Is our "jack of all trades" approach hurting our community?

On LinkedIn, Robert Lamb asked a great question about what "community" means to you . (I highly recommend going there and chiming in!) And I began thinking about how ridiculous it is that we even think we could be successful at this. We are already asking our on-site team to have:

• Administrative Skills
• Sales Skills
• Accounting Skills
• Customer Service Skills
• Among others...

And with creating a "sense of community", it's an entirely new skill set of social hosting that we are throwing at our on-site teams - no wonder we are struggling! If creating a sense of community was as easy as simply throwing events, we would have all mastered it by now. But clearly it is a complex issue that is not easily attained. So rather than a jack of all trades approach, I think it's time for a different strategy - what do you all think?

I'm a simple person with a simple perspective. I've worked with "start up" companies to companies who are in the midst of change, usually because the CEOs change for various reasons. What I have found to be true is the overall point of view is different depending upon how high you go up the food chain. To be completely honest, the ONLY time I have ever been asked the question, <Quote> "What do you think we need to do to get these people to stay longer?" I was listened to and it meant a lot to me as an onsite professional. The best part was, this CEO took me seriously and implemented the plan. It made a huge difference.

However, for the most part, I have never had anyone at that level ask me how to make the property into a community. I have had them indirectly ask me how can I make them more money. Several times. I don't fault anyone for that. Making the property into a true community is not their focus. Making the company stronger, bigger, more profitable is. The sad truth is that not even the RPMs or VPs have asked this question lately. The only question I have gotten is, how can you increase the occupancy? If there is no manager in place who is a Visionary, then the question is taken at its literal value. If you have someone who sees the "Big Picture" of occupancy in terms of formulating a means to turning the property of X number of boxes into a community of people with shared values and a purpose for living better, then the issue of occupancy is addressed in a completely magical way.

So, if there is that visionary manager, then it is ridiculous to tell that manager he or she must be all things to all people. Therefore, give the manager the ability to develop a cohesive onsite team. As I said, I'm a simple person. I understand the value of adding team members who can do things I don't like to do or do not specialize in doing. Honestly, it is a lot like running a school's PTA organization! You have a set goal and you gather together to decide which committee can achieve it with what event. Believe me, it is a group of concerned people who dedicate themselves to these tasks, and rarely will a teacher or principal take that task on - it is delegated with full trust that it will get done to a committee. The PTA officers are tasked with meeting all the parents, introducing themselves and INVITING the other parents to participate. You would be greatly surprised to know that sometimes all you have to do is ask. Being invited is a wonderful ice breaker. And our Residents appreciate being asked.

It is not difficult to let your Residents know that you like to scrapbook and will be in the Clubhouse on a Sunday afternoon at 3 PM to work on your project. Come on in - bring your stuff, too, or let them know there will be a Crop Event on Friday night from 9 PM - 11 PM. It is not difficult to know that you've arranged for a group to take a bus to the next University of SuchNSuch and bring something to share for the tailgate party. (I always purchase tickets in August for this type of event.) It isn't hard to TALK to Residents, and if it is hard for the Manager, get the leasing team and maintenance teams involved! They know everything about everybody! Now, I can hear Managers all over groaning that that may work on a small scale but what about larger properties? That is when I think property management companies should utilize other service/vendor providers for help. It is up to the onsite team to voice their needs - especially as we go into Budget Season. The happier Residents are - socially - the less likely they are to up and move across town to another apartment community.

It's a mindset - you have to want to make your property into a community. You have to want to put forth the effort to reach out to the rest of your Residents. I think you almost have to behave like the City Manager of the city of your location.

The first thing I will say is you have to love what you are doing! You have to care for people! Getting the community together for a special brainstorming event can turn out some good ideas.

Know the talents you have in the community and call upon them. It may cost a little something, but may be well worth it. You cannot be all things and I think the more experience you have in the industry (people like Mindy) you get people where as they themselves may not have a certain skill set they know where to go or who to see to get it done!

