A Condo Board of Directors, part of the democratic system

Your condo board of directors works for the owners of the corporation so why do so many boards tend to become dictatorships or autocratic and ignore the needs of the owners?

Condo boards should have open communication with their owners and not only rely on the property manager. It's important that the owners know the board is working for them and not for the property manager.

Decision making is so much faster when you can go to one person and they quickly make a decision based on their opinion and everyone moves on...right? Yes but No, democracy isn't efficient. Democracy takes time. Democracy requires discussion, information, facts, back up, investigation and concession which is why it takes time and patience but is the only way to govern and manage a condo corporation. A board of directors is formed to govern and manage a building on behalf of the owners. It's impossible to have all owners in a building making day to day decisions on every issue. If every owner was required to vote on every issue nothing would ever get done and the building would be in chaos so a small group of people form the board to represent the owners of the corporation. A small group of people voted on by the owners because they represent the same interests, each board member should represent a small group of owners and advocates for that group of owners and their interests. Does this sound familiar? It should be very familiar because a condo board of directors represents the democratic system it's the same system and institution as all other levels of government from the city council, the legislature, the board of health, school boards, and other all elections of our leaders in our cities, provinces, states and countries.

When boards are making decisions about the day to day operations of a corporation or decisions about a special circumstances due to an event it is the obligation of the board to explain how and why they made their decisions. Boards represent the owners in a building, they serve the owners in a building so the owners wants and needs should be considered in every decision. If boards are not managing the board with the majority of the owners needs in mind and make different decisions then the board needs to explain to the owners why they made that decision. It is the responsibility of the board to report to the owners on every situation, event or decision made in regards to the corporation. If the board has received different information or facts then they need to report to the owners those facts and explain how they determined their decision. They need to share the information and explain their decision making process. Boards should never forget that majority rules so just because they don't like something the boards opinion should not matter unless it represents a portion of the owners opinion. A board of directors does not serve on a board for their own interests or to push their own wishes and desires or preferences onto a building. It is their responsibility to make intelligent and informed decisions in the best interests of the building and the majority of the owners. When the board is making decisions based on their preferences this is not a democratic board but rather an autocratic board of directors.

So why do boards become dictators? It seems so simple really, we practice democracy everyday. There are several reasons a board becomes autocratic or dictatorial, the first being that one person gets on the board and takes control and the other members are inexperienced or not that interested so they go along. Sometimes the other members are afraid to challenge for fear of retribution and of course there has never been a resource for board members to turn to in these types of situations until we started our company. More often than not the property manager quietly moves the board in an unhealthy direction or doesn't challenge the member who moves it to become more dictatorial because it serves their purpose. It's faster and easier for the property manager to only have to deal with one person who makes decisions, doesn't ask questions and lets the property manager run the building as they want. What an ideal situation! Wouldn't you like to work in a job where it doesn't matter what your service level is, your boss doesn't care if you don't respond to inquiries, your boss doesn't care if the job gets complete or you just forget to do something and you still get paid whatever you want? Whoo hoo what a job! The life of a property manager with a bad board is pretty great, you run everything and there is no accountability. Sometimes, boards are turned autocratic by one person who grabs control of the board. You may run into a board where people feel there is some kind of gain from being on the board, a certain status or they gain benefits through service providers etc. These types of boards do not last very long but leave a long path of destruction and financial troubles for the corporation. It often creates unqualified members who have never been involved or have knowledge of the important issues, can't analyze a situation and have no knowledge of historical events because one person has made all the decisions and controlled the board for years. A condo corporation is the same as any corporation or business, it doesn't sustain itself without experienced and knowledgeable management. If the corporation has been able to sustain itself for years with a dictatorial board the cracks will show when there is some kind of crisis that requires more than meeting once a month for an hour. It's times of crisis where the corporation becomes really affected the lack of leadership and an experienced board that knows how to deal with crisis negatively affects the corporation.

One Important Note: A board of directors that relies too heavily on the property manager runs the risk of being taken advantage of by it's service providers and potentially the property manager and other members of the board. A board must act as a check and balance on the property manager and rely on the property manager's expertise but not let them actually manage and govern the building. The board, all members of the board must actively be involved in the management of the building at all times to ensure accountability of the property manager and accountability and as a check and balance for each other as board members. This is difficult when you have a group of people who don't even know what they are supposed to do and how a board is supposed to operate.

We have some really great educational materials and tools we can develop specifically for new boards or boards or owners looking to work to ensure that your board is operating in the most efficient and democratic manner. Reach out today if you are experiencing difficulties with your board of directors. Our goal is to work with every board of directors in every condo building if we can to teach them or reteach them how to operate a successful democratic board of directors. A democratic board is the the only way to maintain a healthy well run building that maintains its property value.

We would love to come and audit your board! We monitor the day to day operations of your property manager and board and provide suggestions for improvement. We provide tools to assist with elections or the tools to adopt best practices, we develop templates specifically for you board as needed and have many more ideas to ensure that your board is operating at its most fair and efficient.