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Here’s what you missed this week:

In the News
More legislative changes for Colo. HOAs
After several embezzlement scandals rocked community associations, Colorado lawmakers passed a law that will dictate debt-collection practices for HOAs, including offering overdue homeowners a six-month payment plan before pursuing collection. Other new laws also require community managers to be licensed by the state and prohibit some areas from installing turf grass. The Denver Post (7/4)

Leadership
Leaders come in 5 flavors, researchers say
There are five leadership styles upon which executives depend, according to a recent study. Some bosses have a gruff, “tough love” approach; others are nurturing mentors, hard-working single-minded leaders or “country clubbers” who get things done by networking and charming those around them. Whatever your natural style, you’ll achieve more if you’re able to borrow from other modes of leadership as the situation demands, writes Andrea Kay. USA Today/Gannett News Service (6/29)

Ethics and Professional Conduct
Perks are nice but engagement is better
Offering perks such as free meals and long vacations can lift staff morale, but it’s much more important to make sure your employees feel engaged with their jobs, according to research by Gallup. “If you’re engaged, you know what’s expected of you at work, you feel connected to people you work with and you want to be there,” Gallup’s Jim Harter said. “You feel a part of something significant, so you’re more likely to want to be part of a solution, to be part of a bigger tribe.” Gallup Business Journal (7/2)

By Nick Tasler

In her recent HBR article “Transient Advantage,” Rita Gunther McGrath describes how “fast and roughly right decision making will replace deliberations that are precise and slow.” While most leaders couldn’t agree more, the challenge is how? How do you know the difference between “roughly right” and “not at all right”? And just how much time can elapse before “fast and roughly right” becomes “precise and slow?” Hours? Days? Months?

A simple, flexible Know-Think-Do framework can enable leaders and their teams to immediately start making these fast and roughly right decisions. To paraphrase Einstein, this framework is “as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

1. Know the ultimate strategic objective. The biggest hurdle to fast and roughly right decisions is criteria overload. Trying to weigh every possible objective and consideration from every possible stakeholder shoots the decision process in the foot before you even get off the starting line. Of the seven or eight possible objectives you would love to meet with this single decision, which one or two will make the biggest positive impact? Of all the possible stakeholders which one do you least want to disappoint, and what is the objective they care most about?

2. Think rationally about how your options align the ultimate objective. The vast majority of judgment errors can be eliminated simply by broadening our frame of reference. The quickest, easiest, most effective way to do this is by “consulting an Anti-You” before you make every decision. As one banking executive explained, “It’s amazing how many poor decisions can be avoided simply by asking one other person for their opinion.” An impressive amount of empirical research backs up his observation. (The article “How Decisions Can Be Improved,” spearheaded by Katherine Milkman of Wharton, provides an excellent summary. [PDF])

Consulting an anti-you works in two ways. The act of explaining your situation to another person often gives you new insights about the decision before the other person even responds. And the fresh perspective they offer in response is the second bonus.

3. Do something with that knowledge and those thoughts. After you’ve clearly defined the primary strategic objectives and laid out your research and thinking with one or two key Anti-You’s, it’s time to call it quits on all of the planning, strategizing, number-crunching, and critical thinking. You simply must select one option while letting go of all the other “good” options. It is helpful to remember here that in the real world, “perfect” options are a myth. Decision-making will always be an exercise in coping with an unknowable future. No amount of deliberation can ever guarantee that you have identified the “right” option. The purpose of a decision is not to find the perfect option. The purpose of a decision is to get you to the next decision.

What makes the Know-Think-Do framework particularly powerful for organizations ranging from tiny startups to behemoth banks and software makers is it’s scalability across every level of an organizational hierarchy. For example, a “fast and roughly right decision” might mean two weeks for the division heads at a Fortune 500 bank to decide how to remain competitive while also being compliant with a new government regulation. Or “fast and roughly right” might mean no more than 20-30 minutes for sales managers at the same bank’s commercial lending team in Chicago trying to make a customer account decision.

