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EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS FOR ASSOCIATIONS
July 1, 2001
A common problem associated with community association
living is the lack of, or the perception that associations
are inconsistent in their communications with their members
and residents. This often leads to misunderstandings, as
any official business is filtered, left for interpretation
and usually wrong as it is spread throughout the community.
The following are some ideas for effective communications
from the Board of Directors and management the owners and
residents.
All correspondence should be acknowledged within a
reasonable period of time. A reply to the letter should be
provided to the sender, even if the problem, inquiry or
situation cannot be resolved or answered. The fact that
the letter is being acknowledged and that someone is
concerned enough about this situation to respond, is the
proper thing to do. To do otherwise, sends a subliminal
message to an owner that no one cares about them and their
problem.
If the association has an email address, this should be
advertised in all official correspondence and used as
another tool for the association to communicate with their
residents. The email should be checked every business day
and due to the immediacy of the tool, requires a quicker
response time to be performed.
The association should have an official area, or areas on
the site for all notices and announcements to be posted.
This should be an area that most people go to on a daily
basis, such as a pool area or at mailboxes. In addition,
to posting notices in areas on the site where most of the
residents will see them, it is suggested that the
association have their Board of Directors meetings
consistently on the same day of the month in a location
somewhere on, or near the site. If at all possible, the
association should also mail the notice of meetings or
piggyback them onto a newsletter mailing. This will help
to reinforce the importance of the meeting and that the
association wants its members to attend. Whenever, the
association is posting or mailing a meeting notice, it is
suggested that the agenda be posted with it, as this will
show all important matters to be addressed at the meeting.
Minutes of meetings are vitally important to the
membership, as it is an official record of the proceedings
that have taken place, which will ultimately affect the
membership. Minutes should be posted as soon as possible
and if at all possible placed in the association's
newsletter and mailed to the membership. This will help to
foster a sense of openness within the community from the
Board of Directors to the membership.
Newsletters are a tremendous way for the association to
communicate with their owners and tenant residents. A
newsletter is used to help inform the readers of events,
problems and accomplishments of the association. In
addition, the association will use the newsletters to
reinforce and keep the membership acquainted with the
documents, rules and regulations. The newsletters should
be sent out consistently at the same time and will help to
reinforce the short term and long term objectives of the
Board of Directors.
The association should always announce any new resolutions
and any new rules that are promulgated by the Board of
Directors. The announcement would be posted at the
appropriate area on site, mailed to the membership and
again, printed in the newsletter as back-up to the event.
If the resolution or the rules will affect any resident
tenants, they should also be mailed this as well. It
should never be assumed that a landlord would pass this
information on to their tenants.
The association's telephone should have a messaging
feature, whereby the message can be easily changed to
provide callers with vital information concerning the
association. This could be of the nature of pool closings,
meeting times and dates or major repairs/improvements that
will affect the membership. In many instances, the message
may be just the information that the caller is inquiring
about. This feature will help to eliminate many callers.
There should someone in charge of changing the message as
the events warrant it.
An association website is the ultimate community
association communication tool. A website can provide
owners, residents and prospective buyers in a community
association, with an active (and interactive) way to
communicate 24 hours a day. The website can have the
documents and rules on it, forms for architectural
approvals, work orders, meeting notices, minutes,
announcements and reminders. The site should be easy to
read and navigate. Prospective buyers can gain a great
deal of knowledge about that community by reading the
community association's website.
Another new tool for an association that has bulk cable, is
to have a separate community channel that will provide
association news, announcements and meeting information 24
hours a day for the residents only.
Overall, consistent and effective communications can help
community associations to operate more cohesively.
Copyright 2007© Associated Property Management of the Palm Beaches, Inc.
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