By Julie Adamen

I have spent a lot of time talking and writing about the value of industry involvement for managers and their education. Though there are a smaller, regional manager organizations, when it comes to dealing with industry issues on a national basis we really only have one.

Of course, nationally our organization is Community Associations Institute, or CAI. CAI is spread throughout the country in the form of regional chapters. Many of you belong; others currently go to chapter luncheons and educational sessions through the membership of your management firm. I have belonged to CAI, one way or another, for probably 15 or more years. Currently I belong to three chapters, and over the years I have sat on local Boards and Committees, and have made numerous presentations at various chapters around the country, as well as at a few National conferences. [1]

This is a very interesting time for CAI, and it’s going through a lot of long overdue changes. Along with the relatively recent change in leadership, and probably because of that change, there have been some very ambitious items placed on the agenda for the organization. I am going to address one of those changes that is slated to begin sometime in 2005 in this article, and that is the new “Member Value Initiative” or, MVI for short.

Let’s get to the big issue on MVI first: Money.  MVI will cost $95 per year. This is very, very inexpensive for membership in a professional organization.  You spend that on a pair of shoes shoes, you spend that on two months of lattes, and you spend that on a dinner out.  Get over it. You don’t get something for nothing. And in reality this is an almost-nothing cost.

Now that we have that out of the way… For the manager, this means you will now, if you so choose, belong to the organization as an individual instead of on the skirts of your Management Company or association. This does not mean that your firm or association won’t t reimburse your for the cost of membership and is something you should explore. But there has been a lot of discussion – some informed, some uninformed, and some just downright fabrications - on the local and national level about this change, and I have been asked many times my position on this matter. Let me be clear that I strongly support this change, and here is why.

Why we belong to, and support, our organizations:

There is nothing more valuable to your career than CONTACTS.  Despite any feelings you may have towards the change in membership structure at CAI, and despite that change, your industry involvement and participation is absolutely essential to your professional development. I cannot express to you how many times I have worked with terribly bright candidates who were never going to be hired for certain jobs because they had no connections – no contacts – or very few, anyway. It can be an obvious exclusion, i.e., if you don’t have contacts, it’s not likely a vendor will hire you as a marketing person. But other times, it’s subtler: You haven’t been seen at a function, you haven’t participated, and your competition for the job has. Guess who gets that job? People like to do business (or hire) people they know.

Education. You receive professional education from your professional organization. Education is meant to elevate your ability as a professional, but it’s biggest by-product (and just about as valuable) is the fact that to receive your education, you must leave the comfort of your desk and office, of your routine and friends, to get out there and see how things are done elsewhere. You exchange ideas on problems, solutions and possibilities. I see manager education and the resultant networking only being advanced by MVI, because now that you will be the owner of your membership, the education you receive will mean more to you than if you were just attending seminars or luncheons because the boss was paying for it. In fact, you may find that you value your professional education far more than your employer ever did.

Networking,  Friendships.  And while you are out seeing how things are done elsewhere, you are networking with other professionals, and developing and maintaining friendships and professional connections that will last for years. It’s a happy by-product but it also means you obtain one of my favorites formulas for success…

Contacts and connectivity = Information.  When you have connectivity and contacts, you have information about the industry. Information about jobs, information and education, what’s new, what’s old, who’s where and what’s happening. What’s your value as a manager? What will make you more, or less, valuable to your company or association? 

Should you belong to more than one organization? There is no doubt about it, if you belong CAI and another, more regional organization some things are just going to overlap. But should you belong to both (or more)? Yes. Belonging to multiple organizations helps you develop diversity in your approach to your industry and your business. What works well in one organization may not work so well in another, and your exposure to each organization benefits you professionally and personally.

Why the Change in Membership Will Be Good for Managers

The change is long overdue, and will eventually reflect the true makeup of the manager side of the business.  For as long as I have been a member, CAI pretty much focused on those who were either management company owners, or on-site, large-scale managers, because they were the ones writing the checks for membership.   Make no mistake, these members of the management community are vital and important, but by far the vast majority of managers are the in the trenches, portfolio managers. And portfolio managers are not only the least acknowledged group, they are the true backbone of the industry as a whole. And they have been terribly underrepresented on a national basis.

