Q: I live in an (age-qualified) community with 133 condo units, Our latest budget/homeowners association meeting did not go well. A homeowner had his three minutes to speak as per the ruling set.
This homeowner was totally out of hand and abusive to say the least. He was going after the four board members in a great matter of concerns, threatening them, taking 20 minutes of time. It has been going on now for some time. However, this past meeting was the worst yet. The board did nothing to stop this nonsense, and the management company said nothing. Less homeowners are now participating because of this abuse taking place almost all the time.
What can be done about this situation at hand so it does not happen again?
A: Your board has options. They can issue a violation notice based upon Nevada Revised Statutes 116.31184 and NRS 388.122. Both of these laws pertain to harassment and bullying. They can have their attorney step in and write the letter with a warning that the homeowner could be excluded from attending the association board meeting for an explicit time period.
There is no excuse for inappropriate behavior. To disagree is your right. Being obnoxious is not.
Q: I need to get clarification on a HOA situation. I received a violation letter from the HOA to which I have responded with my plan to resolve. It is my understanding, which I have in writing, that the HOA has 45 days to respond. The 45 days has well passed. Based on the nonreply it is my understanding the violation letter and its content and any fines related are now null and void; and the letter of violation never occurred. Thanks in advance for your assistance with this request.
A: The letter you received pertained to your application for a gate replacement. Apparently, your application began the approval process on Sept. 29, 2023. It appears the association had 45 days to approve or reject the application but as of this time, you have not received any further status report or approval or denial of the application.
To avoid any future notices from the association that could result in weekly fines; if you assume the association has approved your architectural request, you should reach out to the community manager and find out what the board has done with your application. There have been other readers who have faced the same situation, assumed approval, began or completed their project and then found out that their board has denied their request and fines started to accrue.
You should never begin a project without written approval from the association. You may need it in the future as when you are selling your home. Unfortunately, there are times that future boards may issue a violation notice for the improvement with realizing that your improvement was approved.
If you cannot obtain satisfaction as to the status, you should then contact the ombudsman office to help address the delay.
Barbara Holland, CPM, is an author, educator and expert witness on real estate issues pertaining to management and brokerage. Questions may be sent to holland744o@gmail.com.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans with a diagnosed mental health condition were unable to access treatment in 2021, though they had health insurance. And only a third of insured people who visited an emergency department or hospital during a mental health crisis, received follow-up care within a month of being discharged.
These are among the findings of a new report by the actuary firm Milliman, released Wednesday. The mental health advocacy group, Inseparable, commissioned the report and also released an accompanying brief offering policy solutions to address the gaps in mental health care.
“We kept hearing nightmare stories about Americans not getting the treatment that they needed because insurance companies were denying them care,” says Bill Smith, founder of Inseparable. “But we didn’t have enough data to show just how extensive and deep the problem was.”
The report is “illuminating” and timely, says Meiram Bendat, a psychotherapist and an attorney, who wasn’t involved in writing it. “We’re dealing with an issue that [is] on top of mind for nine out of ten people.”
While the overall findings aren’t surprising, “it is striking that the access impediments remain what they are,” adds Bendat who founded PsychAppeal, a law firm focused on mental health insurance advocacy. Those barriers include a workforce shortage, poor reimbursement rates for providers, and “substandard enforcement” of consumer protections and laws requiring that insurance companies cover mental health conditions.
“The data confirm what so many families and our friends know, which is that mental health access is a problem,” says psychologist Benjamin Miller, one of the authors of the accompanying policy solutions brief. “It’s very clear that there are people who have identifiable conditions, who are not able to find providers to help them.”
The Milliman report, which used a range of publicly available surveys as well as proprietary health insurance claims data, found that nearly a quarter of people with insurance – Medicaid, commercial insurance and Medicare – had at least one mental health diagnosis in 2021.
Many of those people don’t get treatment. Among the roughly half of Americans who are covered with commercial insurance, only about 30% of those with a mental health or addiction diagnosis got connected to a behavioral health specialist.
People on Medicaid with such diagnoses were the most likely to see a mental health care provider, with about 44% getting care. Only about 15% of those on Medicare got care for their diagnoses.
That’s an “astonishing gap” in mental health coverage, says Smith. “Across the board, the numbers aren’t great.”
The gap in mental health treatment, “won’t close unless private insurance companies” take steps to increase access to mental health care, he says. “We have a long way to go.”
The report also finds that over half of the U.S. population lives in areas designated as Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas, and that the country has less than a third of the psychiatrists needed to meet those provider shortages.
“We have not moved the needle on increasing availability of our workforce,” says Miller. “I’ve been using the same data point for about ten years that half the country lives in a mental health provider shortage area. And it hasn’t changed.”
In their report, Miller and his colleagues offer concrete policy solutions to address the workforce shortage and coverage gaps in insurance plans, including expanding the use of telehealth and use of peer support specialists.
The authors also suggests providing “competitive reimbursement rates” for mental health care professionals
Another report by Milliman published in 2019 had found that mental health care providers are reimbursed at lower rates than physical health providers. “We’ve known for a long time that there is under-reimbursement of care,” says Bendat.
Addressing that disparity in payment would help prevent health care worker burnout and ensure more mental health providers are in-network to care for the growing number of people in need.
The Inseparable solutions report also recommends that insurance companies be mandated to provide up-to-date accurate directories for in-network providers.
“The problem with these in-network directories is that when you begin to call around and you begin to ask people, ‘Can you see me? Are you accepting new patients?’ The answer to a lot of them is no, they’re not accepting new patients,” says Miller. “Some provider directories are old enough that you might even have people on there that are not practicing anymore.”
But requiring health plans to cover out-of-network care is also crucial, say Miller and his colleagues.
“The insurance company should pay that cost to cover your care regardless of whether or not it’s in their network or not,” says Smith. “It’s a huge problem when you have people that are making decisions about their health and the safety of their families and doing that from a place of scarcity.”
As the Milliman report finds, the average out-of-pocket cost for an hour-long psychotherapy session in 2021 was $174, which is a huge barrier to access.
CAMICB offers a number of online continuing education opportunities. Be sure to regularly check out our helpful list of On-Demand webinars available here for managers to view that are free or low-cost, and CAI Headquarters has an entire library dedicated to webinars available for continuing education credit available here. All of CAMICB’s continuing education opportunities can be found here.
CAMICB also offers the option for managers to seek out online opportunities that work best for them, and unapproved online options can be e-mailed to info@camicb.org for approval consideration.
For any questions, please reach out to CAMICB at info@camicb.org.
Leaders know that every person needs something a little different from their supervisors. Great leaders adjust their leadership approaches to customize to what their people need. Some people need more encouragement, while others need to be left alone.
Some people need frequent feedback, while others don’t like or need much direction.
Some people need public appreciation and recognition, while others prefer to work unnoticed.
Great leaders are smart enough to know that people are individuals, and needs differ by the person and can vary by the day.
What EVERYONE needs from their leadership right now:
Crystal clear vision. Everyone needs to know where we are going. Leaders need to clearly define the vision so everyone understands where the organization is going in the new year. The vision should be clear enough to be understood and exciting enough to get people enthused about the idea.
Clarified expectations. Every person must know what they need to do to be successful in the organization. Make sure everyone in the organization knows their roles and responsibilities. Everyone should realize that if they are late on a deadline or don’t do what they are supposed to do, it affects other people. This is a common problem. Even the best leaders sometimes hold up their teams because they left a report unsigned, or they didn’t make a decision in a timely manner.
Use of deadlines. People not only need to know what they need to do, they need to know when it needs to be done. We have all had situations where we needed a report, some information, or some project-specific numbers by a certain time and date, such as before a big meeting with a new client. If we don’t have the information before that specific meeting, we just don’t need it. If deadlines are not clear, we either lost the client, and therefore the time preparing the information was wasted, or the time was wasted because we couldn’t use the project. Great organizations use deadlines to manage work flow. Leaders help their teams stay on track by implementing systems that include deadlines, and those deadlines are promulgated, known, and adhered to by everyone involved.
