By Jim Wilson for Human Resource Director

There is an ongoing coaching deficiency in the workplace, according to a recent report.

Overall, 40% of leaders report inadequate coaching from their managers, finds leadership company DDI. And 31% of frontline leaders want more coaching than they are currently receiving from their managers.

What workers are getting from their managers right now is simply not good enough, says Bruce Watt, senior vice president at DDI who leads operations in EU, Australia, India, in talking with HRD Asia.

“A lot of managers want to be helpful. They want to actually provide help with a solution or try to set somebody in the right direction. And what they do is they provide [the] solution,” says Watt.

“What people in organizations are looking for now – given the world of change and ambiguity – is for someone to help them, to coach them through thinking about a solution, not providing the solution. So [there’s] that disconnect between coaching as a seeking activity and facilitating an understanding of what to do versus telling.”

And the problem is getting worse, as employers do not seem to be investing enough resources to improve coaching within their organizations, he says.

“If you look at the global leadership forecast and the trend over the last 25 years, there has been an increased expectation from employees for good coaching. So that’s where that statistic now comes from. And so the discrepancy between what they’re expecting and needing, and what they’re receiving is growing.

“The reason for that is pretty obvious: [it’s] the world we’re in at the moment – with the tectonic changes with things like AI, ways of work – and, obviously, technologies are evolving very quickly.”

What are the benefits of coaching in the workplace?

The economics of coaching in organizations have a lot to do with increased productivity, improved efficiency and effectiveness, and this makes companies more money, says Watt.

Executing an employer’s coaching strategy “ultimately comes back to how people do their jobs,” he says.

“Think about an employee who is having difficulty with a co-worker that they’re trying to collaborate with. There are some difficult conversations and then those conversations lead to other conversations with other people. And they ask their manager to help them work through that issue. 

“If you resolve that issue, or if you help the individual with an option, that improves their ability to deal with that co-worker. The amount of time it saves from a productivity point of view – not just for that person, but for other people – has tangible monetary value.”

Younger employees in the United States are very concerned about getting replaced by someone who has better skills at generative AI, according to a previous report.

What are the coaching needs in a workplace?

To improve coaching within the organization – especially as artificial intelligence takes that spotlight – employers must address both the personal and practical needs of workers, says Watt.

There’s a lot of ambiguity around AI regarding the benefits and risks it brings to the table, he says. 

“Managers should be really in tuned to thinking for their teams. How do they feel about AI? What are their concerns? Are they worried about losing [their] jobs, for example.” 

It’s important for managers to have engaging discussions with their workers about this, he says.

“AI represents a really significant moment in history, almost of the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution. And people don’t know what’s going to happen next. Is it good? Is it bad? So the coaching becomes more of a personal need” instead of just focusing on understanding how to use AI, he says.

Ultimately, employers must create a culture of coaching in the workplace, says Watt.

“An organization needs to declare that they want a culture of coaching. That is not going to happen by chance. So if you accept that, then actually invest in properly preparing your leaders and everybody in a process of coaching and a process of feedback.”

Coaching “essentially needs to happen in the flow of work,” he says. 

Managers need to be receptive to honest feedback about the effort they put into coaching and whether they are teaching workers well. Also, employers should implement a way to measure the success of coaching and feedback systems.

“If we’re serious about it, we will see many organizations that can genuinely develop a culture of coaching,” says Watt.

Employees would leave their employer for not providing opportunities to further their careers, according to a previous Randstad report.

By Steve Keating in Lead Today

There’s a lot of good that comes from jumping. Jumping to catch a baseball as it’s going over the outfield wall can get you on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Jumping to get out of the way of an oncoming train can be literally life-saving. And then of course there is my personal favorite, jumping for joy. I mean, really, who doesn’t like joy?

But not all jumping is good. Some is downright bad. Perhaps none more so than jumping to conclusions.

The world was able to witness the pitfalls of jumping to conclusions in real-time recently when an attempt was made to assassinate Donald Trump. Within minutes, “experts” on social media knew exactly what happened, how it had happened, and why it had happened. One of the first accounts I read was on X, formerly known as Twitter. This “expert” declared the whole thing was fake, stating that there were no shots, no bullets, and no injuries.

Now you may find that hard to believe, but this “expert” had irrefutable proof. Their proof was that an AR-15 was likely used, and as “everyone knows” a bullet from an AR-15 that comes even within 1 foot of someone will “blow them apart.” A bullet couldn’t have just grazed someone’s ear; if it even came close to their ear, they would be gone.

How could anyone even begin to argue with “proof” like that?

