Often, the best, most successful boards and communities share the same combination of habits and traits; all the while, the worst, most fleeting share similar qualities, as well. Case in point: there isn’t tremendous mystery in what actions make certain communities successful…and others complete failures.

“Whether you live in a small, close-knit neighborhood, a luxury gated community, a high-rise in the city, or a beach-front condo association, your HOA board will need to stick to some fundamental principles in order to be successful,” says Billy Rudolph, director of corporate communications for Associa, the nation’s largest association management company with offices in Saddle Brook and Mount Laurel.

In order to run their communities in fair, functional, and solvent manners, leading management experts contribute advice to assist the boards of New Jersey with a better understanding of what they should and should not do.

“The most important for a board is to have the greater good of the community as the top priority,” says Lori Kenyon, CMCA, PCAM, vice president of management services at Premier Association management in North Brunswick. “The board has to think of the community first instead of being occupied with personal agendas.”

1. DO organize.Sticking with that agenda is crucial. Rudolph says that board members and residents often have individual and personal agendas to present at meetings, making it difficult to remain on topic, causing them to run for hours upon hours. If there’s an agenda and a time limit for other business, then it becomes easier to keep the meetings timely.

“You should always have an agenda and it’s imperative to stay on that agenda and not let board members or property owners let board meetings go off track and veer into other subjects or agendas or philosophies,” adds Kenyon. “Boards have to keep things direct and to the point.”

All board members should know their role and what is expected of them. Many shareholders believe that the best board members are former lawyers, accountants, business executives or engineers, but that’s not always the case.

2. DON'T be a know-it-all. In fact, when people believe they are experts on a topic, often they allow personal opinions to interfere with the building’s interest, says Michael Beirne, author of The Association management Tool Kit. “Apply your personal experience in life very sparingly,” Beirne says. “People tend to think that because they’re good at something, that they’ll be good at it here. But that makes it hard for you to apply your knowledge in the purest way: if you’re a good manufacturer, some of the rules of manufacturing may not apply to the association.”

Of course, an accountant’s presence on the board has a significant impact, Beirne explains; but that accountant need not apply every accounting skill he knows because they don’t all relate…and that’s when everything goes haywire. Normally, the accountant may practice his skills a certain way but that way may be irrelevant to a building scenario. Thus, the board should hire those who specialize in building management; they are more likely open to directions and opinions of the board members.

“Generally, boards should value the professional help that they hire,” Beirne says. “What happens to a lot of boards is that they don’t listen to the professionals because they have a personal skin in the game. But the professionals are helping in a neutral way with a clear head, and you should listen to them.”

3. DO listen to the experts. When boards listen to the specialists they hire, according to Beirne, buildings become more powerful. These professionals shouldn’t cost a fortune, though. The bigger buildings can afford permanent staff, or those whom they can count on to ask questions whenever something arises. It’s possible, however, for smaller buildings to receive assistance without overspending.

On many boards, only certain members can read a financial report accurately. Indeed, interested parties can benefit from the assistance of a professional who can teach the individual board members methods of analyzing a report.

There are ways board members can become experts of their own. The New Jersey chapters of the Community Associations Institute (CAI) offer numerous resources to help its members stay abreast of current news, laws, and issues affecting community associations in New Jersey. For additional information, visit www.cainj.org. A second chapter covering southern New Jersey is the Delaware Valley and Pennsylvania chapter, which can be found at www.cai-padelval.org.

Whatever experience board members bring to the meeting, they cannot act on behalf of themselves or specific unit owners. Furthermore, the board can attend expos—like the one hosted by The New Jersey Cooperator—to learn about more specific topics important to their building communities. The next New Jersey Cooperator expo (www.nj-expo.com) will take place Saturday, May 9, 2015 at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

4. DO communicate.Experts believe that listening to the unit owners and the shareholders is crucial. This is, perhaps, the most significant downfall of a board, and the easiest—and least expensive—to fix. A sign of maturity and experience among board members is when they don’t talk unless absolutely necessary. The ideal board member does not enjoy hearing him or herself speak.

Board members are leaders of their communities; therefore, listening to the community is vital, and since they are privy to sensitive information that the shareholders are not, it is extremely important to know when to keep silent and when to speak up.

Rudolph has noticed a majority of complaints from homeowners against boards stemming from the homeowner not knowing about a policy, procedure, due date, regulation, or other information, all of which could have been communicated to them in a number of ways. “Communication with homeowners is vital to running an effective association,” he says.

Experts suggest holding frequent meetings for the shareholders, or even having an electronic bulletin board or a newsletter to minimize conflict and help the shareholders feel like they’re more informed about what goes on within their building.

Boards can get community members more involved by creating specialized committees for certain projects; these will maintain the building’s strength and longevity while keeping everyone in the building happy, Rudolph says.

5. DO understand association finances.Another very bad notion? A non-realistic budget. “I’ve heard stories of boards falling apart because they didn’t prepare for unexpected costs,” Rudolph says. He explains a realistic budget and mandatory reserve funds, and if reserve funds are not established, or if the budget is exorbitant, the system will be one major incident away from collapse.

“The worst thing a board member can do is to make a decision so that the community or a specific homeowner is happy with them rather than a decision for the better of the whole community,” says Kenyon.

6. DO enforce rules. Additionally, rules, penalties, and fees can create huge messes for boards, and get attorneys involved. “This can get complicated, especially for large associations, when it comes to legal matters, liens, foreclosures, and such,” Rudolph says. An efficient board is composed of directors qualified to deal with these matters, or have elected to retain a community management company to handle the finances, communications, record-keeping, and legal and administrative services.

Remembering a few key concepts will keep a board strong, and lead to overall success, according to Rudolph. “The majority of boards that fail, lack at least one—and usually a combination—of these strengths: communication, participation, enforcement of policies, organization, or management of funds,” he says. “These essential factors are the backbone to establishing and maintaining an effective board.”     

Danielle Braff is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Cooperator. Staff writer Christy Smith-Sloman contributed to this article.