Condo Connection - Know Your Experts

April 28, 2022 | By Steve Horvath

A comment from this recent article on the Champlain South collapse articulates how the CIC industry at large – built on millions of CIC homeowners’ $100+ billion annual assessments – views volunteer leaders (~ 2 million volunteers!) who contribute hundreds of millions of uncompensated hours every year.

Sklar, the UM professor, said that the market’s response to the Surfside tragedy and Tallahassee’s ambivalence toward it has revealed a “glaring set of omissions” when it comes to how condo associations are allowed to conduct themselves.

“They’re not professionally governed. They’re left to the well-intentioned voluntary boards of directors,” Sklar said. “That’s why lenders and insurers are running away from this sector of the marketplace. They cannot deal with it being left to chance.”

Volunteer leaders are often labeled “well-intentioned,” but overlooked as experts when they are, in fact, cognoscenti of CIC affairs and experts in their own right based on their background and experience. Most CICs have experts living and serving among them, but as Damon Young at WaPo explains:

We ain’t supposed to acknowledge, publicly at least, how good we might be at what we do. Other people can do that for us, but even then our response to it must be to graciously demur.

How does your community involve and recognize your volunteer experts?

Society has taught many people to remain silent even when they should be ringing alarm bells. Being outspoken – which takes different shapes and sizes – is THE catalyst for change. If you SEE something, SAY something is as relevant to CIC governance and operations as it is everywhere else.

Obtaining a certification, credential, license and/or charging a fee for service does not make an individual or company an expert any more than serving in a volunteer capacity makes someone a lay-person. Anyone who has ever survived a wayward car repair or remodel knows that “industry background,” endorsements and even licenses are no guarantee of a satisfactory experience.

CICs deserve (and require) competent leadership and services to fulfill their legal and ethical obligations to their members (owners). Competence can be learned in part, but also requires a significant ongoing effort by individuals to continue learning and, most importantly, apply what they’ve learned to every situation. There is no ‘easy button’, nor is there ever an appropriate time to make assumptions or abstain from necessary due diligence. Competence is most easily measured by observing the application (or lack thereof) of knowledge at the right time. Demonstrating competence goes a long way toward being an expert.

As we’ve written in Decision-Making 101, the work product of your association's staff and third-party vendors (law firms, consultants, community association manager, etc.) is only as good as the direction, information (facts and context), conversations and questions you exchange. Becoming an expert within your community can be rewarding, but isn’t always easy. Check out There’s Only ONE Sandbox.

Despite the myriad benefits of harnessing in-house volunteer expertise, communities must remember to do so wisely. Volunteers are often not intended to shoulder the burden of completely replacing compensated resources. While some communities have found that they can reliably eschew contracting everything from basic to specialized services, many CICs find it challenging to wrangle enough willing and able volunteers to serve on their Board and committees. Wise resource allocation requires valuing the time of your volunteer experts in the same way you would value the time of a compensated staff member or vendor. Using volunteer service as “free labor” for the express purpose of saving money can lead to undesirable outcomes.