That person had a preconceived notion of what happened and simply “bent” the “facts” to accommodate that notion. There was no attempt to discover any new information because that new information may challenge their thinking. They simply jumped to the conclusion they wanted.

Now before you go thinking that the person who posted that is an obvious idiot, you need to make sure that you don’t, at least at times, do the same kind of thing. Maybe not that crazy of a conclusion, but we all have the ability to “mind-bend” facts to get them to accommodate the outcome we’re hoping for.

Jumping to conclusions is very expensive for a business and very damaging to our personal lives. It’s likely you, me, and everyone else has made a decision at work that was based on a false, quickly jumped to, conclusion.

You may have also prematurely ended a relationship based on jumping to a conclusion too quickly. With too few facts and way too much emotion.

But we humans are emotional beings, and it almost seems to be human nature to jump to conclusions. So how do we control our nature and make fact-based, well-thought-out decisions that are less emotional and more logic-based?

That’s going to require that we change some habits. Habits of using facts “we just know” need to be replaced with reflective thinking and critical evaluation. Here are some ideas that can help you begin to make the necessary changes.

Gather All Information:

• Ensure you have all the relevant facts before forming an opinion. The key word there is indeed “before”.

• Seek out additional data if necessary, and avoid relying solely on initial impressions. First impressions are often incorrect, but that doesn’t make them easy to get out of your mind.

Consider Multiple Perspectives:

• Try to view the situation from different angles.

• Ask yourself how others might view the same issue and why they might hold different opinions.

Question Assumptions:

• Identify any assumptions you might be making. You know what assuming makes us, right?

• Challenge these assumptions and consider whether they are justified.

Delay Judgment:

• Give yourself time to think before making a decision.

• Avoid making snap judgments or decisions when you’re emotional or stressed. Remember, any decision made in less than 10 minutes is a snap decision.

Seek Evidence:

• Look for evidence that supports or contradicts your initial thoughts.

• Base your conclusions on concrete evidence rather than speculation or hearsay. “They” are the biggest liars in the world. “They” can never be held accountable because nobody really has a clue who “they” are. Don’t trust “they.”

Reflect on Past Experiences:

• Consider past situations where you might have jumped to conclusions and reflect on the outcomes. I’ll bet you’d like a do-over on many of them.

• Learn from these experiences to improve your decision-making process.

Engage in Critical Thinking:

• Use logic and reasoning to analyze the situation.

• Break down complex issues into smaller parts and evaluate each component systematically.

Ask Clarifying Questions:

• If you’re unsure about something, ask questions to gain clarity. Guessing and assuming make great springboards to a mistaken conclusion. Stay grounded by asking questions or doing as complete a job of research as possible.

• Don’t hesitate to seek further information from reliable sources.

Discuss with Others:

• Talk to others who might have more information or a different viewpoint. Be open to those different viewpoints and understand that even the smartest people can be wrong sometimes. That means you can be wrong sometimes too.

• Engaging in discussions can provide new insights and help you see the bigger picture.

Self-awareness:

• Recognize when you might be jumping to conclusions and take a step back to reassess. If you don’t have the facts, actual concrete facts, to support your conclusion, you may have jumped into something you shouldn’t have. Never hesitate to jump back out.

There’s a lot of discussion going on right now about “dialing down the rhetoric” and choosing our words more carefully. That’s hard to do when you’re in mid-air jumping towards a conclusion. So, think before you decide, think before you speak, and think before you risk making a fool of yourself.

Kinda sounds like thinking can solve a lot of problems. I hope that’s one conclusion we can all agree on.

Free Online Resource Helps Candidates Successfully Prepare For The CMCA Exam

By Madeline Hay, CAMICB’s Director of Exam Administration

Underscoring a quarter century of commitment to professionalism and excellence in community association management, CAMICB is excited to continue to celebrate the organization’s 25^th Anniversary with the launch of a free, interactive online CMCA Exam Preparation e-Learning course. 

The three-hour course, featuring a series of eight modules, is divided into two components. The first component features four learning modules focused on creating an examination review and preparation plan. The second component includes three scenario-based learning modules that are designed to put several of the knowledge areas tested on the CMCA examination in context using real-life scenarios. The three modules address knowledge areas that are challenging for many CMCA candidates: Risk Management & Insurance; Financial Controls; and Governance, Legal & Ethical Conduct.  A final module is intended to offer some perspective on the exam preparation process and next steps.

Said Chair of the CAMICB Board of Commissioners Drew Mulhare, CMCA, AMS, LSM, PCAM, “CAMICB is always working to identify new tools to help CMCA candidates succeed on the exam. We’re excited to launch the CMCA Exam Prep e-Learning course – a free resource intended to put candidates on the path to the CMCA credential.”

