One of our very best assets!
Looking For New Blood Part 2

By Julie Adamen

Recently I came across an article I wrote for the NewsLine over six years ago detailing on one of our best "selling points," or assets,  to attract new people to the industry. I found that article not only relevant, but even more so today than it was at the time. Since the year 2000, our industry has grown exponentially with almost more business than we can handle, yet our ability to find qualified managers - or to bring in new people to train to be qualified managers, lags  behind our demand. 

In the October (2006) issue we discussed where we could find the "new blood" for our industry. In this issue, let's talk about making our business even more attractive to those considering a career in our business, as well as to our current crop of dedicated management professionals by utilizing our best asset: Our ability to be flexible in working hours.

What makes this industry flexible?

Portfolio management - the vast majority of our industry - is a very, very flexible position of employment.  What portfolio managers do in their day-to-day work life is not tied to a particular place (desk or building). Managers are often on the move, from the office to the site, to a board meeting (sometimes late at night or early Saturday morning), committee meetings and what not. Or, managers are handling their jobs via phone or email - both tools are highly portable office equipment.  This means the tasks and services lacking specific deadlines are completed by the manager on his/her own schedule, yet one that meets the deadlines and the needs of the client. (Of course, this premise assume the manager is sufficiently self-motivated to  accomplish complex tasks and complicated scheduling issues with little supervision, but isn't that the assumption most executives make whether the manager is in his/her cubicle or in car?)

Another reason we are flexible is the people that are attracted to this business are problem solving addicts: Managers never stop thinking about work - it is always there in the back of their minds. Managers are solving problems late at night, early in the morning or on their drive to the cleaners. The conclusion is managers do not need to walk in to a building to begin thinking about work because solving work problems is a 24/7/365 thing and from my experience in  talking to managers throughout the nation,  it's the part of the job they truly love.

So what? This unarguable task- and personnel-flexibility should be capitalized on by our management firms because it would open up a whole new avenue for that new blood: Part-time, flex-time and home-based managers.

Part-time managers.

Many folks, who are re-entering the work force after retirement from their first career as well as our own current crop of managers needing to cut back on hours for one reason or another, are looking for part-time positions. For the life of me I can't figure out why our industry is so reluctant to embrace part-time workers; however, I hear two reasons from most company owners or executives: We've never done it that way or we don't have the appropriate company infrastructure (or don't know how to develop it) thus we feel unable to supervise the work product of the part-time manager. The first reason is a weak argument at best but the  second reason is one to explore.

For part-time workforce to make sense for any firm, a good infrastructure must be in place. Dedicated middle management (on which I have opined at length) is preferable, especially the larger the firm. The management firm will also have to have well-trained support staff to handle the everyday stuff that pops up. In other words, the manager manages - they don't take service orders for every broken sprinkler that has mysteriously become a 10 ft. high water feature.

Whether the manager is permanently part time, or part time waiting for a full time position, there is absolutely no reason why portfolio managers - and some on site managers - cannot be part time workers. Unfortunately, most of our industry thinks this just can't be done. Let's knock down the basic bowling pins of objection:

The manager won't be there to take a call from a Board member or a difficult homeowner! Now let's be real:  How many times does a Board member, or a difficult homeowner, call a manager, yet the caller gets  a voicemail and the manager returns the call and handles the problem just fine?? That's right, all the time.

S/he won't be there to answer his/her email immediately! First of all, expecting anyone to always answer email immediately is a huge Incoming Communication Management Error. It sets the manager up for failure by setting impossible expectations. Next: Use auto-response! If the call is a real emergency, that person should call 911 and then the office, a recommendation that should be on every manager's voicemail. Last: A growing number of managers have discovered pocket PCs of some sort and the terrific advantage of time use and flexibility they provide.

S/he won't be there to handle an emergency! Let get real, again: How many REAL emergencies normally crop up in the work day?  That's right, -0-. Perceived emergencies crop up all the time, but if managers are running around handing perceived emergencies like they were real ones, that company, association, and the manager him/herself needs a few lessons in managing incoming communication (again). Not to mention an emergency could pop up when the manager is routinely out of the office, at a walk through, Board meeting or court date.

The clients won't go for it! Well yes and no, it depends on how services are sold - and maintained - to the client. Portfolio management is by definition part- time work for any association within the portfolio. If you state or imply in your marketing presentation that the manager is always at the association's beck and call, able to do anything at the drop of a hat (an unrealistic sales ploy that assumes that the management company has an excess of managers sitting around doing nothing just waiting for someone to call) - of course the client won't like any of their small issues not immediately handled (that would be the case with any portfolio client - be the manager part- or full-time). Management services should be marketed and sold as one of providing a team approach that encompasses accounting, customer service, day-to-day business management (the manager), and supervisory involvement. Of course, this means the firm must have the infrastructure to provide the services sold.   

The part-time employee is more difficult to supervise. We want to believe that part-time people will be exponentially more difficult to supervise than our full time staff.  I just can't see the major issue as when a manager walks out the door, their supervisor (if they have one) really, really doesn't know where that manager is - they could be getting a haircut or spending a day at the beach or in the mountains. So - how do you supervise part time managers? The same way you do full time managers: by meeting with them regularly and reviewing their work-product. I see little material difference in full- or part-time.  

