HOA Strategic

It's called framing your message. Where you lay out in words what you want your audience to understand. It's what you want people to walk away with when they hear or read what you have to say. Let's say you're texting someone about record-setting, sizzling hot weather. And you text these two words...Stay cool! Will the person know you're talking about the weather in those two words? Will your text be understood or misunderstood?

The numbers are impressive. Some of the biggest retailers have as many as 5,000 store locations. The megabanks have 4,000 to 6,000 branches nationwide. But these numbers are small compared to the number of homeowner associations. There are more than 300,000 of them. HOAs are fascinating. Not only because of their ubiquitous presence nationwide, but because of the human dynamics in these communities within communities. The people elected to HOA boards come from all walks of life. Some may be business owners or managers. Maybe they're in high tech or construction. Or something else entirely. Some are in the workforce. Others are not. There are stay-at-home dads and moms. And retirees. These volunteers, in other words, represent every conceivable demographic. And when they're elected to boards, it's imperative they they work as a team, because they bear important governing and fiduciary responsibilities for their communities. While they may have help from professional prop...

If you're out there communicating for an organization or a business, maybe your instincts are running on all cylinders. You're speed-shifting like a race car driver. In this case, taking in and processing questions. And then deciding what to say. But it's unknown factors that are fascinating and worrisome. Who's good at speed-shifting? Board members? Property managers? Why is this important? Communication slip-ups generally cost time and money. Someone has to spend time unwinding problems resulting from something said or something written. It's a cost that creeps up on organizations and businesses.

 "Big corporations have whole teams of people handling PR and communication, figuring out something to say when something must be said. When things go wrong. Homeowner associations, on the other hand, usually can't spend homeowners' money on PR and communication." According to a Forbes article last year, "PR firms charge anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000/month...paying for PR is absolutely crazy," said Neil St. Clair in the March article. So what happens when something goes haywire at a homeowners association? When angry homeowners are pounding the board or property manager with difficult questions, or when HOAs make headline news? (Thoughts about PR and HOAs in the booklet, At Least Some PR )

When reporters asked San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich how he'd cope after his team's surprising defeat in the NBA playoffs, the coach said: "It's the way life goes. NASA discovered all those habitable planets the other day. Did you guys see that?...1,200 habitable planets. And then last night somebody lost a basketball game..." It's refreshing when something is said differently from what we're used to hearing most of the time. But you can't flip a switch and become a Gregg Popovich. Saying things differently isn't easy to do. It takes skill, experience and instinct. And sensing the right moment to make your point. A few things to keep in mind if you're speaking on behalf of your homeowners association.

News media love disputes. Because they can do stories about them. That's why they have the word -- ACTION -- in their name. There's ACTION 10 News on channel 10s throughout the country. Or there's ACTION 12 or 20. And the words -- WE INVESTIGATE! Disputes can happen anywhere, especially at homeowner associations. Can they be avoided? With at least some communication, maybe they can...homeowner-to-association and association-to-homeowner. More often than not, disputes happen when there's some failure to communicate. When a homeowner just does something that isn't normally done without checking first. Without simply asking, Hey! Can I do this? Would it be okay? For just a short time? Or when an association fails to carefully explain reasons why one thing or another can't be done, to maybe tamp things down before there's a red alert. Having to unravel things when ACTION 10, 12 or 20 is coming at you is no fun. It's time-consuming. It's a real ...

Can you believe all the news about a homeowners association and a drought? C'mon! Does a California HOA letting homeowners know they need to spruce up drought-dried lawns really warrant national coverage? Honest to god, this story ran in newspapers as distant from California as Washington DC. And on TV stations all over the country. Even on a major network's early a.m. show.  The media DO tend to catapult stuff into the stratosphere. The headlines are quite evocative. Like: "What drought? East Bay community orders homeowners to green up"; and "Upscale California neighborhood bans brown lawns despite drought"; and "This gated community insists California's drought  is over, wants green lawns again." And then there's this lead paragraph in a newspaper article: "Raise your hand if you have ever lived in a community with a homeowners association. Raise your other hand if you ever wanted to punch your HOA in the nose. That's ...