You Are a Professional Manager – Show It

YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL MANAGER – SHOW IT! By lori storm, CCAM

By Lori R. Storm, CCAM

YOU HAVE DECIDED: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT IS YOUR CAREER

You understand what the job entails and you do it well. So, describe your job to me in two words. Are you an administrative assistant or a city manager?

One of the challenges I have faced over time, and one I continue to struggle with is the belief on the part of some association boards and some homeowners that I am their administrative assistant. They want me to take minutes, write letters, prepare reports, fix their problems and pay their bills. In order to do these things, they will tell me exactly what to do, how to do it and when it should be done. Why is this so? Do I not project the professional nature of my work properly? Do I get too close to folks and naturally want to make them happy, so I take on work outside my realm?

Start with Your Contract

First things first. Do you know what is specified in your contract with your client? What have you agreed to do for the agreed upon cost? If the answer is “sort of,” then it is time to dust that document off and make a clear list of what it states.

Now that you know what you have agreed to do, are you doing those things? If not, time to change your direction and get your actions in line with your contractual responsibilities. Next question. Are you performing tasks that fall outside the contract? If so, what are they? Get out that list and put them down. Then take a good

You are a Professional Manager

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look at these items. Do you do them rarely or routinely?

If you find yourself working outside your contract, you are not taking your job seriously and failing to assign value to the work you do. Do you have the extra time to wander outside the limits of your contract? Remember, it is the terms of the contract that you are required to perform.

So let’s say you’ve made your lists and looked them over. You conclude that those items you perform outside the bounds of those agreed to are essential or important to your board and your members. What is the professional to do? It is time to meet with your board and discuss whether they would like to modify the contract or have your duties shrink to stay within the agreed upon boundaries.

That is it in a nutshell and a surefire way to project your professional demeanor and your sense of value as a vital management professional. The time you spend negotiating a meaningful and clear contract will increase your sense of worth and convey to clients that they are dealing with a professional.

Highlight your Education

Here is where you get the opportunity to portray your professionalism. You are more aligned with a city manager than an administrative assistant. Just from experience, you have a knowledge of financial reporting and investments appropriate for your clients, HOA budget development and management, a working knowledge of a myriad of legal documents that affect HOAs, diplomatic and negotiating skills, contract management and crisis management. These things accumulate as you gain experience in the field. Your clients understand this subliminally, but may not be cognizant of these facts.

It is your job to bring this to the surface through a report to your board, whether it is weekly, at each meeting or less frequently. I recommend a semi-annual or annual report to the board outlining what you have done during the year. Those more frequent reports can get glossed over and forgotten. Put together an annual report, a resume of sorts, of the big projects done during the year, the accumulation of contracts managed, work orders and compliance issues you have resolved. I guarantee it will be eye-opening to both your clients and yourself.

So that covers your knowledge base and ongoing work, but what about your professional credentialing and continuing education? These things bring enormous value to the communities you manage but are often not highlighted. Many boards start with a standard of hiring a credentialed manager. It indicates that the person they hire has a basic understanding and working knowledge of all the things that encompass HOA management. But are you making them aware of the continuing education your engage in, the legal updates and seminars you attend to keep up on the current legislation and case law, new information and networking to ensure you include best practices for their community?

Whenever you take a class, hear a lecture or attend a seminar from a subject matter expert, let your boards know these things. If you discover something pertinent to that association, prepare a synopsis for your board to review. They can only appreciate and take advantage of your knowledge and education if they know you have it. You want your roofer to upgrade her knowledge of materials, practices, legislation and appreciate hearing that she is constantly working to keep informed in her industry. I can assure you that your board appreciates knowing this about you as well.

Do not hesitate to put this information in front of your

Project your Ethics and Attitude

Finally, you want to present a polished appearance in your wardrobe, your physical appearance and comportment. Your written documents should show an understanding of audience and tone and convey a firm grasp of written English. The way you speak during a meeting, on the phone and to the membership and board members one-on-one also impresses upon people your attitude. Make sure these things convey a professional attitude.

In addition to your attitude, you want to be trusted as a person who listens and considers what is best for your client in your dealings. Integrity and ethical behavior are the foundational principles of our industry. You are being entrusted with the harmony of a community and owner property values.

If you work within these parameters, your clients will respect you, trust you and treat you as the professional that you are.

Lori R. Storm, CCAM is a community manager with FirstService Residential California, LLC in Gold River.

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This has been a busy and productive year for CACM. As a “State of the Organization” address goes, I have much to report.

Your board of directors recently returned from our fourth board meeting followed by a day and half Strategic Visioning Retreat.

Highlights of our board meeting include reports from various board committees. For example, our Governance Committee, chaired by the board’s vice-chair John Cligny, CCAM, is responsible to review and report on a portion of our governing policies at each meeting and to make recommendations to the board for any policy amendments. This board commitment to our governance model ensures our policies remain relevant and current to our expectations and operational results.

The board also received a report from director Robin Romo, MCAM, chair of our Audit & Investment Committee on our organization’s investment portfolio and financial advisor review. The Audit & Investment Committee was recently formed by combining our Long Term Investment and Audit Committees for continuity of the organization’s finance review.

The Nominating Committee made its annual report to the board and placed a slate of seven candidate names for nomination to the CACM board ballot. The board adopted the Nominating Committee’s recommendation and the election of directors for 2017 is underway.

At the Strategic Visioning event, the board received a report on the outcomes of the Industry Characterization Study and the CACM Membership Survey. These reports provided insight in how our industry is perceived by our homeowner association clients and provided affirmation of industry trends already on our radar. CACM leadership will

be communicating greater details in upcoming communications about the member survey results and, importantly, the initiatives and focus that will come from the survey results. Thank you for your participation!

Earlier this year, I reported that the board allocated over $210,000 in reserve expenditures to provide infrastructure replacement of the organization’s phone and computer systems, membership data base system and new website development to advance our technology capabilities for our members and increase staff efficiency opportunities.

At the Strategic Visioning Retreat, the board received a report from each staff department on the successful launch of these technology and infrastructure improvements, how they impact our members’ ability to register for events, manage their membership information and connect with the CACM staff team. While no structural modification is without a glitch or two, the efforts of this team and final deliverables are impressive and all the while, they continued to meet the needs of an ongoing membership business enterprise, without missing a beat.

On behalf of the CACM Board of Directors, thank you to Dave Zepponi, CACM’s staff leadership and support team members for their continued support and service to our membership.

As the holidays approach, I wish each and every one of you a peaceful and joyful holiday season.

On behalf of the CACM Board, Kathryn Henricksen, CCAM Board Chair

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