Clear communication is key

By Roland Franz, General Manager, Body Corporate Headquarters Strata Consulting Services (Qld)

Clear and effective communication protocols are essential for smooth operations and harmonious living within strata communities.

1. These protocols, when followed diligently, ensure that all stakeholders — owners, committee members, the building manager, and the body corporate manager — remain on the same page. This fosters transparency, efficiency, and confidence. Conversely, neglecting these protocols can lead to confusion, misunderstandings, and conflict.

The benefits

1. Enhanced transparency: Effective communication protocols ensure that all stakeholders are wellinformed about decisions and actions taken by the body corporate. When correspondence and enquiries are directed through the appropriate channels — namely the building manager and the body corporate manager — it establishes a central point of contact, ensuring information is disseminated accurately and consistently. This transparency builds confidence among owners, committee members and residents.

2. Streamlined decisionmaking: The building manager and body corporate manager provide a conduit for communication and action based on their specific role. While the building manager attends to maintenance issues, the body corporate manager oversees administrative matters, provides legislative advice, and collates information for the committee, ensuring informed decision making. These clear protocols minimise miscommunication, enabling decisions to be informed, accurate, and compliant with legislation.

3. Efficient conflict resolution: Effective communication protocols can significantly reduce the occurrence of conflict, disagreements or misunderstandings. By directing enquiries and complaints through the body corporate manager, issues are promptly and professionally addressed. The body corporate manager can mediate disputes, clarify rules, and ensure all parties are heard, leading to more amicable resolutions.

4. Consistent record-keeping: Proper communication protocols ensure that all correspondence is documented and stored systematically. This consistent record-keeping creates a reliable history of decisions, actions, and communications, providing a clear reference for future enquiries or disputes. This supports accountability and transparency within the body corporate.

5. Improved community relations: Clear, consistent, and professional communication fosters a sense of community and cooperation among owners, committee members, and the building manager.

When everyone feels heard and respected, it cultivates positive relationships, creating a harmonious living environment. Effective communication protocols also support the committee in making decisions that reflect the best interests of all owners and residents in the community.

The likely outcome from ignoring communication protocols

1. Misinformation and misunderstandings: Without a central point of contact, information can become fragmented and inconsistent. Conflicting messages can lead to confusion, frustration, and a loss of trust in the body corporate's management.

2. Inefficient or poor decision-making: When communication protocols are not followed, the decision-making process can become chaotic. Important information may be overlooked, misinterpreted or unintentionally omitted. This can result in poorly informed decisions, causing delays, increased costs, and suboptimal outcomes for the community.

3. Escalation of conflicts: Without a structured process for addressing complaints and disputes, issues can fester and grow, leading to more significant disagreements and tensions within the community. This can create a hostile living environment and damage relationships among residents.

4. Lack of accountability: Improper documentation of communications makes it difficult to hold individuals accountable for their actions and decisions. This lack of accountability undermines trust and transparency, as there is no clear record of what was communicated and decided. It also complicates dispute resolution, as there is no reliable reference for past communications.

5. Decreased community cohesion: Poor communication creates feelings of isolation and disconnection among residents. When owners and committee members do not feel informed or involved, it fosters division within the committee that can spread throughout the strata community. This lack of cohesion can undermine efforts to build a supportive and collaborative living environment, leading to a less enjoyable and more contentious strata community experience.

A case study: The impact of miscommunication

Consider a scenario where the building manager or caretaker receives instructions from one committee member to trim the hedges to a specific height. Later, another committee member provides conflicting instructions. This creates confusion for the gardener and potential delays in the work. Community members may then feel frustrated, either due to perceived neglect of their preferences or dissatisfaction with the results. This example illustrates the importance of having a clear communication protocol where all instructions are funnelled through the building manager or body corporate manager to avoid such conflicts and ensure consistency and clarity. The negative impact of miscommunication can be magnified for larger or more significant changes, such as repainting a building. In such cases, errors can result in costly rectifications and dissatisfaction among residents and owners.

The importance of committee consultation: A unified committee ensures all members are informed and involved in decision-making processes. When individual members act unilaterally, decisions may not reflect the community's collective interests, causing division and resentment among committee members and owners. When decisions are discussed and agreed upon by the entire committee, transparency, accountability, and a sense of shared responsibility is promoted. This leads to better governance and a more cohesive community.

Clear and effective communication protocols are vital for the successful management of bodies corporate. These protocols enhance transparency, streamline decision-making, facilitate conflict resolution, ensure consistent recordkeeping, and improve community relations and living experience. Neglecting such protocols can lead to misinformation, inefficient decision-making, escalated conflicts, a lack of accountability, reduced community cohesion and eroded living experience and community spirit resulting in a negative reputation for the scheme.

With clear and structured communication, bodies corporate can create a more harmonious and wellmanaged living environment.

A guideline to “clear and effective communication” for bodies corporate

In any situation, or when you have a question or request for maintenance, the first point of contact should always be the building manager or the body corporate manager. As a general rule: all maintenance issues should be directed to the building manager, while all other matters should be directed to the body corporate (strata) manager. The issue can then be addressed via the appropriate channels taking instructions from the committee. If neither the building manager nor the body corporate manager can be contacted, and the matter is urgent, the next point of contact should be a committee member. However, it is essential for owners and residents to understand that a committee member does not have the authority to act alone. Unless a prior direction has been provided by the full committee, the committee member should refer the matter to the committee for a collective decision. All communication should ideally be in writing, with email being the most convenient and efficient option. This prevents misinterpretation or differing perceptions of requests or responses, ensuring clarity and consistency in communication.