CONFLICT

Conflict and tension are human. How your community handles them is crucial. "I didn't sign up for this!"

Community associations (common interest communities (CICs)) and their volunteer Boards of directors can be fertile ground for conflict because they:

1. require shared leadership by a volunteer Board with no training in the myriad requirements to successfully govern, nor the time to supervise vendors
2. are required to function as hyper-local governments with representative, non-authoritarian, non-hierarchical and inclusive leadership
3. struggle being unified and focused in terms of mission and goals in the face of many important demands (and often lack mission and vision statements)
4. include a diverse set of homeowner members who have invested tremendous time and money, yet whom are relatively uninvolved in governance
5. operate in a dynamic environment where vendors to perform a majority of the heavy-lifting without appropriate supervision

(adapted from Managing Conflict: A Guide for Volunteer Boards)

One of the most pervasive reasons for conflict in community association is that volunteers are simply overwhelmed trying to run the business. Your community — incorporated or not — is a business. Doing the best and/or the right thing for your community gives way to doing what's most expedient, whatever can be summarized in one page or decided in a 5 to 10 minute conversation (see frequent mistakes and lessons learned).

"Most owners [who choose to serve on the Board] discover, over time, that the degree of personal sacrifice, time, and effort is much more than they bargained for." — Dan S. Barnabic The Condo Bible for Americans

Feeling the pressure? Check the resources below or run your own search.