It is in my eyes a give and take. I believe when a community see you are vested in them and where they live it will come back to you 10 fold. I have seen it work too many times not to be so.

Then of course there is the size of the property and the size of the staff which has to be taken into account and there may also be the reality that one just needs a larger staff and maybe even some training here or there.

I understand how much more costly it can be to turn and market a vacant unit as opposed to keeping an existing resident happy and wanting to stay. This is about ways to keep the residents happy through their children: if the children are happy and performing well in school, the parents are happy and highly motivated to do what they need to in order to make it so they can stay.

How do we create that environment? It is pretty simple, offer activities (on and off site) and rewards that add to their learning experiences.

I strongly advocate offering opportunities for the local high school aquatics program to raise money by offering swimming lessons to those residents that need it. As an alumni of a high school aquatics (swimming and water polo) program; I can say that this was a major source of funds for our program and is even more vital in today's economy when many school districts are being forced to cut 'non essential' programs for lack of funding. I am not talking about teaching swimming as a sport, merely as a life skill.

Another opportunity is to use your community or meeting room, OR to purchase some folding tables and chairs, and utilize a vacant unit; locate a student, or preferably a substitute teacher to offer after school homework help a few hours a week in exchange for a small monthly discount on rent. Parents with children that are having difficulty can make arrangements directly with this person for additional help if needed. Partner with local retailers and restaurants to offer rewards for academic achievement.

I would also entertain the possibility of sponsoring scout groups at all levels and allowing these groups to have activities on and off site on a regular basis; as a former Boy Scout, I can say that this not only allows opportunities for community members to teach how rewarding community service can be (which is something I still do to this day), it gives positive life experience to the children and greater parental involvement in their children's lives. One of my most memorable experiences was when our troop got to see the FIRST Space Shuttle before it was ever launched into space as one of the dads was an Air Force LTC and was the military liaison officer for one of the contractors in the area. We got to actually go on board, and that was cool. I think I was 10 or 11 at the time, not quite knowing how important the Space Shuttle program would become.

The benefits from both the social and from the business level are far greater than the costs involved; you get to keep residents that might otherwise be lost and you save the costs involved in turning and marketing a vacant unit. Revenue lost to vacancy is therefore kept at a minimum.

Thinking like a resident or a prospective resident with a family; if you lived at or were considering living at a community that does even one of these things for your children (and their classmates); would you be more likely to sign a lease renewal or a new lease?

Johnny,

I like where you are going... Along the lines of your thought process I recommend taking a look at W Hotels and the Starwood brand altogether, they do an excellent job of giving customer the "WOW" factor. I know we are not in the hotel game but you would be surprised how well they overlap.

On another note one of my best clients is a REIT with over 100,000 units. They commissioned a study and 60% departing residents cited that small maintenance issues were a MAJOR factor in them not renewing their lease.

I have a copy of the study and would be happy to go over some of the details with you. You can reach me at 866-340-9580 ext. 802

I appreciate the compliment and would like to see that study.

I recently read a book on Six Sigma ( www.amazon.com/gp/product/047138822X/ref...self?tag=linkedin-20 ); and would like to know if any PMC's or REIT's have applied any of it's theories into the multifamily industry with any success. I think that my thought process could be translated to the theories taught by Six Sigma.

If you happen to have any clients with presence in the Greater Sacramento area that may be looking to fill a position for a site level manager role; please send them my Profile on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnnykarnofsky

Well, that's the most disheartening and depressing thing I've read all day. If 60% of residents are moving because of minor maintenance complaints, then there is no use in worrying about building a community. But here's the thing. A company that has over 100,000 units is admitting they have a problem - so - what are they doing about it? How are they changing their approach to tackling maintenance work order completion so that Brent's question can even be addressed by their property managers?

I would almost bet my life that: a) they do not hire the professional with qualified skillsets; b) they offer no continued training to those with less than 2 years on their payroll; c) they pay less than others; d) they utilize the 1 maintenance tech per 100 units and be damned at the age of the property, there will be no deviation; e) all of the above.

