Serving on your St. Louis homeowner’s association board can become stressful at times if dealing with a difficult resident.
We're here to help you overcome a few of these challenges.
Some residents may overly focus on costs and pricing of maintenance or improvement items needing done in your community.
They can come across inconsiderate of the value of the project, only focusing on the bottom line.
Try to understand their point of view and discuss what other potential costs may arise if taking a lower-quality, cheaper option. Don’t allow them to become toxic. Deal with them forthright and involve them with gathering price and value information.
Other difficult homeowners may be explosive during meetings or on phone calls. These people are bossy and try to bully others into agreeing with their perspective, not recognizing the opinions of others. They may even want their opponents to not have a vote.
These people, however, could become valuable members of committees or on your St. Louis Homeowners Association Board if they learn to understand the power of collaboration.
They feel very passionately about topics and exposing them to the various issues and varying opinions of their neighbors may be just what they need to mature in their understanding of how a group dynamic is best for your community.
Some residents will just never be happy.
They complain, critique and judge everyone and everything. They may over-complicate processes with too many opinions and their divisive attitude. Some of these behaviors will have to be swiftly dealt with.
Other times it may just be best to avoid them until the timing is right to talk about it at a separate meeting. If they complain about something that is in progress of being resolved, schedule a next date to bring it up again.
Don’t allow difficult homeowners to ruin a meeting or phone call.
Let them feel heard, but take charge of the conversation and continue to move forward with a meeting agenda you stick to so to respect the time of all of those attending.
Being purposeful about the mission and procedures of your St. Louis Homeowner Association will reduce stress of leadership and bolster community involvement.
We wish you the very best at creating a successfully enthusiastic neighborhood!
