Another Year Comes to a Close

As December 28 approaches we are nearly upon the end of another calendar year. It is a time to pause and reflect. We might be inclined to wonder if 2016 will be more of the same, or better or worse than 2015.

I'm of the opinion that we should not expect things to be better unless we have put in place those things that are required to make 2016 a "better" year. In a HOA, if the boards, owners and other residents operate the same as they did last year, then it should be expected that the results will be no different than the previous year.  Of course, there will always be circumstances beyond our control. I won't be worrying about those in 2016.

As for BLMH what is to be expected in 2016? It will be whatever we create as owners, residents and board members. Added to that will be a few breakdowns and a few surprises.

Living in a HOA is community living. If we think of life as having "ups and downs" and accept this as normal, then we discover that community living is like a heartbeat:

Community living involves certain risks. We assume our neighbors will be good neighbors and they assume we will also be good neighbors. We assume everyone will pay their fees, will keep the rules and will cooperate with management and the board.

We assume some people will show up to perform the tasks of board members. We also assume things will proceed smoothly. As the above graph demonstrates, even the blood flowing in our veins and arteries does so with some inconsistency.

Our heartbeat becomes smooth and unchanging only after death. So it is with life in general; only after we are dead will the chart be a straight line:

I expect 2016 will have ups and downs and more of the same as did 2015.

The attitude and involvement of our owners follows the classic bell shaped curve in which there are several distinct groups and most fall into the center. Here is an example of such a curve for grading tests; as can be seen, most test scores would be a "C" or average. There will be a few "A"s and at the other extreme a few "F"s. The curve shows the percentage of students who received each grade:

Similarly, the owners and residents of a HOA fall into similar groups. We aren't grading them, merely describing where they are in most things.

For example, there is the keeping of rules. That is measurable. Paying fees in a timely manner is a rule, completing census forms is a rule, cooperating with the neighbors in a community is a rule and so on.

Some owners don't keep the rules in any month. They may fail to pay their fees, may fail to move their vehicle preferring to store in on the street, leave their trash receptacles outm or may get into a feud with a neighbor. They will be the small group to the left of the curve. Most owners pay their fees in a timely manner, cooperate with the HOA management and the board and in general are nearly invisible to others and could be described as "good neighbors." They are the group in the middle. To the left of the curve are the group that doesn't vote at annual elections. To the right of the middle of the curve are those who do vote during annual elections. To the right is also a smaller group which attends HOA meetings, those who participates as committee members and further to the right are the members of the board (currently numbering 6 out of 336).

What we cannot predict is in which group each of our HOA owners will fall, beyond that obvious central group. In that group most owners will pay their fees and will be more or less invisible. Similarly if we charted events at our HOA, we could conclude that most will follow last year's events and fall within that central group of "C's".

If the above is correct, then why would we ever expect 2016 to be any different than 2015? Another way to say this is to state that if owners expect a "better" 2016 they will be the one's who create it. It won't happen by itself. In fact, entropy is the nature state of the universe. Unless we create a better future it will most likely be worse than the past.

Interlude - An Association that works "For All of Us"

As I study this great American experiment in community living, I do wonder how it will turn out. Some experts say that condominiums are failing to be the social and living systems that they were intended to be. At this juncture in time, I would say, with my personal experience, that they are possibly correct.

Is such failure pre-ordained? Is it inherent in the structure of this organization and is it woven into the fabric, its very being? Are we destined, as a former board member once told me "to slip continuously into mediocrity?"

There are questions which would seem to be vital and must be asked. If we are not to simply operate out of subjective "change" which is defined as positive and negative, and based upon fundamental human issues such as fear and greed, and "winners" and "losers" then what should we be operating from?  These are questions for our leaders to ask, to answer and to express in their daily actions. Leadership on the board and by the board as a single entity is the only possible way out of the morass that encompasses this association.

Are they up to it? Are WE up to it?

I'm sure a few readers wonder where I have been going with this blog over the past 120 posts, and where I have been coming from. It's probably time to tell you. You have been very patient and gracious. 

Consider that the mantra of this group has been about "change". I suggest that is inadequate. How about "Transformation?" Transformation of the board into a force for positive change. Not "change" as we normally think of it, nor "change" as a buzzword, something desirable which we should therefore all aspire to. I don't mean change as it has been most recently expressed in this association, an association that works for some of us, or a few of us, or sometimes the majority of us. I mean a transformation into an association that works for all of us. For it is my perspective that an association that doesn't work for "all" in fact, works for none. Organizations in which "some" goals are achieved, or, in this case are working for "some" owners, are inherently inadequate.

What would that look like? Would you like to live in such an association?

It's your choice. We can all be a force for change, both positive and negative, or we can be a force for transformation. I choose the latter. How would that look on our board? As an example, such a board, that is, a board "that is working for all of us" as stewards and as leaders, would approach issues entirely from the perspective of performing their "fiduciary duties". When an issue came before such a board, each and every board member would be ready, willing and able to discuss, argue and present both and all sides of any issue or argument. By contrast, in a board that is coming from "change", individual members present or advocate only that side that serves them or a group or groups in this association.

Wouldn't that be interesting? Wouldn't that be empowering? For each of our board members to be knowledgeable in all aspects and all "sides" of the issues? To see each board member promote all sides, both the pros and the cons, of all issues, both large and small at all times, instead of the current approach that "its right" to do this and "it's wrong" to do that, or "it's just" for this to occur and "it's unjust" for that to occur.

It would be a manifestation of an association that works for all of us, each and every one of us, not a few and not the many, but all of us. It would be the manifestation of a board that is really up to the task and is seriously engaged in an inquiry about leadership and stewardship.

Will this happen here? Can this happen here? Well, as I said in an earlier post, this is 2010 and it will not be a repeat of 2009. I am committed to that.

But what are you committed to?