The Course Modules

The exam preparation modules offer constructive test taking tips, discuss the composition of examination questions, give preparation advice, and provide an interactive self-assessment tool to help a candidate develop a study plan specific to that candidate’s needs and goals. The content-based modules ask the candidate to solve problems and answer questions using downloadable sample documents. 

Each module takes approximately 10-25 minutes to complete. The course is designed to accommodate busy schedules and to allow candidates to work at their own pace, so they may stop and resume the modules as their schedule permits. Below is a brief description of the different modules and what candidates can expect.

Module 1: An Introduction

Learn what it takes to pass the CMCA exam. Get advice from working CMCAs about what worked for them as they were preparing for the test – and what didn’t. Find out some common misconceptions about the CMCA exam and uncover the key for understanding how to approach the exam questions.

Module 2: Devising a Study Plan, Part 1 – Prioritizing Topics 

Discover how to establish and follow a solid study routine that’s tailored to your experience level. Get an in-depth look at the topic areas covered on the test and participate in a self-assessment exercise to determine which topics should be prioritized in your study plan. 

Module 3: Devising a Study Plan, Part 2 – Strategies and Tips 

Find out how to put your study plan into action. Learn practical tips and tricks to make the most of your prep time and take a closer look at some of the study resources available to you. 

A recent course participant shared, “The study resources provided in the CMCA exam prep course are excellent. It gave me a much better understanding of what material to really focus on.”

Module 4: Test-Taking Strategies

Learn how to maximize your potential on exam day. Find out how taking practice tests can improve your performance on the exam, get some guidance on strategies to overcome test anxiety, and see what to expect when you go to the testing center. 

Modules 5 and 6 use real-life scenarios that help you learn from detailed feedback. They also make use of downloadable sample files including Lakeside Terrace’s insurance declaration and financial documents to inform your decisions. 

Said one course participant, “For me, the CMCA exam prep course was so much more effective than simply reading different texts.”

Module 5: Risk Management & Insurance – Refresher Content 

Apply your knowledge of risk management and insurance topics by putting yourself in the shoes of the community association manager for Lakeside Terrace Condominiums. 

Module 6: Financial Controls – Refresher Content 

Revisit your role as Lakeside Terrace’s community association manager as you encounter some scenarios that test key knowledge about financial controls.

Module 7: Governance, Legal & Ethical Conduct – Refresher Content

Another real-life scenario allows you to visit Willow Grove Estates, where you have been hired as the association’s first community manager. 

Module 8: Looking Back and Looking Forward

An opportunity to recall what you’ve learned and consider what you want to keep working on. 

At CAMICB, we’re committed to offering a combination of study tools to enhance candidate performance.  Therefore, we encourage exam candidates to develop a personal study plan incorporating a wide range of resources and reference materials. CMCA preparatory materials are all available online – most at no cost – to managers employed anywhere in the world. We’re thrilled to add our newest offering, the CMCA Exam Prep E-Learning Course, to our portfolio of resources. 

Earning and maintaining this internationally-recognized credential propels a manager’s career forward, allowing for more advanced career opportunities and salaries that, on average, are 20 percent higher than non-credentialed managers. To get started and to learn more about the CMCA Exam Prep E-Learning course, visit www.camicb.org.

By Amy Bonsai for Harvard Business Review

Meetings are broken. Something happened when work moved online in 2020, and opening up the office hasn’t fixed it. Every interaction with colleagues became a video call, and our days became a game of transactional Tetris: Where can I slot in this or that meeting? Now, with policies directing which days of the week to be where, the Tetris has gotten more complex.

In my work helping distributed and hybrid organizations flourish, I see employees commuting only to spend time in near-empty offices or on calls. It feels less like flexibility than a new constraint, and it’s not building the relationships we intended. It’s the worst of both worlds.

There is a better way. Instead of focusing on when and where we meet, we ought to start with why we’re coming together and let that dictate logistics. When I’m asked to help rebuild relationships and strengthen complex collaboration, I begin with foundational advice: The new work calendar isn’t about office or home, it’s about three gathering types and the conditions that serve them best.

Three Types of Gatherings

Why do I call them gatherings and not meetings? Names signal purpose. Meeting has a strong connotation, suggesting people around a conference table (or the online equivalent) and a tight agenda. Gatherings offer multiple purposes and release the idea that we must conduct a time-stamped march to check things off lists.

Transactional gatherings move work forward; relational gatherings strengthen connections; and adaptive gatherings help us address complex or sensitive topics. As transactional gatherings are easier to conduct online, relational and adaptive gatherings have become relatively scarce. Now is a great time to reintroduce and redesign these gatherings, as all had flaws even before the pandemic. Let’s look at the best conditions for all three. While I focus on distributed and hybrid environments, the lessons apply for any organization.

1. Transactional Gatherings

Transactional gatherings are about getting things done. Examples include daily standups, weekly sales updates, and planning meetings. They need three things to be successful:

Shared working documents

Cloud-based tools like Google Docs, Miro, and FigJam are game-changers. If your team hasn’t been using them, now is the time. Because multiple people can edit simultaneously, everyone sees updates in real time, and they far outweigh a whiteboard only a few can see.

Screen parity

Hybrid transactional gatherings — where at least two people are in the same room and the rest are distributed — benefit from screen parity, or having each person appear in an individual tile. As anyone who’s attended a hybrid meeting remotely likely knows, it’s hard to interact with a virtual conference room full of blurry people.

A host on the lookout for signals of participation

While tech adjustments go a long way, hosts have an additional responsibility when not everyone is together: spying signals of participation. A raised hand or a mic going off mute are signals to engage participants. I’ve found it advantageous to add a supplementary role: an engagement lead to support the host in ensuring active, equitable participation. In smaller events, the engagement lead and the host are synonymous. In bigger gatherings, consider appointing separate owners.

2. Relational Gatherings

Relational gatherings are intended to strengthen our connections. Examples historically included offsites, group lunches, or team-building outings. They need three things to be successful:

Clear objectives

Relational gatherings suffer most from “let’s just get everyone together” syndrome: the idea that just throwing people together will suffice. While these types of events can be lovely, they are not relationship builders. Instead, whether you’re convening two people or the whole organization, relational gatherings should be intentionally designed, with clear objectives. Instead of “get to know everyone,” try objectives like:

• Learn about career evolutions
• Understand driving motivations
• Reflect on growth moments

These objectives give people a hook so they can get to know each other more naturally.

Structured activities

Instead of an amorphous free-for-all, structure time deliberately. Split the session into times to reflect (alone) and share (in small groups) through activities like the following:

• Draw a map of your career, highlighting pivots.
• Share one piece of work-related advice you return to often.
• Tell a story of resilience.

Strong relationships are built by laddering up levels of openness, so these activities allow people to choose comfortable levels of exposure. A leadership team who has worked together for years and navigated rocky waters would likely share deeper stories than newcomers at an onboarding event.

If you have a subset of your team together, create a distinct, asynchronous way for non-attendees to engage. For example, for the advice activity, you could ask people to share their example over video in advance.

A mix of people from across functions, levels, or locations

Left to our own devices, we go where we’re comfortable: talking to our teammates, our peers, or those in similar circumstances. But organizations need us to have relationships beyond these silos, which relational gatherings can support by deliberately mixing people who wouldn’t naturally gravitate to each other.

3. Adaptive Gatherings

Adaptive gatherings help us address complex or sensitive topics where the right process or the desired outcome are not clear from the outset. These gatherings require agility and sensitivity. Examples include strategy sessions, innovation sprints, career conversations, or navigating the organizational impact of a societal issue. To be successful, they require three conditions:

A malleable, distinct environment

When I was at the design firm IDEO, where almost every client gathering was adaptive, we preferred rooms separate from team meeting spaces. Ideal were spaces where furniture was moveable, people could mill around, and there was no formal hierarchy implied (board rooms: out!). Space influences how people interact, so the location was the first clue to participants that this was not a run-of-the-mill conversation.

If you’re online, break out of video boxes. Design brainstorming sessions with video off and the focus on a digital jamboard. And try to host delicate conversations (where body language matters) with people sitting on couches or chairs rather than at desks, with the camera farther back to reduce intensity and allow for full-body signals.

A sense of safety

Historically, difficult or sensitive conversations happened in person, so we could watch body language and use physical surroundings to create a sense of safety. But we’ve learned over the pandemic that this isn’t always necessary — or desirable. An example is sensitive career conversations. While your instinct may be to hold these meetings in person, several employees have told me they prefer these discussions online. The screen helps them hold their emotions in check, providing a greater sense of control. Allow employees autonomy over where these are held (some may prefer online, others a walk-and-talk).

Release valves to dissolve tensions

Often, complex problems have time pressure, and release valves can help. To navigate to conclusions from a place of calm, create separation between discussing options and making decisions. In the room, that might be a coffee break with a shared laugh about something off topic. Online, encourage everyone to get outside and not think about the issue. This change in focus is not expendable, but rather a critical component of a successful outcome.