After reading this post, I emailed and called some maintenance techs and asked their opinions as to what could possibly be the cause of a number so large as 60% to be a cause for turnover. The above list is directly from their responses and they were quite honest. Then I asked them if they feel this way on a personal level, because I can tell you that I would be horrified, literally horrified if my properties had turnover due to poor maintenance. I was informed that at other properties they were overworked, underpaid, never given the chance to earn any certifications, and had so many work orders to handle alone and there was pretty much no help. This just ticks me off to no end. I think many people would love to see this survey.

Sometimes the problem with unresolved maintenance problems lies with either non reporting or delayed reporting by the resident. At my last property; I set up a policy where the week before renewal (in my case recertification) notices went out, a separate notice went out to schedule an appointment for an 'open ended work order' to address any and all unreported/unresolved maintenance issues. Any issue needing parts would be noted, parts ordered, and the repair(s) completed after parts were delivered.

I also set up a policy where the maintenance guys would test (and replace as appropriate) smoke detectors ANY time they were in a unit for whatever reason.

Establishing a policy like this will help to recapture some of those renewals that might otherwise have been lost.

I do completely agree that if maintenance is the reason for move-outs, then a "sense of community" should be on the backburner. I do believe that a happy and emotionally invested resident will forgive some small things, but it's smarter to just address the maintenance issue directly.

That said, Mindy, it sounds like you believe that it is mainly just a training and implementation issue, rather than a skill set issue, correct? Here are the three things that I can see causing problems:

1) Skill Sets: Like I said before, I think asking for all on-site team members to be skilled in every aspect isn't realistic.

2) Training: I am not familiar with any training that is specifically on this skill set - it is not really "customer service", but rather a social engagement skill.

3) Time: If teams are understaffed or otherwise running ragged, this will be the first thing that drops off the to-do list.

No, not at all, not just an issue of training, in my opinion. I do think that it is an issue of hiring individuals that bring certain strengths to the team and some of our skills can be taught to all team members. For example, providing excellent customer care can be a trainable skill (some people just need to be shown how to recognize the opportunity to help another, ex., asking every resident how things are in their apartment when you see them.)

I am not a "social butterfly" because I am a bit introverted. However, I have learned that I cannot, must not and will not hide at a computer all day. I have learned how to talk to Residents and am naturally friendly and interested in what others have to say. However, I will HIRE an Assistant Manager, Leasing Professional, and/or Administrative Assistant who is comfortable shopping for parties, move in gifts, throwing parties and planning. Observing how well they pull off an event, and seeing how happy the Residents are participating gives me the ability to learn how to do what they are doing. I train myself, so to speak, by imitating their skillset.

I absolutely agree that a one-person office should not be expected to do everything, and those resident events will be the first to fall off the to-do list if they expected to churn it out with no help. On the other hand, if the property is super large, then even a couple of people may find it difficult to direct an engaging resident event. That is when I think property managers and companies should consider hiring either a vendor or planner to engage residents on their behalf. Too often, far too often, all an onsite team is told is to fill the boxes and give two events a year, a holiday party and a summer party at the pool. The emphasis, to me, then, is to just "get by" and "get it over with" because they budgeted two activities.

Making your property into a community, to me, is a mindset you have to embrace first of all. As a manager, I think, you need to understand that pyschology behind the concept and if you lack the skills, you have to find someone who can help implement your ideas. Every team has that one person who says on paydays, "Who's up for a beer at Joe's Bar after work?" Once you hear the "invitation" you decide whether or not the activity is what you want to do. I don't think it's much different with Residents. Once the idea is presented, they'll decide if they want to go. I have posted notices (could be done on facebook, twitter) that it's $5 movie night at the theatre - who wants to see such and such movie? Usually there are seven to ten people who want to go. Great - meet me in the parking lot at 6:30 and we'll go! In this aspect, I do think social engagement is a learned skill.

Here is how I see it:

Imcompetence is something that can be fixed with the proper training. I am okay dealing with that.

