Encouraging Participation and Attendance with Home Owner Associations

Presented by:

Tom Jonez, CMCA®

President

Plumbline Management Corporation

For

The Challenge

For many HOA’s, getting people to attend meetings is challenging, if not daunting. Often, despite the Board’s concerted efforts, people simply do not come, and the level of effort seems unjustified by the results. How can

Association Managers and HOA Board's summon their resources to get more people meaningfully involved in the process of the

HOA Community?

It has been said…

"If you lead a parade and no one follows…

you are just taking a walk."

A first step is to understand why people do not participate

they are not aware a meeting is taking place;

they receive inadequate notice;

they have other commitments;

they have a negative perception of the HOA and/or its Board of Directors

Reasons for low Involvement

They believe their input is not taken seriously;

They perceive that decisions have already been made behind closed doors;

They think that the meetings are too time-consuming or boring; and

In some cases, meeting sites are too far away, inconvenient, or inaccessible.

Behind it all…

Underneath these very real and very valid reasons lies a deep-seated cynicism: generally, people today do not believe

their input makes a difference.

..and yet research proves that people tend to support what they help to create

The Real Solution is Believing that individual People have Value

A Manager or HOA Board’s fundamental weapon in developing participation is to make people’s input count in actual decision-making.

The Highest and Best solution is to believe in the value of community which boils down to believing and expressing that people are valuable – and actually caring about them

The Solution – Build Communities

“We build Communities…

Communities consist of people…

Insights from a popular Blog…

I go to a fast food restaurant in another part of town

So members of my organic food co-op won’t see me

We accept the love we think we deserve

I only

jumped

so I’d

have a

reason to

call him

“Our nation is spoiled, corrupt, & ignorant…

But I would die to protect it.”

What we can observe from this…

People want to be involved…

…to be known

…to be understood

…to be part of something meaningful

…to be safe

The Long Term Solution

Focus is on Building Community; Building People

Getting to really know people makes all the difference

What do you know about the people around you?

Group Exercise…

Medium-term solutions…

Other Creative Quick-fix Ideas…

The best ideas come from the pros…

You

You

YouYou

You

Encouraging Participation and Attendance with Home Owner Associations

Presented by:Tom Jonez, CMCA®

President

Plumbline Management Corporation

(Consultant to Goff & DeWalt, LLP &

RWHandyman)