Goal-setting is an annual task that every community association should perform. It's a great way to maximize the effectiveness of your association in the coming year.
The goals set serve as a roadmap to maintain and improve your community. They keep your community on track, accountable, and financially sound.
Here are a few tips on how to set your association goals:
Reviewing your community's regulatory documents is the first step to setting effective goals. It lets you understand what decisions to make and set goals that comply with your governing documents.
You set goals that align with the current state, federal, local, and provincial codes.
Examine your association's financial stability to determine if the budget allows improvement.
Then identify the key expenses for the coming year and see if the existing budget will support the changes. If not, check if the goal qualifies for a special assessment or other financing options.
Building a strategic plan is energy and time-consuming but worth your effort. It's a valuable tool that helps define priorities, establish the desired direction, and allocate resources properly.
A strategic plan enables you to identify crucial goals, prioritize them, and examine if you require additional resources.
Goal-setting is a great way to foster better and long-lasting relationships with residents. Show residents that your board values transparency by asking them to share their views during goal planning. Below are some ways to involve your community association residents:
SMART is common acronym corporations use to make their goal-setting process a thoughtful endeavor.
It helps simplify ideas, manage time and resources, and maximize your efforts.
To set SMART goals for your community association, make them:
Setting goals for your community association is often daunting so breaking it down makes things easier.
Divide your goals into communication, essential, or improvement goals. Here's what to expect in each group:
They're the pillar items that appear on your goal list each year and keep your community going. Examples include:
These goals involve scheduling routine maintenance of simple to major community areas. They include:
Fostering excellent communications with vendors, board members, and residents is beneficial.
It results in more effective collaboration, better cost control, and more satisfied homeowners. Some valuable communications goals include:
Setting the best goals for your community association is tricky but worth it. You plan, consider your budget, review governing documents, and be SMART.