How to Become a More Efficient Community Association Board Member

Whether you are an experienced board member or thinking about becoming one, having a foundation for effective community association board leadership is important.

By becoming a community association board member, you step up to take on positions of service and responsibility. You’re now expected to anticipate issues, solve problems, meet the expectations of residents, and protect property values.

Here are five important skills to possess as a board member:

1. Governing Documents and Roles & Responsibilities. To start you on the right path, you must understand the legal authority for your association. You must have a thorough understanding of the duties and responsibilities of each board member and the professionals who are available to assist you.
2. Communications, Meetings and Volunteerism. You should also learn how to maximize volunteer involvement in your community association by improving board communications, conducting effective meetings, and building community spirit.
3. Fundamentals of Financial Management. As a minimum, you should learn the fundamentals of association financial management, including guidelines for protecting your association’s assets, preparing a budget, planning for the future, and collecting assessments. Since the tragic condo collapse in Miami, many board members have realized the importance of risk mitigation and reserve studies.
4. Professional Advisors and Service Providers. Because putting together the right team to support your association can be challenging, you should seek practical tips on finding, evaluating, and hiring qualified professional advisors and service providers. Visiting CAI’s forum for Community Associations is a good tool for such information.
5. Association Rules and Conflict Resolution. You should learn the guidelines for making reasonable association rules, enforcing rules fairly and resolving conflict effectively.

Since the tragic Surfside condo collapse, residents are asking for more transparency from their elected board members. Board members can use Concierge Plus as a platform for keeping residents in the loop with regards to anything related to their community.

Below are few Concierge Plus features that can help you become a transparent board member:

• Resident Announcements
  You can send out notices of upcoming meetings using our Announcements module (as well as posting those events on the Community Calendar). Concierge Plus announcements can be delivered to residents by email, SMS, or even through an automated phone call based on the resident’s opt-in preferences. This will save you from having to slip printed materials under your residents’ doors.

• File Sharing
  You can share important documents such as a Reserve Study with unit owners using our File Sharing feature. This is a password-protected repository for important documents and is a great place to store articles of incorporation, meeting minutes, rules and regulations.
• Discussion Forum
  Our Discussion Forum feature allows residents and staff to discuss various topics. The forum increases resident engagement by allowing residents to pitch-in with their views on any topic related to their community.
• Virtual Owner Meetings & AGMs
  As the pandemic eases and we resume in-person gatherings, hybrid meetings are slowly becoming a permanent part of how community associations function.
  Via our all-in-one virtual meeting platform integration with GetQuorum, you can easily add HD web conferencing, automate attendance, enable eligible attendees to vote online, and much more.

Concierge Plus

Community association board members should serve with the best interests of their communities in mind. The law imposes a level of care and loyalty, owed by board members to their associations. It is vital that you receive proper education and training in order to understand your obligations and fulfill your fiduciary duty to the association.

Book a meeting with our experts today, and see for yourself how thousands of board members across North America have become more informed and effective using our platform.