Monday, October 07, 2013

Beautiful weather in the neighborhood!

Riding through the neighborhood this afternoon, I noticed for the first time in a while; no boats on driveways or front lawn.  Also, I noticed that a utility trailer parked in a driveway for a few weeks is also gone.  That is good news!

Today I am going to write about leadership.  I wrote earlier that lack of leadership and lack of effective communication are at the root of most of our criticism and issues.  So I think it fitting to describe what I think leadership is.  There is an assignment for each of you at the end of my post. So look for that assignment before you leave the website.

I mentioned in my introduction that I had an active bog back in 2009.  It was basically the same subject matter as this blog and is still appropriate for today’s issues. The original post was Wednesday, July 15, 2009.  So, I enclosed the entire message in quotes to reflect something already published.  So, here it is.

“Leadership is defined by certain qualities in individuals. The qualities you hold toward a leader may be different than mine. I think of leadership as having more to do with expectation than any other principle. A good military leader wins wars; that is our expectation.

Leaders are all good. If you have a bad leader, then obviously you have no leader.  A person in charge is not necessarily a leader; they are simply, "a person in charge."

This is how I define leadership:

• Responsibility - Leaders will accept responsibility, good or bad, and seldom take credit for success, always giving credit to someone else. The reason for this behavior is that leaders are always in quest of a successor, and quick to give the chosen one, praise and recognition.
• Humility - Leaders are usually modest individuals, the opposite of self-centered, and arrogant. Leaders are quick to ask for help, which is usually to remove obstacles in their path to success.
• Caring - Leaders are genuinely interested in helping others, and unselfish. "Doing the right thing" is always at the forefront of engaged activity. Leaders are available when needed, and willing to offer assistance.
• Communication - Leaders communicate effectively. A good speaker is not necessarily a good communicator. A good communicator informs. He/she delivers pertinent information, whether it's done in the "Queen's English," or in simple conversation, the message is delivered effectively and consistently.

Given an opportunity, leaders will thrive in an environment where community members are encouraged to take ownership of issues and opportunities, encouraged to participate in activities, and encouraged to assist others when needed.

Other examples of leadership described in few words:

·     "Walks the walk, and talks the talk"

·     "Doing what's expected"

• "Inspect the expected"
• "Sets stretch goals"
• "Quick to offer praise and constructive criticism"

A leader is apt to be your friend. And, a leader will give you "face" time, rather than email, voice mail, and snail mail.

Have you identified HOA members as leaders? Are any of your selections on the Board? What have you done recently to help them succeed?

Again, this is my opinion on leadership, initially expressed four years ago.  The source of these comments was taken from years of being exposed to numerous executives (leaders) throughout my career.  It is my model to gauge leadership.  However, the comparison of this model to our HOA officer may not be reasonable.  In Banking, which is my background, candidates are groomed and schooled to be leaders.  Obviously, no one in the HOA is “groomed, or schooled” to be an HOA leader.  So we, as homeowners, rely on “first impressions,” and other intuitive characteristic to nominate and elect HOA officers.  But if I was to extract characteristics from my model and apply to our assessment of our HOA leadership, it would be the following:

1.       Are our leaders meeting our expectation?

2.       Are our leaders leading, or are they simple people in charge?

3.       Do they accept responsibility?

4.       Are they self-centered, and arrogant?

5.       Are they effective communicators?

So here’s your assignment.  Using the above five questions, how do you rate our HOA leaders?  Please post your comments on this blog.  Please, please, don’t post anonymously.  Let’s all be up-front on who we are and not post anonymously.  For whatever reason, if you feel uncomfortable using your name, then use an alias.   Then we’ll all try to guess who you are!   LOL

Have a good one,

Dan