By Claude John (CJ) Klug

Is it time to move or better to stay?  A change of jobs is usually considered with trepidation.  To the organization the loss of key managers is always difficult and often expensive.  Some of the obvious reasons managers leave are retirement, dismissal, and major career or income advancement.  Less obvious are the reasons managers make lateral moves, or even take on a more difficult job at less pay.  In many cases, it will be a result of the manager feeling a lack of appreciation or boredom with the job.  Typically, a manager can do 100 things well which will never be remembered, but one thing done wrong is never forgotten.

The Big Reason: Lack of Appreciation

A successful operation is the result of teamwork where the manager and Board of Directors are working together, not acting as advisories.  In addition to working together towards common goals, successful managers and organizations continue to reinvent themselves by modernizing their operations and motivating their employees through respectful treatment and genuine expressions of appreciations.   This does not have to be costly, but does take a special effort.  Public recognition for accomplishments, expressions of appreciation for years of service and personal touches such as greeting cards, or a surprise tray of treats or flowers for the office.  Sometimes new office equipment or a more modern computer will show how much the board cares; particularly if it is given before it would have to be replaced anyway!  An unexpected day off, or an afternoon round of golf, tickets to a sporting event or the theater are always appreciated.  Some things are done publicly, such as the presentation of plaque, while others are more personal and private.   Boards should be more aware, and thus sensitive to the individual’s wishes or needs, so as to not give a candy to a diabetic, or tickets to the symphony to a rock & roll fan.  Of course, standing up for staff under attack by difficult residents or even a minority Board member, is an indication of respect (or lack thereof).

Salary and/or a bonus are the most obvious recognition or means of showing appreciation.  Salary may be a peer recognition issue as well as a competition factor with other potential employers.   Although a professional manager may take great pride in their work, it is usually important not to be the lowest paid among their peers.  As often as not an employer who would not raise a manager’s salary finds themselves looking for a replacement – which may, at first, be looked at as an opportunity to “find someone cheaper.” Ironically, that employer usually ends up paying substantially more once they find the old adage of “you get what you pay for” rings true for community associations as well as the rest of the business world.

Boredom

Boredom with a job may be the manager’s fault in not growing in the job or may be a problem with an organization that does not provide an environment that encourages and facilitates creativity and change.  An organization must achieve a balance that welcomes new approaches to problems with reasonable study, as opposed to endless studies by committees and unrealistic expectations.  An atmosphere should be maintained that permits the manager to abandon programs when they do not meet expectations without endless recriminations.  Many, many times this becomes the manager’s daily nightmare, and it gets very old to continually provide work product on a project that has no value but continues on through organizational inertia.

The good and bad about manager changes

The effect and affect of changing on site management can be positive and negative to both the manager and the organization.  After many years, a manager may find a change to be exciting and reenergizing.   New challenges provide opportunities to managers for professional growth and to improve on past experiences in new situations and to work with new staff and customers.   For the organization, it may bring in a fresh approach, new leadership and an opportunity to reevaluate all operations.   On the negative side, for the manager it may mean leaving your comfort zone, encountering new problems, difficult new relationships and certain job insecurities – are you jumping from the frying pan into the fire?  For the organization, a major negative impact can be the loss of continuity and a historical reference.  Will the organization be able to find as good or a better manager, and will they stay? And, if their manager was competent, will the organization review the reasons for that manager leaving?

The first few years on a job are usually challenging and exciting as a manager’s creativity and talents make organizational improvements and goals expressed in the hiring process are achieved.  There are usually rewards and recognition to the manager in those early years.  Unfortunately, as years pass, Boards begin to take things for granted, with the manager expected to perform each year at a higher standard, the prior year becoming a minimum standard.   As this cycle progresses, often a Board or management appears to feel that there job is to find fault rather than to compliment.  At other times they are only interested in what you can do for them today, with little acknowledgement for prior work or accomplishments. 

When a manager leaves his or her position, they often indicate the reason as “stress” or a desire for a new environment. But the cause for that stress and need for a new environment are usually due to the fact that there was little recognition or appreciation for work done and little expectation of things getting better. 

Will it ever change? We can only hope, given the very nature of community associations and their legal and political structure, both of which show little indication on veering off their chose paths.

CJ Klug has been an on site manager for, well, more years than he cares to think about, and is currently managing Niguel Shores Community Association in Dana Point, CA.   HOA Manager NewsLine thanks him for his contribution.