OK… this topic could cover a huge number of perspectives and I expect to share my thoughts from several of them over time. There is a new California Law SB528, effective November 2007, which addresses posting agendas and board decision making. In this blog, I am specifically talking about working documents and internal communication processes rather than the legal aspects of that law.
One of the reasons that I moved from being a board member to becoming a manager was the amount of time that I spent working with an every rotating series of account managers. I was an Organizational Development Consultant at the time, working from home and trying to balance all those activities that a small, home based consultant has to do: marketing, networking, client meetings, program development and delivery, invoicing, and the normal office tasks of filing, etc. Then, there was volunteering on the board and, eventually, assuming the mantle of President.
Over the span of 2 years, we had 4 different account managers. Given my bias for organizational systems, it made me crazy that we didn’t get manager’s reports before meetings, tasks went months without follow up, new account managers had more questions than answers about the property, and “training” the account manager, I felt, fell to me. In 1987 I offered to resign from the board and manage the association – one I still manage today.
My first task was to organize board communications via the Manager’s Report. True to meeting management principles, I created a format that simply expanded the agenda categories and tracked items within them from month to month until they were completed. I used the same format to transform the Manager’s Report to Minutes, purging extraneous details and recording motions and board direction/decisions. Following is a basic Agenda on the cover of the manager’s report from 2003 – a format that has changed little over time:
7:00 PM Call to Order
7:02 PM Review Manager's Report
1. Board Business
2. Financial
3. Architectural Controls
4. General Business/Violations
5. Landscape & Maintenance
6. New Business
8:00 PM Adjournment
Inside the Manager’s Report, each category (1 – 6) is expanded to reflect the business of the meeting. A simple example of how this might work is that under Board Business, item 1 is always to review and approve the minutes of the prior meeting. Item 2 might be “recruiting new board members”. This item will remain on the Manager’s Report until new members are recruited (including who is responsible for approaching candidates, etc.). It will report on board applications received, transition activities, and election of board positions once new members are elected by the membership. Once all related activities have been completed, the item would be closed and not appear on future reports. (Note: I am specifically not addressing what information would be transferred into the minutes here since the Manager’s Report is a working document and the actual Minutes are a legal document.)
Item 3 under Board Business is usually to review the 90 day calendar. One of the biggest benefits to having an HOA specific management database (www.campro.us) is that instead of reporting on activities within the Manager’s Report, I can now attach a simple report. The reports developed in the database were driven by the items I used to include in the Manager’s Report, so the 90 day calendar includes upcoming meetings and events, contracts coming up for renewal and major scheduled maintenance activities and helps give the board and management a “heads up” on upcoming tasks.
These reports also help the board understand the scope of work completed by management without making the Manager’s Report excessively long. Yes, I know this is self-serving, but one of the problems I think boards have is in truly understanding just how much managers do that goes unacknowledged. One report includes Architectural Approvals (anything outside standard specifications would be on the Manager’s Report). One is Completed Maintenance; one, Outstanding Work Orders. Not only does the board see that you are on top of taking care of the property, they also get to see who does, what, how much it cost and what kinds of maintenance is being done.
A CC&R Activities Report let’s the board see how many letters were generated, how many members complied with requests, and when needed, specific history on a problem unit or issue. This is really helpful when there is a board hearing and a homeowner is trying to tell the board they are the “only one” being picked on about their dog barking, for example. When the manager can cite that 30 letters have been written to owners about dog issues over the last 2 years, these homeowners suddenly lose their steam.
The Manager’s Report is one of the primary methods of communication we have with our Board. I believe the more informed a board is, the more trust develops between board members and the manager. The more detail you can provide, the better the understanding and communication. And yes, it is a balancing act to provide that level of detail without overwhelming your board members.
How do you manage it? Whether your system is a word document, a table, a spreadsheet, or a custom database, or combination, this level of communication can pay big dividends in helping create the sense of an informed and effective team. Next blog, I’ll discuss more on how I use the Manager’s Report to create meeting minutes and continuity between meetings.
I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Your questions can also help me direct my blog. We often work in isolation so this is a way we can also share things that work for each of us. Please email me at Gayle@campro.us if you have anything to share.
Gayle J. Hasley,
Community Association Manager
Community Association Homeowner
gayle@campro.us
www.campro.us
