What to expect from your strata manager

The importance of a great strata manager

As a council member, you want your strata corporation to run smoothly and stay financially healthy. That’s why most councils turn to a strata managers to help them. Naturally, you expect your manager and the rest of your management team to provide quality service, but if they don’t have what they need – and what it takes – how can they give your community what it deserves? Find out if they are qualified to give you exceptional service by asking these 3 questions.
 

What to expect from your strata manager: Three questions to ask

Does the strata manager have support?

Even the best strata managers can’t do everything! The right support is critical for a manager to succeed in delivering the exceptional service your council and residents expect and deserve. Good managers are only as capable as the support they have. That support should include:

• Assistance from accounting, purchasing, vendor relations and financial services specialists
   
• Involvement of human relations professionals for all personnel matters to ensure that you get the right level of on-site staffing
   
• Ongoing training to develop and improve management skills, keep up with industry standards and be informed about regulatory changes
   
• A 24/7 customer care team that can quickly provide them and your community with needed information
   
• Administrative support
   
• Technology and communication tools

In addition, an experienced regional director with a pulse on the community provides important support. Having that structure in place helps maintain institutional knowledge and consistency in management if the strata manager leaves for any reason. The regional director should know the building or community well enough to help replace a beloved manager with the right person.
 

Does your strata manager have the right personality?

Caring can’t be taught. People who are naturally caring go above and beyond for the people around them and in the work they do. Caring managers take ownership of the communities and buildings they work in, doing their very best to serve the council and residents.

Great managers have a high emotional intelligence quotient (EQ), too, meaning they have an ability to read and assist people – including members of your strata corporation. Their empathy enables them to put themselves in others’ shoes and understand their perspective. Other traits of managers with high EQ is that they are forward-thinking, adaptive, resourceful, hospitality-minded, flexible, self-motivated and able to communicate clearly. As a result, they are trusted advisors to your council.

Emotional intelligence should extend to regional directors. The regional director is the person who needs to match up the right manager to each strata community. This requires understanding the personality of the property and choosing a manager whose personality meshes with it. Even the most stellar manager won’t succeed if they aren’t the right fit.
 

Do your residents know what to expect from your strata manager?

Residents’ awareness and understanding of the role of a manager can affect how they perceive their manager. The most incredible manager ever won’t be seen as capable if residents have expectations that are outside a manager’s responsibility.

The council is responsible for creating policies based on their vision for the community, while the management team simply executes those policies. However, a lot of residents mistakenly believe that the manager sets policy for the community. Therefore, when they are unhappy with a policy or rule, they respond by voicing dissatisfaction with the manager.

Sometimes residents don’t understand what they are responsible for in the community. Does the community pressure wash their front walkway, or is that the residents’ responsibility? Is management responsible for helping with storm preparation or snow removal in their driveways? Who pressure washes and cleans balconies on high-rises? New residents need to be walked through the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the community so they have the right expectations of their management team. It doesn’t hurt to remind long-term residents of those responsibilities from time to time either!

Great management and exceptional service are essential to the harmony and success of your community. To ensure that you get what you expect, you need a manager with the right support and the right personality. And, of course, you need to set the right expectations with residents about the role of management in your community.

To learn more about what makes an excellent strata manager, contact FirstService Residential today.