Running Your HOA as You Would a Business
As anyone who has ever started or taken over a business will tell you, it’s not easy. Keeping a business running takes many hats, and there are no shortcuts to success. Making a business successful and keeping it so year after year is even more of a challenge.
All of this is also true of a homeowners’ association, and some of the keys to success are common to both. For example, an HOA and a business both need great leaders. Someone to step up and make the big decisions, decide where best interests lie, and keep everyone engaged and motivated.
Not only is appointing great leaders important, but fostering great leaders is too. Those in charge will eventually step down for one reason or another, and it’s important to have someone waiting in the wings to ensure a smooth transition.
Another common key element is fiscal responsibility. Just as everyone at a business likely feels like they should be paid more, association members probably feel that more should be spent on the property. But a business can’t function if it’s not making a profit, and an association can’t thrive if someone isn’t closely watching the purse strings to make sure money is being spent wisely.
One more common key is keeping people happy. For a business, it’s employees, and for an association, it’s residents, but it all boils down to the same thing — if the people are happy, they’re not motivated to leave, and it makes things so much easier to manage.
Whether it’s a business or an association, success will depend on these and myriad other factors. But approaching the management of an association the same way you’d approach a business is an important first step toward keeping things running smoothly.
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