COMMUNICATION: it is something everyone does multiple times a day. Communication is like a pulley that moves things in two directions. It takes mindfulness to make sure that a knot in the line
somet doesm tiple tim ommunic directions knot in the line
doesn’t upset the up-and-down or back-and-forth -and-for task that can take on many different forms and individual styles. Miscommunication has caused is, therefore, not something to be taken lightly and should always receive careful consideration – like maintenance on a machine.
In the property management industry, we are often tasked with coordinating multiple parties with multiple interests toward a common goal. If we are managing an exterior project, we must communicate the project’s progression and payment requests with the board. We need to communicate with the contractors to ensure that they have access to the areas that are necessary to stage and complete work. The residents need to be notified that cars or personal items may need to be moved to access and facilitate the work being completed. The residents also need to be warned to keep windows closed, even on a beautiful day, to keep unwanted dust and debris off their personal items within their units. The staff needs to know what to expect because they must share their break areas and restroom with five additional workers during the project… and on and on.
It is our responsibility to make certain we anticipate how different parties could be affected by an action or decision. Conveying this information properly can make the difference between acceptance and cooperation versus revolt. On top of this, there is an endless array of personalities with an endless array of expectations in the communities that we manage. Communication to address all these differing expectations is a skill that requires careful thought, planning and execution. Thankfully we have available to us many forms and methods of communication to accomplish this.
Personal conversations, email, voice messages, speech-to- text and written notices are all lines of communication that we have available to us.
Since thorough communication is one of the most critical parts of a successful project, as well as necessary in day- to-day matters, it requires forethought and planning. Dedicating an adequate chunk of time will ensure that the amount of communication achieves the necessary goal and should help to control the amount of avoidable comments and questions that sometimes monopolize time. Controlling these “post-project” comments and questions saves time and anxiety for parties on both sides of the project. Always err on the side of over communication. The same message can be delivered in a variety of ways. Tactics such as email, physical posting of notices, mail or delivery of hard copies, text to voice, and phone voicemails can deliver the same message to multiple generations of people with varying amounts of technology savviness. It might also be necessary to reach out to residents’ family members, caregivers, dog walkers, etc. to ensure that a resident gets the message. Making the effort is important, but it is essential to confirm that it is received and understood. If the message is delivered but not received it is the same as not having delivered the message at all. Not only will the effort have been wasted, but re-delivering
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