Your HOA board has a lot of responsibility for the community, and they can make a lot of changes for the better if they are effective. However, an ineffective board will only keep the community stagnant. If you’re having trouble improving your board’s effectiveness, check out these three tips that can help.
Follow the Code of Ethics
One of the biggest ways you can ensure your board is effective is by ensuring it is ethical. They may think they are being ethical, but if any board member is making biased or selfish decisions, they are not helping the HOA. Above all, the board’s job is to make decisions that better the community. Even if they don’t personally like a decision, they must be able to look at it objectively to determine if it is good for the association. If it is, then they must be able to suppress their personal opinions and vote with the association’s interests in mind.
Communicate With Homeowners
Sometimes, communicating with homeowners can be stressful, especially if they are complaining, but it is important for the board to keep everyone involved in what is happening within the association. It’s important to be up front with homeowners. If there is a change coming in the next few months that affects them, tell them soon. Don’t wait until the last minute, they’ll feel disrespected. Also, make sure any communications are clear and concise. Homeowners don’t need to know every tiny detail that leads to a decision. They just need to know the important facts, or else you’re going to bore them or raise more questions.
Be United
Even when everyone makes decisions with the association’s best interests at heart, there are going to be disagreements. You may think a specific decision will hurt the association, but others may believe it will benefit the community. However, even when this occurs, once the decision is made, you must be united again. Don’t go and tell homeowners that you disagreed and think the decision is stupid, or badmouth the other board members. You may think that’s making you more likable to homeowners, but it’s just making them lose faith in the board as a whole.
For your HOA to thrive, you need an effective board. However, boards are made up of human beings, and they aren’t perfect. These three tips, however, will help ensure your board runs a little more effectively.