Regardless of where you are or how big you are, this framework enables all corners of an org chart can share a common language and approach for making sound, timely decisions. So get started.

Nick Tasler is the author of Why Quitters Win: Decide to Be Excellent (September, 2013) and the CEO of Decision Pulse, a global consulting and training company.

NBC-CAM will be sending reminder notices next week to individuals who need to recertify by October 1, 2013. Here are a few helpful links:

• Recertification application
• Recertify online
• Continuing education
• Are you due for recertification?
• Pay your annual service fee
• Recertification requirements
• Continuing education worksheet

A few things to note:

1. It is the responsibility of each CMCA to provide documentation of their 16 hours of continuing education at the time of recertification. NBC-CAM does not track your CEs. If you took a class with CAI, please log into their website (caionline.org) to print out a certificate of completion.
2. Only courses completed between October 1, 2011 and present will count as continuing education.
3. If you have held an active AMS, PCAM, FL CAM, NV CAM or NAHC-RCM for at least a year, this will satisfy your CMCA continuing education requirement.
4. Credit hours may be earned only for education that meets either of the following criteria: It pertains to community association operations or management and/or it contributes to the professional development of the CMCA.
5. The CMCA Annual Service Fee is $105.00. Oftentimes this fee is confused with CAI’s individual manager membership. Recently, CAI increased the rate of the individual manager membership from $130.00 to $134.00. While NBC-CAM maintains an affiliate relationship with CAI, we are an independent credentialing body: separately incorporated, governed by an independent Board of Trustees, and guided in the administration of our program by the standards of our accrediting body, the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. We are not a membership organization; we do not collect membership dues. We assess our credential holders an annual maintenance fee which is used to support the development and delivery of our core exam and the operation of our program in accordance with best practices in professional credentialing.

Roland Richardson, Certification Assistant, is happy to assist you with the recertification process. Contact Roland at rrichardson@nbccam.org with any questions.

Florida law revamps HOA
A wide-ranging HOA measure that was signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott will put more power in the hands of homeowners. The law will change how associations keep records, determine who is eligible to sit on a board and limit developers’ power when changing covenants. Ocala Star-Banner

Changes for Colorado HOA collections

The new law clarifies that following collection policies is mandatory. In addition, the law provides a detailed list of minimum requirements for the content of a policy. One new requirement is that, before an HOA turns over a delinquent account to a collection agency or attorney, the HOA must send the owner a notice of delinquency containing certain detailed information. Summit Daily

Arizona law pits real estate agents against associations

The bill prohibits homeowner associations from limiting the number of political signs someone can display, forbids local governments from requiring developers to establish a homeowner association and bans homeowner associations from performing background checks on tenants. Homeowner association officials opposed the rental property provision backed by real estate organizations and had asked Gov. Brewer to veto the bill. The Republic

In a move to increase water conservation, there’s a new law that keeps HOAs in Texas from banning water-efficient landscaping. Check out the video for more information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Aq1J7yNfkY 

Does your community or state have something similar?  Share your story in the comments.

California managers should check out this article by Kelly G. Richardson to learn more about the “new” Davis-Stirling Act.  Ms. Richardson is a Managing Partner of Richardson Harman Ober PC, a law firm known for community association advice.

With summer and the high costs of cooling straining already stretched budgets for community associations and their members, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering advice to help Americans reduce both energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions by one third through Energy Star.

A few minor changes can make a big difference in community association offices, common areas, and members’ homes. Here are some tips to save energy and help protect the environment at work and in your community’s homes:

• Install and use programmable thermostats. It’s usually not necessary for associations to operate cooling systems 24 hours a day. Program your system to scale back on cooling while buildings are unoccupied. You could save hundreds of dollars.
• If you don’t already have them, install ceiling fans in community association facilities. Run them in a clockwise direction to create a wind-chill effect that will make you “feel” cooler. Remember that ceiling fans cool people, not rooms — so turn them off when you leave the room.
• Inspect duct systems throughout areas under the association’s control for obvious signs of leaks and disconnections (most offices and homes leak 20 percent or more). Seal any leaks with foil tape or a special sealant called “duct mastic.” Also consider insulating ducts in unconditioned areas (like attics, basements or crawlspaces).
• Seal air leaks around community association facilities to keep the heat out and the cool air in. The biggest air leaks are usually found in the attic or basement, but also come in around doors, windows, vents, pipes and electrical outlets. Use caulk, spray foam or weather stripping to seal the leaks. And add more insulation to keep areas cooler this summer.
• Maintain your cooling systems. Check your systems’ air filter every month at a minimum and change the filter every three months. Remove leaves, dirt and other debris from around the outdoor components to improve air flow and efficiency. Have a qualified professional tune-up your systems with a pre-season maintenance checkup and, if it’s time to replace your old system, look for models that have earned EPA’s Energy Star.
• Turn off office lights and equipment when not in use so they don’t generate unnecessary heat.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs in your office lamps with Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs which use two-thirds less energy and generate less heat than conventional bulbs. These bulbs also are great for use in hard-to-reach fixtures in common areas because they last about 10 times longer than conventional bulbs.

More tips on how to save energy at work: www.energystar.gov/bizcooling. More tips to share with your association’s residents on to how to save energy at home: www.energystar.gov. More hot tips for a cool summer: www.epa.gov/epahome/hi-summer.htm.  Share your own in the comments

Steer clear of sticky situations

Your board president wants you to delay this year’s expenses until next year to put HOA finances in the black. A friendly vendor has offered you tickets to see your favorite sports team, plus dinner at a steakhouse.

Should you say yes to both and walk on squishy ethical ground? Say no to both and risk isolating yourself from clients and partners? These not-so-uncommon scenarios can put your reputation at risk.

CMCAs serve many masters – You might work for a management company, while serving client communities. Your bosses are also the board members that hired your company. You work with vendors each day.

Still, your most important commitment is to the CMCA code of ethics and to the industry knowledge that brought you this far. 

Good CMCAs keep this in mind as they manage and communicate about HOA finances. Here are some ways working with different “masters” can pose financial dilemmas, and what to do about them.

Working with boards — Although it’s rare, a board member may ask a manager to falsify financial documents by recording expenses in the wrong month or by otherwise moving money around.  The board member might also ask you to reduce the association’s bad debt allowance to make the books look better, a step that should never be taken without board approval.

When in doubt, turn to generally accepted accounting principles or call your association’s accountant.  Don’t be afraid to stand up for what’s right; it will pay off down the road.

Protect your reputation — Transparent, timely and thorough are the three T’s of financial management.  When communicating with boards, make sure to:

• Provide boards all the information they ask for.
• Provide financial statements on a timely basis.
• Provide to board members copies of invoices paid.
• Never pay yourself, but have your payments come from a third party.
• Get dual signatures on all checks.

Working for a management company — More common are situations in which a manager is caught between their company and the HOA board, said Kevin Cavanaugh, CPA, with Cavanaugh & Co., a firm that specializes in HOA finances. “Usually, managers want to side with their company.”

Cavanaugh has seen several cases in which managers were lied to by their bosses. Their bosses were, in turn, misappropriating funds.

“Usually, the manager has a hunch something is wrong but no concrete evidence to prove it. They’re also getting negative feedback from clients,” he said. “The solution may be to get the information you need, and, if necessary, resign.”

Working with vendors — While it’s okay to accept tickets to a ball game, it’s not okay to accept an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, plus gambling money. 

“There’s no hard line on vendor relations,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s more of the smell test.  Remember, you can’t have any dealings that either are or appear to be a conflict of interest.”

Better yet, refer to your company’s policy on vendor gifts. Don’t have one? Suggest it to your manager.