More consistent information. Any time there is confusion or uncertainty people need more information on a more consistent basis. Uncertainty and fear, left alone, leads to speculation, assumptions, and unproductive behaviors. Leaders can mitigate these problems by communicating more frequently. Daily emails, social media blasts, and newsletters need to reinforce the message the lead is conveying. Many people need more than one message to pay attention to the message, so repeating the message more than once is usually necessary.
Guidance and direction. No one likes working for an arrogant boss, but people do like working for a confident boss. Great leaders have the ability to be calm in a crisis and provide the right guidance to help others move forward. People want to know that their leadership has a plan to move forward. To make sure leaders are considering a variety of options, they can hold town halls and focus groups and to encourage ideas. Once they consider ideas and they make decisions, leaders can increase trust and motivation by making their plans for the future clear and letting people know that they have considered other input.
Path for Success. People want to do a good job, and they need to have milestones and feedback to help them along the way. People need to know what they need to do so that both they and their supervisors view the milestones as accomplishments.
Quick wins. Anytime people have stress, they need quick wins. Leaders can help by breaking down large projects into smaller chunks to make the finish line seem closer. If a project is going to take 40 hours, people procrastinate because they don’t have 40 hours right now. Leaders can help by constructing the 40 hour project into 10 four-hour blocks. Completing one block gives people a win. Especially during times of stress, people need to feel a sense of accomplishment. It helps them stay focused, on track, and motivated.
People take their cues from their leadership. When leaders are transparent, motivated, and goal-oriented, their people will be as well.
There’s excitement surrounding the holidays and anticipation for the start of the new year. But also regret and disappointment about goals that may have faltered. The good news is that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams and make headway on your goals. Just because the year is ending, doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to what you truly desire.
In fact, you can use the end of the year to your advantage and finish strong. One path you can take is to start laying the foundation for your big, ambitious goal so that you can start off the new year with a bang. Another approach you can take is to pursue a bunch of micro goals or habits—those small, but impactful wins—so you can finish the year with a huge sense of accomplishment.
We’ve outlined ways that you can support your big goal or micro goal to help you end the year on a high note. Regardless of the path you take, you’ll be guaranteed to end the year in fighting shape and ready to take on 2022 with confidence.
Get a head start on a big, dream goal
Big goals are intense and intimidating because they force us to look deep within ourselves, examine our weaknesses and insecurities, and quiet those debilitating voices that ask us, “Who do you think you are?”. Even Olympic athletes struggle with these same insecurities.
If you are feeling these big, overwhelming emotions, that’s okay. It means you’re taking your goal seriously. No one climbs Mount Everest thinking it’s going to be a breeze. Our big goals will test our will power, motivation, and skills—that’s why they are considered big goals in the first place.
Big goals can also be powerful and fulfilling. By putting ourselves through a series of tests and challenges, we reveal a side of ourselves that we didn’t know we had. We will come out stronger and more confident in ourselves and our abilities.
Another reason to set big, ambitious goals? Even if you don’t meet your expectations, you will achieve a lot more than you originally thought was possible. Think about it: Let’s say your current writing routine is to write 500 words a day. But then you set a big goal to write 1,000 words every day. Even if you only end up writing 800 words a day, that’s still more than what you would’ve written if you had stayed at your previous goal.
Another thing to keep in mind is to accept the reality that big, ambitious goals will not be fulfilled overnight. They take time and patience. If you can accept that timeline and embrace the process, starting a big goal at the end of the year can be a good strategy. You’ll start developing good habits to support your goal and lay down a strong foundation to launch you into 2022.
Accomplish micro goals
Another way you can finish the end of the year strong is to concentrate on micro goals. These are goals that are so small and easy, you’ll be able to achieve them. Micro goals can be related to personal development or your career or health.
According to this Harvard Business Review article writer Sabina Nawaz says: “It’s great to dream big, but the way to achieve big is to start small — through micro habits. Micro habits are small components of a larger habit. By breaking down an ambitious job into smaller, more achievable ones that you build over long periods of time, micro habits help you complete big goals.”
Examples of micro goals include:
Developing a morning routine
Updating your website
Brushing and flossing teeth before bed
Meditating for 10 minutes a day
Reading a book a month
Cooking a new recipe a week
Making your bed every morning
Walking 10,000 steps a day
Writing in a journal every day
Micro goals are incredibly appealing because those small changes can generate big results. Making your bed every morning may not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but the positivity you yield from that small act will encourage you to do another small act, then another, until you score a succession of wins.
Also, micro goals can help you achieve big goals. Waking up early every morning may seem like a mundane goal at first glance, but it is significant if you’re trying to wake up early to train for a marathon or write your novel. With micro goals, it’s about the cumulative effect and the long game. And the positivity and confidence you gain from these small wins will motivate you to keep going and go for the next big thing.
If you’re looking to end the year on a positive note, but don’t necessarily have the emotional energy to expend on big, ambitious goals, micro goals are a great option. And the pride and achievement you feel will sustain you into the next year and fuel your growth moving forward.
Up next, we’ll take a look at how to create an action plan for your goals, big or small.
Creating an action plan
Whether you’re looking to pursue an ambitious goal or a series of micro goals, you’ll need a solid strategy to support your vision. Here are steps you can take to create a solid plan.
Define your goal
What is the goal that you hope to achieve? Write it down in your planner. You’re more likely to commit to a goal if you take the time to write it and record it in your memory.
Some people like to visualize what it will feel like after they achieve a big goal. These positive feelings help remind them what it is that they’re working so hard for. Others like to put post-it notes and messages around their workspace to remind them of their goal.
Choose a strategy that works for you and helps you feel positively about your goal.
Identify your obstacles
Another tactic to help strengthen your game plan is to write down a list of potential obstacles you may encounter.
According to this article in the Mental Game of Tennis, it’s helpful to plan for potential challenges so that you’re not thrown off guard when they arise, and can better prepare for potential setbacks.
Being honest about your obstacles is also essential if you’re setting out to achieve micro goals. Incorporating new, positive habits takes discipline and self-awareness. After all, progress doesn’t happen overnight.
So if your micro goal is “go for a run in the morning” make a list of potential obstacles. Then, have a back up plan in place so that you can stay on track. So if your obstacle is “feeling tired in the morning” make a list of things that will motivate you to get out of bed. Maybe it’s a pot of coffee or a breakfast treat. Or maybe place your workout clothes on your bedside table so it’s easier to put them on and go.
Make a list of targets you want to reach before the end of the year
Create weekly and daily goals to help you stay on track and keep you accountable.
So if your goal is to run 5K by the end of the year, then create a 4-5 week plan and set weekly goals. Maybe it means starting out by running for 10 minutes in Week 1 and then working your way up and building your endurance.
Having regular targets will help you stay on your path towards your goal. And by measuring your progress from week-to-week, you’ll know if you need to catch up or dial back or if you’re right on track.
Create a schedule
Add your tasks to your planner or calendar so that you’re more likely to do it. Also, by having a visual representation of your schedule, you’ll be able to see what days you’ll be busy and rearrange your schedule as necessary. This will come in handy during the holiday season. So if you want to schedule a run a few days before the holidays, look for free blocks of time on your calendar. This way, you won’t feel overwhelmed, and you’ll have the energy to work towards your goal.
Relish your winsIt’s important to acknowledge your progress every single day. Record your wins in your planner and decorate the entry with a sticker or fun, colorful washi tape. Taking pride in your work will help you see how much you truly accomplished at the end of the year, and set you up for success in the new year.
The fallout from a massive lawsuit over inflated broker commissions is roiling the New York real estate market. It started in October, when a Missouri jury ruled that the National Association of Realtors and two brokerages had kept commissions artificially high, setting damages the defendants must pay at $1.78 billion. Then earlier this month, Monty March filed a civil case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the system of having the seller pay the fee for the buyer’s broker “increases a seller’s transaction cost, and artificially inflates Manhattan residential real estate broker commissions paid by residential real estate sellers,” according to the complaint.
The fallout, according to Crain’s, is that brokers are paralyzed — along with people trying to buy and sell co-op and condo apartments.
“They feel like there’s this tidal wave of change coming and they’re sort of frozen, they don’t know quite how to react,” says John Walkup, co-founder of real estate analytics company UrbanDigs. “It’s just a bundle of uncertainty for them.”
Typically in Manhattan, the broker on a listing could make an offer for compensation to the buyer’s broker, with money often coming from the proceeds of the home sale. Brooklyn’s system is slightly different. As lawsuits started to pile up this year, the Real Estate Board of New York tweaked its policy. Starting next year, the group requires that buyer’s agents will be compensated directly by sellers or will need to negotiate their potential pay with their buyers.
A Consumer Federation of America report in 2022 showed that the median rates paid to buyer agents ranged from 1% in Brooklyn — which doesn’t require listing brokers to offer any compensation to the buyer’s agent — to 3% in Manhattan.
UrbanDigs’ Walkup says Manhattan real estate deals could soon look more like those in Brooklyn, where buyer and seller agent commissions are decoupled. Moving forward, agents will have to adjust their approach and learn to communicate the change to buyers. Walkup thinks the transition will be rough at first, but agents will adapt. “It’s just going to be a little rocky before we redefine how those payments are structured,” he says.
Meanwhile, the market remains sluggish. Mortgage rates hovering above 7% have pushed some would-be buyers to the sidelines. Manhattan home sales were down about 23% in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier, according to data from appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Co-op and condo boards struggling to reduce their buildings’ carbon emissions have recently faced some disheartening news. Major clean-energy projects are facing severe economic headwinds, and there has been speculation that massive offshore wind projects might be abandoned. Such projects are critical to shifting the electric grid from fossil fuels to renewable energy-supplied power — and helping boards cut their carbon emissions enough to satisfy Local Law 97, which goes into effect in 2024.
Not only do those offshore wind projects remain in the works, but two other clean-energy projects worth $17 billion have announced that they will move ahead without additional subsidies from the state, Crain’s reports.
The two projects are: the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE), a 339-mile transmission project that is scheduled to bring energy from Quebec’s hydroelectric generating stations to the five boroughs, beginning in 2026; and the Clean Path New York (CPNY) projects, which will build a series of solar and wind developments that funnel energy to the city via a 175-mile transmission line, beginning in 2027.
In the wake of the refusal by state regulators to give an additional $12 billion in subsidies to the offshore wind projects, the CHPE and CPNY have abandoned their requests for additional state subsidies. Instead, they’ll move forward under their existing contracts. Their decision bodes well for the state’s existing pipeline of clean-energy projects, according to Robert Freudenberg, vice president of energy and environment at the Regional Plan Association. “There’s a lot of factors driving this challenging time for renewable energy,” Freudenberg says, “so I think the good news is that the projects haven’t been canceled, because we have seen projects canceled in other places.”
The CHPE will provide 20% of New York City’s electricity needs when it’s up and running. The New York Independent System Operator, which monitors the state’s power systems, has repeatedly warned that if CHPE fails to stay on track, New York City could face electricity shortages and be forced to rely longer on highly polluting “peaker” power plants, which are used during times of peak energy demand.
Chris Casey, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council says keeping both projects on course — especially in light of fresh uncertainty in the renewable energy sector — are essential to the build-out of New York’s green economy. He adds: “The timely completion of CHPE and CPNY will be massive steps forward for New York’s clean-energy transition that will enhance reliability while stabilizing energy prices made volatile by fossil fuels.”
And that’s good news for co-op and condo boards that are seeking to ditch fossil fuels and power their buildings with clean electricity.
Three members of the CAMICB Board of Commissioners – Rob Felix, CMCA, PCAM, RS, Jim Magid, CMCA, PCAM, and Michael Hurley, Sr. – will complete their term as Commissioners at the end 2023 after many years of significant contributions to CAMICB and the profession, all of whom were critical to the growth and expansion of CAMICB.