Making part-time managers work effectively for the organization

Defining the scope of work. One of our biggest challenges as an industry, in terms of how relatively poorly we are remunerated for our services is our collective inability to quantify an association manager's (and management company's) scope of work. No quantifiers = full (read: unlimited) service contracts.  I believe many of us feel that if the scope of work was more defined by contract, it would either keep clients from wanting to use their services, or keep managers from wanting to do the job. I believe that is wrong on both counts.

Defining a manager's (and management company's) scope of work will give the client realistic expectations of the services provided and give the managers much better working guidelines: Is this in my contract? No, then I must charge extra for it, or simply decline the task (if the client does not want to pay for the extra task).  A quantified scope of work will give part-time managers a method of keeping their hours spent working in that 20-35 hour per week range and full time managers a quantifiable work week.

How will we pay them? Hourly or salary? And how will I figure it out? (1) Management executives must look to each account's revenue stream and then determine exactly how many hours of work are defined in that stream, then inform the employee of that number, and equally as important, inform the client.  If the client would like more service, the client can budget for that service and be invoiced appropriately. This finite number of hours is our tool for part timers. In fact paying hourly is no longer a problem because management knows up front that any account has fixed amount of included time and all else is billed as extra.

How many hours does it take to manage XYZ Association? Have current staff keep time-sheets. Yes, it can be done. Then you'll know not only how many hours it takes to manage to a definitive scope of work, you'll know how many hours your current staff spends managing each account (and what that staff shouldn't be doing without charging for it as well and that could be new income streams).  

I know much of the above will be met by skepticism: Many will say the job is not  quantifiable by hour and managers must spend what ever time is necessary to keep the account.  But I know from my own experience that if you take this principle of quantified time and inform your client, you will be surprised on how receptive they are (usually) to realistic hours for services provided.  If the client doesn't want to pay for actual services, then you must drop the extra services through a new contract or terminate the account.  Let  the client that simply wants to use a management company sink the competition and his/her staff - not you (remember your 80/20 method of business - see September 2006 NewsLine).  

Keeping an unprofitable account emotionally penalizes your management staff and financially penalizes the firm. Bid responsibly, define the scope of work, (amount of hours per account) and inform your managers of the expected time allotments. Your business will profit, your managers will be happier, turn over will be less, and believe it or not, your clients will be happier as their expectations of service will be more realistic).

Part-time Managers must have support.

It is true, part-time managers may not appear as available, personally, as a full- time manager. But that small lack of availability can be transparent provided the manager has the right tools, support and supervision.

The tools.  One way to make part time managers work is to have in place the right tools for the manager - and thus for the supervising body. You must give your managers the tools to manage by remote - and the instructions on when and how to use them per company guidelines.  A nice gadget that covers all bases for the manager would be a pocket PC - phone and email all in one. That way a manager can have one device in which to stay in touch with the office. Part time doesn't necessarily mean completely out of touch when off the clock. With today's systems all e-mail can go through the company's server and desktops keeping information available to supervisors and data on computers at the office.

Support staff.  Part-time managers will be most effective if they have good support in the main office. Competent and knowledgeable customer service and/or an assistant, or one which they share with other managers, will be the backbone of part-time success.

Supervision.  I'm not going to beat it to death in this article, I've done that enough this year. But suffice it to say that without dedicated middle management supervising all managers, part- and full- time, the company, the managers, and the client suffer in the long- and short-term.

So, what are the real upsides for a management company?

Attracts those folks to our industry who might not otherwise be interested. Once again, with unemployment at record lows we need to be very creative on filling our human resource needs. Many second career folks only want to work part-time, and already have a benefit package provided by their previous employer. Why not cast our net as wide as possible?

Having part-time management positions can help you retain current, qualified staff. How many good managers have left the business because they couldn't cut down to part-time to accommodate a changing situation in their family?  How many just needed a break from the full load that eventually overwhelmed them? How many needed to be home by 3 to pick up their kids, so we lost them to another industry? We need to do everything we can to keep productive and positive members of the industry.

Part-time opportunities within the firm gives the company a pipeline of potential full-timers. Many people are willing to accept a part-time position prior to going full time. This would allow executives to bid accounts with confidence - knowing they have staff that can comfortably and willingly take on a new account.

Part-time positions give the company a chance to train without the stress of a full load of accounts. How many new people to our industry would fare better if they were handed only three accounts, instead of 8? This would allow the manager to develop the needed skills to handle a normal load of accounts at a future time.

…and would allow executives to ferret out the unsuited without upsetting too many clients. We've all had to do it - bring in a new manager that we are not sure has the needed skills, introduce them to 10 clients and have to let them go in 3 months. If we have to do it, wouldn't it be better if that manager didn't have a full load until we could see their skills in action?

The Bottom Line. Having part-time managers would increase our work force, allowing us to bid accounts with confidence, give us a pipeline to potential full-timers, allow us to train more effectively and ferret out those better suited to basket-weaving quickly and with less pain to all involved. Part-timers have the potential to allow us to increase our revenues with a manageable down side.

The wrap up.

It's no secret that our industry is in serious need of new blood. Our current crop of long term managers is retiring out, and even with the current building "slowdown," the demand for managers is higher than ever - for new and existing properties.   It is my belief that we need to expand our thinking in our human resource procurement, encompassing not only new sources for employees buy new strategies in how we staff and service our clients. Employing part-time managers is just one way for us to expand that thinking by capitalizing on our industry's flexibility.