In a distributed organization I led, we needed to build a new guiding framework after a charged incident. To dissipate tension, we altered cadence and structure. First, we hosted a small digital round table to reflect on the incident (to allow emotions to flow when assessing the pain point). Next, we held one-on-ones with various individuals to understand diverse needs (the intimacy helped people feel more comfortable being vulnerable). Finally, we hosted a session to craft our new framework (by then, the emotions from the first two stages had sufficient space to dissipate).

What should you do if your gathering is all (or none) of the above?

While these use cases benefit from different conditions, it doesn’t mean you can’t combine them. An example is an offsite slated to build relationships, address complex strategic issues, and get work done. Set separate conditions for each: Mix and match people who wouldn’t naturally gravitate to each other, allow strategic discussions to have breathing room, and use distinct spaces for each type of activity.

Other events may not feel like they are transactional, relational, or adaptive gatherings. That’s okay, too. Because the path to an effective gathering is always to ask: Why are we meeting? What are we trying to accomplish? And to let each need have its own space and place. You may be surprised by the rhythm of when to convene in person. While it will vary by team needs, it’s more likely to be on a monthly, quarterly, or project cadence than weekly.

And if you can’t make organization-wide change, you can still impact your own gatherings. Within a policy that dictates where you should be, not why, reorient how you conduct gatherings by shifting your priorities from the logistics of your calendar to the needs of your people.

Amy Bonsall is the CEO of Collective, a platform that helps distributed organizations and their people flourish. Prior, Amy was an IDEO and Old Navy executive. She’s been on the pages and stages of Entrepreneur, IDEO.com, SXSW, Singularity University, and more, covering flourishing at work, working from anywhere, distributed organizations, and behavioral prototyping. She co-teaches a course on Designing a Business, hosted by IDEOU. Follow Amy on Instagram.

HABITAT Magazine

Co-op and condo boards must make reasonable accommodations for a host of “protected classes” — or face potentially crippling charges of discrimination. As one New York City co-op board learned recently, those protections extend to religious practices.

Instead of a doorman, this co-op has an electronic keypad beside the front door that requires residents to enter a code to open the door. But one shareholder, an observant Jew, is forbidden from using electric devices on the Sabbath, and so he asked the co-op board to give him a key that opens a door to the basement, where there is a staircase to the lobby. The co-op board told him the basement door was off-limits to residents.

Big mistake, according to the Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times. A request for a key to enter a side door in order to adhere to sincerely held religious belief of Sabbath observance should be honored by every co-op and condo board, unless there is a credible reason why tenants’ use of that entrance is dangerous.

If a co-op or condo board refuses to grant this “extremely reasonable request,” that could be evidence of discrimination, exposing the board to legal liability, says Ali Frick, a partner at the law firm Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick. “The co-op could be held liable for its neutral policies if they have a disparate impact on a religious group — as its keypad-only policy appears to have.”

A co-op shareholder or condo unit-owner can hire a lawyer to write a letter to the board explaining that he or she observes the Sabbath and that using a keypad prevents keeping religious practice, in effect denying equal access to the building.

“If the co-op flatly rejected your request, you can sue for discrimination because they are effectively making the building unavailable to observant Jews,” says Andrew Lieb, managing partner at his eponymous law firm. The lawsuit could result in a judge ordering the board to grant access to the shareholder, while also awarding him with emotional support damages, other consequential damages, statutory penalties, and attorneys’ fees, Lieb adds.

A 1994 state court decision on this topic that originated in Queens found in favor of the building, because electronic locks were used to deter crime and did not have a discriminatory intent or effect. However, Lieb notes, a different argument could be made based on a more recent federal appellate case, one that states that the co-op’s actions can be discriminatory if they have a negative impact on one group of people. 

The only excuse for this co-op’s refusal to give the shareholder a key to the basement door would be to show that the refusal involved no discriminatory intent and no discriminatory effect.

“Which is impossible,” Lieb says, “given that (the refusal) eliminated observant Jews from entering their housing.”

The bottom line: Boards must not only grant reasonable accommodations, they must also treat all residents equally.

New York City HABITAT Magazine

The rise in interest rates has pushed a record number of co-op buyers to make all-cash offers, especially at the high end of the market. Some co-op boards have begun demanding all-cash purchases exclusively — a tactic for ensuring the financial solidity of buyers while enhancing the building’s aura of exclusivity. But there are downsides.