Your turn: What are your best internal controls? What is your company’s policy on gifts? Have you ever found yourself in a sticky financial situation? What did you do?

By Ty Kiisel

Several years ago I was convinced the only thing I needed to know about my drycleaner was how much it was going to cost to get my suits cleaned and my shirts pressed. That was before I met Penny.

Penny is responsible for customer service at Red Hanger Cleaners. I must admit, I don’t know how they compare to other drycleaners across the country, but they have several locations around Salt Lake City, where I live, and have been responsible for how good my suits and shirts look since I met Penny six or seven years ago. When we first met, Red Hanger Hanger was a customer of ours and she was to give me a tour to teach me about what made Red Hanger different.

Penny showed me the washers and the pressing machines. She talked about how shirts flowed through their shirt laundry. She talked about how they looked for loose buttons and mended them when needed. She described how they went through pockets to make sure nothing that would ruin my clothes was left in my pockets and the process they went through to ensure that anything that did get left in a pocket would be returned to me.

Although I was impressed with what they did to ensure I looked my best, it was really Penny that won me over and has kept me a customer for all these years. As we walked through the plant she said, “I was born to work here. When I was a teenager, I used to save my babysitting money to buy spray starch.”

When I started to chuckle she added, “My sisters used to tease me, but they were all jealous when my white blouse and poodle skirt looked perfect for the school dance.”

Over the years, as I’ve thought about my conversation with this delightful lady, I have to put her enthusiasm for what she does at the top of my list of customer service lessons she, and her company, have taught me:

1. You’ve got      to have passion for what you do: Most people want to contribute to something      meaningful. It was obvious to me Penny felt like what she’d spent her life      doing was meaningful, and had a lot of passion for it. Like most people in      a customer service-specific role, she’s usually dealing with people who      are a little cranky and have a problem. Her desire to make sure every      customer feels like they are important, that their complaint is heard, and      their problems will be resolved is contagious. She’s still there, but I      haven’t had the opportunity to speak with Penny since that time, but she      taught me that great customer service starts with passion.
2. Everyone      in the company is part of the customer service team: Over the      years I’ve frequented a couple of different locations (there are two that      are reasonably close to my home). It doesn’t matter where I take my      laundry, the staff is friendly and they seem anxious to make sure I leave      happy. What’s more, the staff doesn’t seem to turn over as much as I would      have expected, which suggests to me that one of the reasons they treat me      so well is because the company must treat them pretty good too. If the      only folks who care about customer service in your organization are the      people with “customer service” in their title, you’ll never make raving      fans out of your customers.
3. They know      me, they know how I like my shirts pressed, and it happens that way every      time: I know      it’s because I filled out a card they keep on file that tells them how I      like my shirts, but it’s more than that. When I drop off my laundry and drycleaning,      they act like they know me. They’re friendly, they’re professional, and      they do it right every time. In fact, I can’t think of a time when my      shirts weren’t starched the way I wanted them or the creases on my slacks      were wrong. Part of great customer service is being really good at what      you do.
4. Doing a      little extra is nothing special, it’s their modus operandi: I once had      a pair of slacks I really liked, but had lost a button. I intended to      mention it when I dropped of my laundry, but didn’t. Even though I didn’t      request it, when I picked up my laundry a new button was mended to the      pants. They didn’t mention to me they’d done it and I didn’t notice until      I next wore the slacks. Giving a little extra is an important part of      great customer service—even better if it just happens quietly in the      background without a lot of fanfare.
5. A little      appreciation goes a long way: I know I’m part of a bonding/loyalty program and I      receive periodic offers based upon how often I get my shirts pressed, but      I don’t have to keep track of a loyalty card or otherwise count my visits.      I know they’re paying attention to how often they see my laundry      though. Periodically they tell me “Thank You” with a brief note from Penny      and a special offer. Even though I know what happens “behind the scenes”      to make sure I get my “Thanks” in the mail, I appreciate their note and it      keeps me going back.