Rob Felix has been an integral part of CAMIB for over four decades serving in many different roles and capacities including three tenures on the Board of Commissioners, including the inaugural Board beginning in 1997. During this time he has filled numerous roles including Vice Chair, Chair and for the past six years he has served as Secretary/Treasurer. In addition, Rob has been a key contributor to the Exam Development Committee since its inception serving as its Chair in 1999. Over the years, Rob has taught countless CAI courses and was the first to teach the M-100 course in Dubai. He has been recognized over the years with prestigious CAI awards including the Excellence in Designations, Educator of the Year and Distinguished Service Awards.
After more than 30 years of service to the profession, Jim Magid recently retired. He was among the first to earn the CMCA credential and has been an integral part of CAMICB since its inception. Jim currently serves as Vice Chair of Bord of Commissioners and will continue to lend his expertise on the Complaint Committee.
Michael Hurley has served on the Exam Development Committee since 2015. His deep knowledge and global perspective were invaluable to the Oversight Panel during the 2021-2022 Job Analysis, a massive undertaking that will result in an updated CMCA examination into the field in 2024.
CAMICB 2024 Board of Commissioners
CAMICB welcomes three new members to its 2024 Board of Commissioners, each of whom is elected to a three-year term, beginning in January: Jennifer Andal, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, who is the Director of Better Communities in Dubai; Michael Darby, CMCA, who is the founder of the Australia-based Quantum CM Solutions, an HOA management company and Quantum United Management, a facilities management company; and, Cathleen Dunn Toryak, CMCA, AMS, who is the on-site manager for A Pocono Country Place, POA in Pennsylvania.
When a unit-owner fails to pay common charges in a condominium, there’s a right way and a lot of wrong ways to go about collecting the arrears. The board at the recently constructed, 16-unit luxury condo known as 1 Great Jones Alley, located on Broadway near East Fourth Street, is doing things the right way.
The five-year-old building’s developer, a shell company known as Downtown RE Holdings LLC that’s led by Madison Realty Capital, is the owner of the 7,000-square-foot, three-level commercial space. Since January, the space has been rented to a veterinarian and a coffee shop, but in July the developer stopped paying common charges to the condo board. On Nov. 1 the board slapped a lien on the developer, and on Wednesday, in keeping with the condo’s bylaws, the board filed a suit in state Supreme Court seeking to wrest control of the commercial space from the developer so a new owner can take it over, Crain’s reports.
“Plaintiff is entitled to foreclosure in connection with the unit and the appointment of a temporary receiver for the unit during the pendency of this proceeding,” says the lawsuit, which was filed by the condo board’s law firm, Cozen O’Connor. The lawsuit states that the developer’s arrears have climbed to $21,000.
This isn’t the condo board’s first legal rodeo with the developer. In September the board also went after the developer in court for construction defects “affecting nearly every facet of the building,” including plumbing systems, fire-proofing and the swimming pool. The board is seeking $20 million in that case. In January Madison Realty sued BKSK Architects and other firms that helped design the condo, claiming they’re responsible for defects, including leaks in the pool area. BKSK and the other defendant have denied all the charges.
When you’re facing a $20 million lawsuit, $21,000 in unpaid common charges must seem like small change. Crain’s speculates that this might be a motive for the arrears: “The larger legal cloud hanging over the building may explain the developer’s reluctance to pay.”
Nonetheless, the condo board is fulfilling its fiduciary duty in seeking to collect every dollar it is owed.
How you craft a message, and the power of certain words, make all the difference.
By Bobby Hoffman, Ph.D. for Psychology Today
Maybe you are writing a memo or planning a Zoom meeting. Perhaps even more intriguing and potentially stressful, you are charged with communicating unwanted news to your staff or need to address a lingering performance issue with a team member.
Regardless of the circumstances or your communication medium, your message should be understood, relevant, persuasive, and include a call to action if you hope to achieve desired results. However, leaders are often faced with a dilemma: They don’t know how to inspire motivated performance in others without instilling resentment or being perceived as inflexible and insensitive.
