HOA Strategic

If you're serving on a homeowners association board and you are laser-focused on prudent spending of association funds and you are working diligently to keep your HOA's budget on track, maybe what you're seeing right now in government is driving you up the wall? With people at high levels in government spending all that money on office furniture, special doors, travel and all the rest! C'mon!! It must be tough seeing that sort of thing when you're committed to prudent financial oversight at your HOA. When every penny counts.

Mother Nature stays on message when a delegation of trees wants to know what's up with weird weather. When a Winter heat wave hit northern California, recently, with temperatures soaring some 30 degrees above normal, "Perhaps an update from Mother Nature was needed," according to an article in The Pilot, a community association publication. "So, imagine plum trees, crab apples and a Scotch broom or two appointing a representative to get on the horn with the boss. And the next thing you know, the call's getting routed to Nature HQ's C-suite" and a plum tree, the delegation's "designated spokesperson" says: "We're a bit confused"...With "such unseasonably warm weather, we're breaking out in blossoms sooner than expected. We were caught off guard." That's when, after thanking the plum tree "for bringing this to our attention" and saying "We take your concerns very seriously," nature'...

It's words that cause some of the biggest screw-ups. It's the way people string words together. Even experienced people in businesses and organizations screw up communication. And when they do, unwinding screw-ups more often than not is costly. How is it that even experienced people mess up words? It's often three things: Word choice, tone and failing to see -- or ignoring -- red flag warnings. Word choice goes without saying, you might say. It's words that send the wrong message, words that might be misconstrued. And using words with an unintended tone, maybe derisive, indifferent or rancorous language. Missing or ignoring red flags is a third cause of communication screw-ups. Especially when word choice and tone are off kilter. And missing potentially problematic things, as well, that could have or should have been anticipated.

Can words in meeting minutes influence perception? For example, the choice of words in these hypothetical sentences: During its annual HOA walk-through, the architectural committee looked for architectural violations . Or: During its annual HOA walk-through, the architectural committee evaluated possible architectural issues .

Is it possible to be cordial, but firm? For us over many years in crisis communication dealing with people in the news media, being cordial, but firm, has worked okay, much of the time. Editors and reporters can be tough, just like people you may be dealing with if you're on an HOA board or you're a property manager. Big things can be irritating. Little things sometimes as well. Being both cordial and firm, what does it take to be able to be both as you're dealing with people? We could go on and on, but it would be interesting to hear from you out there in Linkedin land, to toss this around a little bit.

"In city hall and in local government, you have to get things done without drama," Lexington, Kentucky Mayor Jim Gray explained recently in Politico. It's much the same for volunteers elected to HOA boards and property managers, isn't it? Like mayors, they "have to get things done without drama." So, when HOA residents walk up to their mailboxes at night and lights automatically go on, that's infrastructure doing what it's meant to do. The same for street lights at HOAs, and common area irrigation systems, and recreational facilities, and the list goes on. Getting things done managing all the infrastructure at HOAs, hopefully without drama, is what people serving HOA communities do. You know...like mayors.