On the other hand; laziness, negligence, or gross misconduct of any staff member is unacceptable. This requires a more proactive response: write the employee up for the first offense with an improvement plan that includes follow up until the situation is resolved and the attitude changes. If the situation continues or resurfaces; it is time to let that team member go. This includes the team member that responds with remarks similar to 'it's not my job' and walks away from the issue. I would rather have a team member respond with 'I am not sure how to handle this, let me find out and get back with you by......' This is a trainable employee with a teachable moment.

As far as maintenance concerns not being addressed; I cannot understand how anyone would consider a service request being open for more than 48 hours if it is not a critical issue (24 for a critical one) as acceptable. I insist that my teams complete all work orders within 48 hours of request; unless parts need to be ordered or outside vendors need to be used.

Do the staff have to have the skills to build a community in one aspect or another? What skills do they possess that makes them good at what they do? Do they get to know the customer, find out what they have as hobbies and interests, act as an agent for referral and direction?
So many aspects of community can be simply connecting the dots, in a manner of speaking, correct? I liked the comment on scrap booking, but the same concept can work with other interest areas. Do you have a lot of young, active people in your community, or people of any age trying to keep in shape? Maybe someone in that group is really into biking, and would be willing to organanize bike outings. Gardens, golfing, building puzzles, playing poker, watching sporting events together and who knows what else can be community building events if a champion from the community is interested in those areas. Provide a meeting/ gathering space and let it run itself (within the general guidelines of your property).
Do you look at the demographics of your complex when preparing your marketing material? How difficult would it be to look at the interests of the demographic you are marketing to and create a few trial groups focused on those interests?
I believe the idea would be to keep it simple, to let the staff be involved if they desire, but not to force it on them. Let them be the information gathers and disseminators while they are doing the job they make money doing.
Let it be fun!

Certain functional areas are important to the success of an onsite management team. Moreover training, corporate support, and two-way communication are great ways to facilitate and encourage competency in these roles. Cross-training and open involvement in many of the areas of responsibility onsite should also be encouraged. This helps guard against complacency, policy deviation, job-task boredom, and even fosters team building and creativity.

With that said, the topic at hand is a great opportunity to discuss the skills desired, tasks being performed and purpose of the management team at hand. Many industries have value chain discussions and analytic data to help decide whether a task being performed is adding value or not. In the end, most management teams would probably agree that their goal is to provide people with an apartment or loft in a manner that satisfies their housing and customer service needs. When asking onsite personnel to handle as many duties in-house as possible, the question of how it plays into the multifamily supply chain should be asked. All too often, redundancy, lack of understanding about technology that can make offices more efficient, and a blatant disregard for changing customer needs means that we are performing duties that detract from the value chain and take focus away from the resident or prospect. I've always wondered if one person couldn't perform many of the reporting and bill processing roles for multiple properties and allow onsite teams additional time to focus on the needs of their community. I am for anything that makes our jobs more effective, efficient, and add value within the community.

Thanks for chiming in, Mark. I don't believe in a strict separation of duties, but rather creating primary roles above a pool of shared responsibilities. For example, there might be a leasing consultant with the primary role of event planning, if that is in the strategy of the community. That doesn't mean he/she wouldn't lease, prepare lease documents, etc, but rather it means they are the go-to person for that task and gets additional training for that function. But when a prospect comes in and everybody else is busy, they jump in.

On your second point about consolidating processes across communities, I completely agree. Much of the accounting work can be done at the corporate level, in my opinion.

As someone who learned from what retired General Hal Moore (We Were Soldiers) taught (the book he wrote with Joe Galloway that later became the movie was required reading for anyone in our command seeking promotion above E-5 as he was friiends with the General I served under); I teach my teams to learn from one another in the event that someone is unavailable for whatever reason.

There are 2 kinds of team members:

The first group can see a situation and say 'it's not my job' and literally walk away> :evil:
The second group can see a situation and say 'I know it is not my job; BUT I know how to handle it' and does; OR 'I know it is not my job and I am not sure how to handle it; let me get some advice and get back to you'. The person seeking advice shouldn't do so without a solution in mind to present. :laugh: