3 minute read
Diversify Your Skillset
By Andrew Hay, CAMEx, CCAM-ND.PM
I was once told that a perfect manager is someone who is a jack of all trades and a master of none, and there is certainly some truth to those words. As managers, it’s expected of us to sit in a board meeting and explain why a large special assessment is being levied, and on the same day, we have a two-hour onsite walk with a committee and a landscaper, a call with the CPA to finalize an annual review, and to top it all off, a company-wide meeting to understand how a virus causing a global pandemic is going to affect our communities and workplaces.
Managers and management companies are expected on the daily to handle properties and matters that are more complicated and complex than meets the eye, but more often than not, it’s difficult to quantify or even value these issues to our clients.
For us managers, it’s important to recognize the skills that you develop as your career progresses and to identify when those developing skills can be translated into a versatile and diverse skillset that can act as an aid in advancing your career.
For example: let’s say that you have a good handle on reserve components and reserve studies. Because you have that skillset under your belt, you are no longer just a manager. You are now also capable of being a professional Reserve Analyst and performing services relating to reserves for the company or association that you directly work for.
With a bit of certification and extra training, there are many tasks that managers administer daily that can be converted from everyday tasks into billable work. In order to diversify your skillset, try to look for opportunities within your day-to-day job. Doing so will not only increase your value and worth to both your company and your clients, but it will also be a powerful asset in helping you get that raise, promotion, or new job that you’ve been working towards.
Having trouble identifying opportunities either as a manager or management company? For managers, talk with your board members and residents about both their current and past experiences in the association and in other communities. It’s one thing to come up with an original idea and try to market it, but it’s another to draw on the experience of others to implement a community program or offering that you know has already had success in other communities.
For management companies, talk to your staff and find out what interests them or what topics come up regularly at meetings beyond the standard association discussions. Someone could be underperforming as an assistant or a manager, because their skillset does not fit their current position, but they could also be a rockstar at understanding financial statements and budgets.
Think! Is there an opportunity to create a position that fits that employee’s strengths while complimenting the weaknesses of others? Without talking to your employees and finding out what interests and motivates them (even if they are less than stellar at their current role), this is a question that would definitely be difficult to answer.
Management companies, ask yourself this: “How often do we overlook the potential of employees within our company and what opportunities are we missing out on to transform and expand that potential into practicality?” The answer is “too often.”
What services do your clients pay for that you believe your company can perform (e.g. tot lot inspections, fitness equipment review, reserve studies, inspection of elections for nonmanaged clients)? Is there any training needed to perform these services and what would the cost be for learning that new skill?
Instead of relying on our well-trained staff members and accessible in-house resources, we frequently look toward third parties to handle and perform certain tasks or services. It’s time to invest in our employees’ development, so they can bring true value to our businesses, helping us reach our bottom line.
We must continue to look for ways to diversify the skillsets of our employees and our service offerings, ultimately leading to better customer satisfaction and more profitable businesses.
Andrew Hay, CAMEx, CCAM-ND.PM
Andrew Hay, CAMEx, CCAM-ND.PM, is the Chief Operating Officer of The Helsing Group, Inc.
