A LETTER FROM CAI LEADERSHIP By Cheryl Murphy, Executive Director

When I think of all the games I played as a kid, whether at recess or in my neighborhood, many memories come rushing forward. I think of laughing and fun during games of tag, screaming and cheering during relay races, and even some yelling and crying when things didn’t go as expected due to a team loss or skinned knee. Many of the childhood lessons we all learned in our backyards or on the playground can be applied to situations at CAI and in our community associations.

Teamwork One of the earliest lessons in teamwork came from playing a game like Capture the Flag. Teams had to work together to determine who to send into the other team’s territory to capture the flag and bring it home safely. Being a younger kid in the neighborhood, I remember sometimes being sent in as a decoy, knowing I would likely get caught and sent to jail, just so one of my older team mates could approach the flag from the other side. I never liked the idea of being sacrificed and sent to jail, but it taught me that each person plays a role to help the overall strength of the team.

At CAI, our committees follow this practice on a regular basis. One committee may generate revenue for the chapter so that another committee can offer low cost or free education to members without breaking the budget. One committee may adjust the start time of their event so that another committee can piggyback their event on the same day. In community associations, board members and homeowners must work as teams to accomplish the overall goals of the association. For example, one owner can’t paint their garage door blue just because they want to. They must think about the overall aesthetic of the association and be part of the team. Garage paint may be a simplistic example, but the feelings are similar to when I was the decoy for Capture the Flag. I wanted to approach the situation differently, but with the team approach the outcome was more favorable.

Strategy Childhood games also taught us to strategize. Strategy has a lot to do with analyzing situations around you. Playing childhood games helped develop those skills when sizing up our opponents.

Think about playing a game like Kickball. Each team member positioned themselves in a location to best compete against the other team. When a strong kicker was at the plate, the team would back up, preparing to catch the rocketing ball. Kickers would look for fielders who weren’t paying as much attention so they could kick in that direction in hopes of getting on base.

CAI’s Board of Directors, Committee Chairs, and staff regularly hold strategic planning sessions to put the chapter in the best position for victory. Chapter victory, of course, isn’t the same as Kickball victory in that there isn’t a winning team or a losing team. For CAI Illinois, victory comes when we share the benefits of CAI and new members join. It comes when we educate members and help them solve challenges in their associations. These “victories” are possible because of the strategizing the chapter leaders do on a regular basis…strategizing which many of us learned at parks when we were young.

Compromise Doesn’t the lesson of give and take start as early as the sandbox? Although we may not have realized the lesson we were learning, any time a group of friends tried to decide what to do on a Saturday morning, we were learning to compromise. When my friend, Laura, wanted to play hopscotch, and Kim wanted to play statue maker, but I wanted to play jump rope, who would get their way? Often we would fit in several games but who would choose first? Whoever didn’t get to choose first today would get first dibs the next week. Compromise. That usually was the best way to avoid hurt feelings and tears.

At CAI we often see this during the legislative process. Different groups introduce bills and not all of them are favorable to community associations. To get a very important bill passed, we may need to compromise and let a less important bill go for the time being. The legislative process is built around compromise.

As adults, we can learn something from our younger selves. Do we always have to get our way? If we got our way last time, isn’t it better to let someone else go first this time? One of the biggest keys to harmony in an association is compromise. Give in to your neighbor a little and they are likely to reciprocate for you in the future.

Fun With Summer in full swing, my neighborhood rings with the sounds of children playing games. Laughter, cheering, and general sounds of happiness fill the air. At what age does giggling throughout the day start to go away? Does it have to? Maybe we all could access our inner child and try to infuse a bit more fun in everything we do. Work shouldn’t always be all about work. It should be fun too. Living in an association should be fun. Let’s revive another aspect of our childhoods and make life fun. Doing so would certainly help teamwork, strategy, and compromise seem a whole lot easier!

Many of the building blocks of how we operate our associations and businesses today were formed when we were children, even if we didn’t know what we were learning at the time. Although the complexities of adulthood sometimes get in the way of simple childhood solutions, we would all do well remembering some of the problem-solving skills and fun we had playing childhood games. Now excuse me while I finish my soup so I can round up a game of Kick the Can this weekend!

6 | COMMON INTEREST® • Summer 2017 • A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter