Becoming an effective leader in your community seems like a time-consuming responsibility, but it is incredibly rewarding because it can bring about positive change in your association. As a leader in your community, you will be able to fulfill more duties and make a larger impact in your community than as a volunteer. Below are five steps that you can take to transition from a HOA Board volunteer to a community leader.
Take A Self-Assessment
Having a deeper understanding of yourself and your personality will help you communicate better and lead to a functioning HOA Board. A great place to start is with a self-assessment of your personality and communication traits. Communication is a vital component to effectively leading any homeowner association. An HOA Management Company can provide you with training courses and resources to assist with your assessment.
The Path to Leadership
Before becoming a community leader, it’s important to make sure that you are taking on the following roles first:
Volunteer – Becoming a volunteer and getting elected to your association board is the first step to leadership. This demonstrates that members in your community trust you with community related tasks.
Volunteer Leader – Volunteer leaders lead in an approachable manner. A good way to think of it is looking at the needs of others and the community as a whole. This will cause members to align with you because they can see that you are easy to work with and your efforts are positively impacting the association.
Leader – To become a leader, it is important to prioritize leadership training with the help of your community association management company. By working with the management company, this will show other members that you’re committed to making a contribution to your community by taking initiative.
Community Leader – Once you become a community leader, this demonstrates that you as an individual have a positive impact on your community, rather than your actions or your title. The role of a community leader involves a great amount of responsibility, but you are rewarded with seeing your community and its members flourish.
Learn About Leadership
Learning about leadership will help you a great deal as a community leader. All kinds of leadership training apply to this position, and it’s always a good idea to keep on learning. Learning more about topics like emotional intelligence and leadership can assist you with acquiring valuable knowledge, and one example of a book that can assist you with this is Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. In addition, HOA property management companies can provide you with more tools and resources to succeed by applying your leadership skills and knowledge into the field on community management.
Know Your Community
Every great community leader is knowledgeable about their community and its residents. It is important to build relationships and take into the account the needs of fellow board members and residents. An HOA management company will take care of tasks like working with vendors, enforcing policies, and providing timely financials, so that you can focus on establishing policies and working with your community members.
Develop A Mission Statement
As a board member, it is important to create a mission statement with other members to set your association up for success. As a community leader, you’re able to shape the vision of your community from a homeowner’s perspective. Community management companies can provide you with the tools and resources to develop a solid mission statement and the management company can also take action to assist the board with creating their vision.
Contact us today to learn about how you can become a leader in your community.