What Good Boards Get Right
Best Practices for Working with Professionals
By Kate Mattiace
Efficient condo and co-op boards make a building run smoothly—but the most effective ones don’t work alone; they understand how to work together with other industry professionals, including property managers, attorneys, accountants, and others. What do the best boards have in common? And how can professionals tell when they’re working with a collaborative board versus one in need of improvement?
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Being open to hear a range of perspectives and taking into account everyone’s views also helps boards make the best decisions. Board members are humans and come in with different personalities, preferences, and approaches, of course, but, says Manhattan-based real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, “The flow of uninterrupted communication and respect for ideas cannot be underestimated. Insults and criticism should be left outside the meeting room. They can kill a good board from getting things done.”
Bailey reflects on an instance when a well-run board had what they considered an ‘unconventional’ director. The board used a simplified version of Robert’s Rules of Order, and therefore, this director felt not only part of the group, but also encouraged to speak at meetings. The board was meeting with government representatives through their counsel’s connections to request financial aid from the city and state. “Each board member could speak, and motions were made to try to help the building—no matter how small the issue.”
“One day [the director] came to the meeting with several governmental representatives, and they announced that the City and State would fund over 60 million dollars in serious repairs the building needed that would not have to be paid back,” Leitman Bailey continues. “Working as a board helped save the building.” Every member turned out to be an essential part of the board.
When Good Boards Go Bad
Why does having a well-educated, well-informed, and engaged board matter? For the same reason those exact traits help keep any democratic community sound and solvent. Boards that devalue accountability, teamwork, and transparency tend to reap what they sow. “Boards that turn into dictatorships rarely do well,” warns Leitman Bailey. “When speech is curtailed, meetings are called less frequently and elections are delayed.” This in turn leads to dissatisfaction and alienation among residents, which almost inevitably leads to costly litigation. “These buildings will spend the most money digging out of their problems in the future.”