Often, the best, most successful boards and communities share the same combination of habits and traits; all the while, the worst, most fleeting share the same, as well. Case in point: there isn’t tremendous mystery in what actions make certain communities successful…and others complete failures.

“Whether you live in a small, close-knit neighborhood, a luxury gated community, a high-rise in the city, or a beach-front condo, your HOA board will need to stick to some fundamental principles in order to be successful,” says Billy Rudolph, director of corporate communications for Associa, the nation’s largest association management company.

In order to operate communities in fair, functional, and solvent manners, leading management experts contribute advice to assist the boards of New England to better understand what they should—and should not—do.

1. Do stay on point. Sticking to an agenda is fundamental. Rudolph says that board members, trustees and residents often have individual and personal agendas to present at meetings, making it difficult to remain on topic, and causing them to run for hours on end. If there’s an agenda and a time limit for other business, then it becomes easier to keep the meetings timely.

“Successful boards have a continued history. In other words, they have board members who can go back and remember why decisions were made, and they have a trail of those in their minutes,” says Charles A. Perkins Jr., Esq, a senior partner with Perkins & Anctil in Westford, Massachusetts. “You want stability as much as you can, and you want to run professionally. You should think about employing some rules of order. Roberts Rules of Order is well beyond the layman’s ability to use, but you can adopt rules that are not difficult. For example: shareholders will have fifteen minutes to spend before each meeting.”

2. Do know your role. All board members and trustees should know their role and what is expected of them. Many homeowners believe that the best board members are former lawyers, accountants, business executives, or engineers but that’s not always the case.

In fact, when people believe they are experts on a topic, often they allow personal opinions to interfere with the building’s interest, says Michael Beirne, author of The Property Management Tool Kit. “Apply your personal experience in life very sparingly,” Beirne says. “People tend to think that because they’re good at something, that they’ll be good at it here. But that makes it hard for you to apply your knowledge in the purest way; if you’re a good manufacturer, some of the rules of manufacturing may not apply to the association.”

Of course, an accountant’s presence on the board has a significant impact, Beirne explains; but that accountant need not apply every accounting skill he knows because they don’t all relate…that’s when everything goes haywire. Normally, the accountant may practice his skills a certain way, but that way may be irrelevant to a building scenario. Thus, the board should hire those who specialize in building management; they are more likely open to directions and opinions of the board members.

3. Do listen to the experts.“Generally, boards should value the professional help that they hire,” Beirne says. “What happens to a lot of boards is that they don’t listen to the professionals because they have a personal skin in the game. But the professionals are helping in a neutral way with a clear head, and you should listen to them.”

When boards listen to the specialists they hire, according to Beirne, buildings become more powerful. These professionals shouldn’t cost a fortune, though. The bigger buildings can afford permanent staff, or those whom they can count on to ask questions whenever something arises. It’s possible, however, for smaller buildings to receive assistance without overspending.

On many boards, only certain board members and trustees can read a financial report accurately. Indeed, interested parties can benefit from the assistance of a professional who can teach the individual board members methods of analyzing a report.

There are ways board members can become experts of their own. The New England Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI-NE) offers numerous resources to help its members stay abreast of current news, laws, and issues affecting community associations in New England. For more information, visit www.caine.org. Additionally, Connecticut has its own CAI chapter (www.caict.org).

Whatever experience board members bring to the meeting, they cannot act on behalf of themselves or specific unit owners. Furthermore, the board can attend expos like the ones hosted by New England Condominium to learn about more specific topics important to their building community. Make plans to attend the Condo & Apt. Expo this spring at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston on April 30, 2015.

Listen Up

Experts believe that listening to the shareholders is essential, as well. This is, perhaps, the most significant downfall of a board, and the easiest, and least expensive, to fix. Furthermore, a sign of maturity and experience among board members is when they don’t talk unless absolutely necessary. The ideal board member does not enjoy hearing him or herself speak.

4. Do communicate.Board members are leaders of their communities; therefore, listening to the community is important, and since they are privy to sensitive information that the shareholders are not, it is extremely important to know when to keep silent and when to speak up.

Rudolph has noticed a majority of complaints from homeowners against boards stemming from the homeowner not knowing about a policy, procedure, due date, regulation, or other information, all of which can be communicated in a number of ways. “Communication with homeowners is vital to running an effective association,” he says.

Experts suggest holding frequent meetings for shareholders, or even having an electronic bulletin board or a newsletter to minimize conflict and help the shareholders feel like they’re more informed about what goes on within their building.

Boards can get community members more involved by creating specialized committees for certain projects; these will maintain the building’s strength and longevity while keeping everyone in the building happy, Rudolph says.

Another very bad notion? A non-realistic budget. “I’ve heard of stories of boards falling apart because they didn’t prepare for unexpected costs,” Rudolph says. He explains a realistic budget and mandatory reserve funds, and if reserve funds are not established, or if the budget is exorbitant, the system will be one major incident away from collapse.

5. Do enforce rules. “The worst thing a board member can do is make a decision so that the community or a specific homeowner is happy with them rather than a decision for the better of the whole community,” says Kenyon.

Additionally, rules, penalties, and fees can cause boards disarrays…and acquire attorney involvement. “This can get complicated—especially for large associations—when it comes to legal matters, liens, foreclosures, and such,” Rudolph says. An efficient board is composed of directors qualified to deal with these matters, or have elected to retain a community management company to handle the finances, communications, record-keeping, and legal and administrative services.

Remembering a few key concepts will keep a board strong, and lead to overall success, according to Rudolph. “The majority of boards that fail, lack at least one—and usually a combination—of these strengths: communication, participation, enforcement of policies, organization, or management of funds,” he says. “These essential factors are the backbone to establishing and maintaining an effective board.”     

Danielle Braff is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to New England Condominium. Staff writer Christy Smith-Sloman contributed to this article.