we is the building the owners everyone who owns part of the corporation. Creating a us and them mentality creates division and anger within the condo community and creates no benefits. Condo boards need to understand they volunteered to serve the community and the owners and they are responsible to them for their actions and activity not the other way around. If a board member is not concerned what the owners in their building then you as owners need to re-set your board and start educating them.
How ineffective and ridiculous is it that a board is struggling to work through a problem and someone living right next to them may be an expert in that problem. The neighbor may have dealt with the same situation in the past or in their everyday life so why you would struggle and put the corporation is jeopardy and not reach out and ask for help from people who can help? If a board member is overwhelmed and unable to manage the task them they need to reach out to other owners to form a committee or step down and reach out to the ownership to find owners who can complete the task that's the reason condo boards were developed. I'm not preaching singing camp fires songs together - its a simple solution I think they call it teamwork! In a condo corporation the owners are a team the board needs to change their attitude and understand everyone is in the same position, their actions and inactions affect everyone in the building. So bring the best team members forward to deal with problems and you have a great team and a great building.
Successful communities are inclusive and listen to the requests of their owners and become accountable to them. Contact us today if you would like more information on committees or assistance with educational tools and ideas to help your board become more inclusive and work together to create your successful community and corporation.
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