One is the the effect cash-only policies have on the pool of potential buyers. “The question for the prospective purchaser is whether the advantage of such a board policy outweighs the disadvantage,” Kevin Mcconnell, of counsel at the law firm Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben & Joseph, tells Brick Underground. “The advantage is that the other tenant-shareholders are not burdened by the obligation to pay monthly maintenance and mortgage; only the former. The disadvantage is that it narrows the potential buyer market and drives down the price.”

Adds Deanna Kory, a broker at Corcoran: “The only downside is that there’s a limited number of people who can truly afford to pay all cash and have the financial requirements that are required. When you go to sell, your buyer pool will be far more restricted, so it may take longer to sell and find the right type of buyer who can pass the board.”

Another downside is that a cash-only policy could actually be a way of masking unseen, and unpleasant, financial problems. Is the reserve fund running dry? Are costly repairs overdue? Have monthly maintenance fees been rising?

To find answers, potential buyers and their brokers should take a close look at the co-op’s documents — past board meetings minutes, bylaws, offering plan, maintenance trends, repair history, scheduled repairs and upgrades, and so forth. Such investigations can reveal that things are not as they appear.

For example, Curbed stumbled upon a $99,900 studio apartment in a middle-class co-op located on Billionaire’s Row, a luxe stretch of developments in Midtown Manhattan. Seems like a great deal right?

Not so fast. That co-op at 100 West 57th St. sits on land the building doesn’t own, and the long-term land lease is set to expire next year, which could expose shareholders to a sharp rise in rent. If it’s sharp enough, residents fear the co-op could dissolve and its shareholders would turn into tenants. Not the kind of building you want to buy into, especially with an all-cash offer.

In a footnote, a bill in the state Legislature sought to cap the amount landowners could raise rent on their land. The bill, opposed by the Real Estate Board of New York among others, failed to gain traction and died a quiet death. A group advocating for the bill, the Ground Lease Co-op Coalition, said that it will keep pushing for the legislation to protect middle-income shareholders in the city’s 100 land-lease co-ops from exorbitant increases.

Sheila Callaham for Forbes

New research by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the University of Essex in the UK suggests that hiring bias against older workers is resistant to subtle nudging, and that efforts to address systemic discrimination must be more direct.

Across five studies, each with randomly recruited UK participants, the study team evaluated the effect of decision bundling on the selection rates of older candidates in technology roles. Sometimes called volume hiring, companies with numerous entry-level roles, such as technicians, retail and service roles, may use group hiring to offset recruiting and training costs.

The researchers ran thousands of hiring simulations with potential recruiters, finding that younger candidates were twice as likely to be hired as older candidates with the same relative experience. Only when hiring companies were explicit about the value of older workers and diversity was the bias against older workers eliminated.

Conducted by Daniel Jolles, Marie Juanchich and Beatrice Piccoli from the University of Essex, the study “Too Old to Be a Diversity Hire: Choice Bundling Shown to Increase Gender-Diverse Hiring Decisions Fails to Increase Age Diversity” explored the impact of hiring in groups to overcome bias against older workers. While the bundling method has been shown in previous gender studies to effectively increase gender diversity, this method failed to increase age diversity.

In the study, participants were shown younger candidates between ages 22 and 34 (median age 25) and older candidates between 61 and 67 (median age 64) and asked to make hiring decisions. Across the five studies, the team varied the experience level and qualifications, where the older candidate was slightly less qualified or equally qualified. The results showed that participants were more than twice as likely to select younger candidates than older candidates with equal experience.

These findings affirm the obstacles faced by many older job candidates, including reskilling older workers into new technologies. For older workers who want to switch careers or reskill, the effort might fail to deliver benefits if they are viewed more critically than younger workers or dismissed altogether. The findings also showed a general need for greater awareness about the underrepresentation of older workers in technology firms.

The Power of Explicit Statements

Age is one diversity characteristic that has received relatively little DEI attention. However, low participation of older adults (aged 50+) in the workforce is recognized as a key risk to productivity in many countries. Older workers are often more likely to be out of work and find it much harder to get back into employment due to routine age-related bias in hiring, according to the report.

In a further attempt to offset this, the authors also tested the impact of adding a diversity statement as part of the hiring process. According to the report, participants were asked to read a diversity statement before selecting the best candidate to hire based on gender and age (assuming candidates had the same skills and experience).

The statement tested in the first pilot study, “The company strongly values diversity and is committed to achieving diversity within its teams, including gender, race, ethnicity and age diversity,” increased the value of women candidates but did not increase the value of older candidates.

The second pilot study used a more explicit diversity statement to emphasize the need for older talent to increase age diversity, “The company strongly values diversity and is committed to achieving diversity within its teams. To achieve this, the company seeks to increase representation of women, older and Non-White employees.” The revised statement successfully increased the value of both women and older candidates.

However, using the diversity statement in a bundling scenario failed to increase the selection of older candidates. According to the study, “the statement effectively over-powered any potential bundling effect, such that fewer older candidates were chosen in the choice bundling condition than the isolated choice condition when the statement was present. This is consistent with prior studies that show an explicit diversity statement reversed the effect of choice bundling on the selection of women candidates.”

What Companies Must Do

These findings suggest that attitudes and environment are essential to decision-making. Therefore, recruiting and hiring processes should include multiple approaches and combinations to achieve greater age diversity.

“Our research shows considerable bias against older job candidates,” said Dr. Jolles, behavioural scientist at LSE’s The Inclusion Initiative and lead author for the study. “While many firms try to increase diversity by changing their recruitment processes with nudging techniques or blinding applications, firms that choose to be explicit with recruiters about their diversity goals are more likely to achieve them.”

Additionally, the study team found that when a company clearly stated a desire to increase age diversity through hiring more older adults, recruiter bias against older candidates was effectively removed.

“We would encourage companies to experiment and review their practices to find what works,” said co-author Professor Marie Juanchich, with the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex.

By Madeline Hay, CAMICB’s Director of Exam Administration

The Community Association Managers International Certification Board (CAMICB) is poised to usher in a new era for the Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) exam, offering a revamped blueprint that mirrors the dynamic landscape of association management across the globe. These changes, stemming from a thorough job analysis study conducted between 2021 and 2022, reflect an evolution in the core competencies required by community association managers worldwide.

Job Analysis 

Job analysis is the cornerstone of ensuring that the CMCA exam remains an authoritative assessment tool, reflecting the contemporary roles and responsibilities of association managers. This comprehensive study involved a multifaceted approach, dissecting the complexities of association management to chart a revised course for the credential.

The task of redefining the blueprint through job analysis was a colossal undertaking spanning 18 months. The comprehensive study involved 13 project phases, including reviews of over 100 primary source documents, survey responses from 3,000 managers around the world, and more than 90 hours of collaborative meetings with 55 subject matter expert volunteers. Notably, 20 of these experts were sourced internationally, reflecting the global significance and diverse perspectives encompassed in this endeavor. This validation process ensured that the CMCA exam blueprint aligns with the real-world experiences and challenges faced by professionals in the field.

Updated Blueprint 

The job analysis study resulted in an updated blueprint that encapsulates the requirements of modern community association management. Notable changes include a reorganization of job tasks and knowledge into six principal categories compared to the previous eight, allowing for a more cohesive representation of the industry’s nuances.

For instance, content previously segregated into distinct categories, such as “Budgets, Reserves, Investments, and Assessments” and “Financial Controls,” will now be consolidated under broader headings like “Financial Management” and “Risk Management.” This streamlined approach better reflects the multifaceted nature of association management, presenting a more cohesive and holistic assessment framework for aspiring CMCA candidates.

One of the findings of the job analysis study was a significant emphasis on meetings and events in the daily responsibilities of early-career managers. Consequently, the exams will see an expansion of the “Meetings and Events” domain from 10% to 18%. Furthermore, “Property Maintenance” and “Risk Management” will increase by 3% and 4% respectively, while “Contracting” reduces from 13% to 10%.

Notably, the human resources domain, constituting 6% of the current exam content, will no longer feature in the revised blueprint.

Current Blueprint (Remains Until December 2024) 

Updated Blueprint (Starting in December 2024) 

The CMCA Candidate Handbook and the CMCA Study Guide have been updated to reflect the revised blueprint. The current Handbook and Study Guide – valid through December 2024 – will remain on www.camicb.org through the end of December. The updated Study Guide and Handbook are also now available on the website. After December 2024, only the updated Study Guide and Handbook will be available.

Managers planning to test before December 2024 should refer only to the current Handbook and Study Guide. Managers planning to test after December 2024 should utilize only the updated Handbook and Study Guide. 

Looking Ahead

The redefined CMCA exam blueprint, meticulously curated through a comprehensive job analysis study, embodies CAMICB’s commitment to elevating industry standards. 

These changes are not merely cosmetic but serve a foundational purpose—to ensure that the CMCA exam genuinely reflects the essentials of community management worldwide. The blueprint revisions align the exam content with the ever-evolving needs of the profession, encapsulating the industry’s best practices, irrespective of geographic nuances.

Stay tuned as CAMICB offers more in-depth exploration of the blueprint throughout the next year leading up to the December 2024 change, symbolizing a leap forward in certifying the finest professionals in community association management.

Questions regarding the launch of updated forms of the CMCA examination may be forwarded to info@camicb.org or call 703-970-9300.  

HABITAT Magazine

It’s a delicate dance when a co-op shareholder or condo-unit owner requests to see board documents. The board has an obligation to be transparent, yet it doesn’t want delicate information leaving the building and getting into the wrong hands.

This dance played out recently at a Brooklyn co-op after the board fired the long-time super, who promptly filed a lawsuit against the board. The case was settled out of court, and when the shareholders asked for more information, the board told them only that the final cost was $15,000 and the other details were confidential. Is a board required to reveal the details of such a legal settlement?

Co-op boards have the right to enter into a confidential settlement with an employee, replies the Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times. But that doesn’t mean shareholders can’t find out more.

“While there’s no explicit requirement for the board to detail every expense, they are obligated to provide a general accounting of how funds are used,” says Joseph Colbert, managing attorney at Colbert Law.

Settlements with confidentiality provisions are common, and the terms of this settlement, including the amount paid to the aggrieved super, can remain secret — depending on what the lawyers negotiated. But even if shareholders don’t have the right to know about all of the settlement’s terms and conditions, the co-op board is still accountable to them, and it cannot hide the financial impact of the entire lawsuit.

Shareholders can review the co-op’s audited financial statements, says Leni Morrison Cummins, chair of the condominium and cooperative practice at the law firm Cozen O’Connor. These statements will reflect the cost of the legal action. There should be a footnote explaining this, but it might be vague. The auditor reviews the books and records, and also requires a legal confirmation letter from the board’s attorney describing all pending or threatened litigation, claims and assessments, during the audit period, Cummins adds.

If the audited statements are not available yet, co-op shareholders have a right under the Business Corporation Law to request to review the co-op’s books and records, as long as the request is made in good faith and for a proper purpose.

This right is buttressed by recent case law. In two closely watched 2017 lawsuits covered by Habitat, the courts ruled that residents have broad rights to examine board documents — and make electronic copies — while boards are allowed to demand nondisclosure agreements to keep the records from circulating outside the builidng. Such NDAs are designed to protect against bad-faith “fishing” expeditions by disgruntled shareholders or unit-owners who are looking for information that can be used against the board.

 “The rights of an owner to review books and records must be balanced with maintaining the integrity of confidential information,” Rob Braverman, a principal at the law firm Braverman Greenspun, told Habitat after the 2017 lawsuits.

HABITAT Magazine

A large co-op in Queens never enacted a smoke-free policy, though the proprietary lease prohibits residents from allowing odors to travel from their apartment into neighboring apartments and common areas. A shareholder living above the elderly resident of a rent-stabilized apartment has been inundated with the downstairs neighbors’ cigarette smoke. After sending notices to the smoker for years and threatening to bring an eviction case, the property manager finally got the rent-stabilized apartment’s owner to agree to install smoke-abatement equipment in the unit. Ten weeks later, nothing has happened. The exasperated shareholder upstairs has a question: “What do I do now?”

Not much, replies the Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times. The co-op board, through its property manager, has made some effort to abate the smoke, and your neighbor has protections against eviction as a rent-stabilized tenant — both of which work against your chances of success in housing court.

“No one has a right to let smoke emanate into your apartment, but when it’s a rent-stabilized tenant, it makes it more difficult to take legal action,” says Lisa Smith, a partner at the law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell.

You could bring the co-op to court, but it is covered by the business judgment rule, which protects co-op board actions that are made in good faith, making a legal claim difficult. Ultimately, it’s the apartment owner who is responsible for eliminating the odor.

Even if your board were to pass a no-smoking policy, it likely wouldn’t help your situation if it were enacted after your neighbor moved in. Rent-stabilized tenants typically enjoy the privileges they had when they arrived in the building, a practice known as grandfathering.

You can request that the co-op board hire a company that administers smoke tests, which can determine how and where the smoke is entering your apartment. The co-op should also gain access to your neighbor’s apartment to perform this test and make any necessary repairs, such as blocking avenues for smoke to escape the unit.

As for that promised smoke-abatement equipment, don’t get your hopes up. Adam Leitman Bailey, a lawyer who has handled cases involving smoke odors, says that, in his experience, “That machine has never worked to solve any case.”

Sadly, this shareholder’s best hope might be a suggestion that involves neither the courts nor technology: ask the smoker downstairs to open her windows when she lights up.