Ultimately, the goal of effective leadership is to promote organizational prosperity by coaching, influencing, and recognizing individual performance and giving people the tools to optimize growth while meeting strategic organizational goals. While most articles on leadership espouse what leaders should do to inspire an effective team, minimal research exists on how leadership goals can be accomplished from a behavioral perspective (Goleman, 2017; Newstead et al., 2021). Especially lacking is information on what leaders should verbalize to achieve results.
Optimal persuasion starts with consciously determining how to match your message with the intended audience. Motivational messaging (Joyal-Desmarais et al., 2022) means that your message is customized based on the situation and context and includes an appraisal of the values, beliefs, and dispositions of your audience–in other words, for the message to reach maximal effectiveness, it must resonate with the individual.
The messaging evaluation should include cultural considerations such as a group-focused appeal vs. a personally targeted message. The message purpose should distinguish between efforts directed toward compliance or increases or decreases of certain behaviors. Benefits or liabilities to individuals should be clearly outlined. Optimally, the most powerful messages indicate either advantages to the person for supporting the leader’s suggestions or consequences for lack of support, but not both.
However, research from psychology and education reveals that messages of all kinds must also help individuals satisfy some basic needs. I previously posted about how to empower individuals to enhance leadership effectiveness. Now it’s time to discuss how to actually get the job done.
What should you say?
Across cultures and contexts, communication should satisfy the basic human needs of autonomy and competence. Autonomy means the message recipient does not feel coerced or controlled by the request and believes they have some choices when implementing a message. Competence suggests that the person will feel a sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction when executing a persuasion effort. The probability of successful persuasion is enhanced by using “invitational language” (Reeve & Cheon, 2021), a label used to describe directives that consider the perspectives, desires, and emotions of others.
Communicating Unwelcome News
This situation is the perfect time to stress transparency and provide explanatory rationales. Instead of sidestepping the reality of undesirable communication with buzzwords and indirect language, tell exactly what is happening, but do so by explaining the decision-making process and what alternative outcomes were considered.
Don’t defend the choice or action but explain why the decision was made and who was ultimately responsible for it. Don’t forget to express your willingness to support the decision, even if it may not be your first choice. Say things such as “you can use this experience to…” and “this is the first step toward…” so others can see you have considered their perspective when describing the next steps.
Acknowledging Leadership Errors
The guideline here is complete accountability. Troublesome situations like unethical behavior, corporate irresponsibility, or just plain bad decisions happen to most organizations at one time or another. Error resolution can be made in need-satisfying ways by using the situation to do better next time. Express that these kinds of events are part of the learning process and do not focus on punitive aspects but instead emphasize how the person making the error might feel.
Acknowledge the severity of the situation and don’t minimize the consequences of the mistake. Say things such as “sometimes work is frustrating” or “feeling this way is expected” to show empathy and understanding that reflect the emotions of embarrassment or shame.
Confronting Performance Issues
Addressing potential conflict is one of the toughest jobs for any leader. Do not approach the situation as a confrontation, but instead focus on the issue as a team by outlining individual actions that can be assumed to correct any deficiencies. Avoid any “you” vs. “me” perceptions. Emphasize autonomy by asking, “In what ways do you think we can change the situation,” or “if you had a choice, what would you do?” Once the individual responds, first say, “if I understand you correctly, then…” followed by asking, “how can we make this work?” before giving your opinion or decision.
Implementing Leadership Decisions
One hallmark of the best leaders is making correct decisions based on limited evidence, which often means asking people to do what they might not want to do. First, acknowledge any resistance by saying, “I understand this may not be your first choice,” then carefully reflect on how you will communicate expectations. Avoid mandates and do not use the words “must” or “have to,” as these phrases cultivate controlling feelings, which thwart the basic need for autonomy. Instead, encourage initiative by saying, “you may want to consider,” or “what do you think about…” followed by describing the desired outcome without overemphasizing precise methods to achieve the outcome. Whenever possible, let the person exercise choice as to how the outcome is achieved.
Overall, being a persuasive communicator means avoiding the tendency to exercise power as the means to foster compliance. The most successful leaders realize that cultivating autonomy and competence in others is the key to mutual success, and the entire process starts and ends with the words you use when you open your mouth.