Managers will have ownership in their organization. For the first time, the average manager will have a say in their national organization. For the first time, portfolio managers will have a real chance to serve on the national Board of Directors. For the first time, you will have membership that counts, and counts because you paid for it with your dollars.  Your value to the organization, and its value to you, will increase dramatically.

CAI, locally and nationally, will have to meet your needs. When you have organizational ownership, the organization must strive to meet your expectations because you are voting, individually, with your checkbook. Your needs not being met? The checkbook slams shut. After some time, it will push CAI to greater levels of service and leadership. On a local level, once the reality of the new membership order sinks in, you will find educational seminars and other events more geared to your needs.   When you have ownership in your organization, the organization will, over time, meet those needs. If they don’t, they will cease to exist.

Your future will be, more than ever, in your hands.  But it won’t happen overnight. I must urge everyone reading this not to expect great changes in a short amount of time. Organizational change happens incrementally, and the larger the organization, the slower the change. I would imagine we would see the effects of MVI in three to five years.  Of course, it al depends on what you, the members, do with your new status.

The Challenges

Lest you think I’m going to let some obvious challenges go unspoken, here’s what I see as some of the major issues CAI, National and local, are going to have to deal with in the upcoming months and the next few years…

Implementing MVI means CAI must make the manager feel connected to the national organization. The average manager is not going to feel connected to the organization on a National level unless there is some sort of outreach program. This can be regional conference for portfolio managers only. This could be a publication for them only. It could be educational programs based solely on managing portfolios effectively. It could be a designation for Master portfolio managers (though, I think there’s enough alphabet soup around right now).   Whatever it is, creating that connectivity will translate in to more memberships for the organization, and more member participation (and membership retention).

MVI means CAI must promote the industry, developing recognition of the community manager as a professional.  Why should CAI take on this responsibility? Because we’re an unrecognized industry and when we are on the national radar screen, it’s only because of some nutty decision made by an Architectural Committee or some fist fight between board members in Florida that happens to get caught on tape. Hardly representative of the industry as a whole, yet, it makes good press,  so there you are. Would the average person really consider someone who gets paid to deal with those nuts a professional?

I strongly believe that if we continually, proactively, promoted our industry as a whole - community association living, as well as community association management -  we would create the awareness that community managers are professionals hired to oversee the  business affairs of non-profit corporations formed to provide a way of life and a certain quality of living to millions of people.   MVI means CAI will take on the responsibility of making the position of manager a profession.

The only way to fight the pervasive negativity surrounding our industry is head on with a continual, broad based national marketing plan. This plan should be implemented by the National organization and right on down through each and every chapter and should portray the positives of community living.  Statistics are on our side: 75% of homeowners are “very” or “extremely” satisfied [2]] with their community. Why aren’t we singing this from the hilltops?  Right now, it’s easy for clients to ignore or dismiss what community managers do because community managers perform an unsung, unheralded, unrecognized job.   Continual promotion of positive community living to our ultimate client, the general public, eventually ensures that we will no longer be an unrecognized profession. Being a recognized professional translates in to all the things most other professionals enjoy: Respect and  (usually) a positive working environment.  

MVI will be good for the managers, because they will be owners of their membership and have the power of the checkbook. The power of the checkbook means the organization must respond the real needs of managers.   For CAI, MVI will be a challenge: Making the average manager feel connected to the organization as well as taking on the huge responsibility to give the manager what they really need, and what they will consider a “Value:” To be recognized as the professionals they are. Professional recognition translates in to the appropriate respect and remuneration for a difficult job well done.

Managers: You don't have to be an unknown any more. With MVI, you have ownership of your organization. You will have the power of the checkbook. Will you take it, or leave it? It’s up to you.

 For more information on MVI, go to CAI’s website at www.caionline.org