Communication Is a Crucial Skill for New Managers

Many community association management firms are reaching outside the traditional pool of candidates and bringing on managers with no experience in the industry. This approach can work — but only with proper support.

“Letting people new to the industry just hit the ground running is where we’re seeing companies have trouble,” says Katie Anderson, CEO of Aperion Management Group, LLC, which manages around 65 associations in Central Oregon.

You can help set your new team members on the path to success by proving them with some critical lessons upfront. One of the keys is good communication.

“Often there’s a lack of communication with the board, owners, vendors,” says Aaron Goodlock, a partner with the full-service community association law firm Orten Cavanagh Holmes & Hunt, LLC, in Denver, Colo.

“Many issues could be avoided if there were better communication. A lot of the time, managers are very overwhelmed, and they either don’t respond, or don’t respond in a timely manner, and it leads to disputes.”

Effective communication skills are among the topics addressed at the “university” Paul Grucza, director of education and client development at the Seattle-based management company CWD Group, Inc., holds for new managers. He’s found that it’s not enough to emphasize the importance of communication — some managers need to learn the nuts and bolts of just how to communicate in various mediums.

“Some of these folks coming in can sit and talk with you, but if you ask them to compose an email or letter of response, they can’t do that. I do a specific ‘how to write emails’ class.”

Read the full article now to learn more about communication and four other key skills for new managers:

The 5 Most Important Lessons for New Managers

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President