I originally started using Red Hanger because the company was a customer of ours, but it’s been five or six years since that was the case. And no, in case you’re wondering, I’m not being compensated by them in any way for telling you about their customer service practices, I just think they’re the best drycleaner I’ve ever used.

You might also be interested to know that there are two or three other cleaners that are closer with more convenient locations, but I continue to go there. In fact, my wife usually takes her drycleaning to someone down the street, but I won’t let her take my stuff there. I only trust my laundry to Penny—she was born to do this

by Peter Bregman

A recent early morning hike in Malibu, California, led me to a beach, where I sat on a rock and watched surfers. I marveled at these courageous men and women who woke before dawn, endured freezing water, paddled through barreling waves, and even risked shark attacks, all for the sake of, maybe, catching an epic ride.

After about 15 minutes, it was easy to tell the surfers apart by their style of surfing, their handling of the board, their skill, and their playfulness.

What really struck me though, was what they had in common. No matter how good, how experienced, how graceful they were on the wave, every surfer ended their ride in precisely the same way: By falling.

Some had fun with their fall, while others tried desperately to avoid it. And not all falls were failures — some fell into the water only when their wave fizzled and their ride ended.

But here’s what I found most interesting: The only difference between a failure and a fizzle was the element of surprise. In all cases, the surfer ends up in the water. There’s no other possible way to wrap up a ride.

That got me thinking: What if we all lived life like a surfer on a wave?

The answer that kept coming to me was that we would take more risks.

That difficult conversation with your boss (or employee, or colleague, or partner, or spouse) that you’ve been avoiding? You’d initiate it.

That proposal (or article, or book, or email) you’ve been putting off? You’d start it.

That new business (or product, or sales strategy, or investment) you’ve been overanalyzing? You’d follow through.

And when you fell — because if you take risks, you will fall — you’d get back on the board and paddle back into the surf. That’s what every single one of the surfers did.

So why don’t we live life that way? Why don’t we accept falling — even if it’s a failure — as part of the ride?

Because we’re afraid of feeling.

Think about it: In all those situations, our greatest fear is that we will feel something unpleasant.

What if you have that scary conversation you’ve been avoiding and it ends the relationship? It would hurt.

What if you follow through on the business idea and lose money? It would feel terrible.

What if you submitted the proposal and you were rejected? It would feel awful.

Here’s the thing: More often than not, our fear doesn’t help us avoid the feelings; it simply subjects us to them for an agonizingly long time. We feel the suffering of procrastination. Taking risks, and falling, is not something to avoid. It’s something to cultivate. But how?

Practice.

Which you get by taking risks, feeling whatever you end up feeling, recognizing that it didn’t kill you, and then getting on the board and paddling back into the surf.

Have that difficult conversation. Listen without defensiveness when your colleague criticizes you. Name the elephant in the room. Get rejected.

And feel it all. Feel the anticipation of the risk. Feel the pre-risk cringe. Then, during the risk, and after, take a deep breath and feel that too.

You’ll become familiar with those feelings and, believe it or not, you’ll start to enjoy them. Even the ones you think of as unpleasant. Because feeling is what tells you you’re alive.

You know that sensation you get after you’ve done or said something weird or awkward? How you turn around and kind of wince in embarrassment? Next time that happens, take a moment to really feel it.

When you do, you’ll realize it’s not so bad. Maybe you’ll admit, “I don’t know why I just said that,” and apologize. Then maybe you’ll both laugh it off. Or maybe you’ll get into that conversation you’ve been avoiding for years but you know you need to have.

Soon, you won’t fear feeling. You’ll pursue it like those courageous early morning surfers. You’ll wake up before dawn and dive into those scary conversations and difficult proposals. You’ll take the risks that once scared you. And you’ll fall; sometimes you’ll even fail.

Then you’ll get up and do it again.

Peter Bregman is a strategic advisor to CEOs and their leadership teams. His latest book is 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done.