Developing A Long-Term Strategic Plan For Your Community Association & Why It’s Important

It is important to have a strategic plan for your community homeowners association. This is a long term vision for your property. With a strategic plan all aspects of community development can act in a synchronized manner. The physical, financial, and administrative management agendas are aligned.

Without a strategic plan in place HOA and condominium associations can find themselves in messy situations. Projects are started without proper permits. Budget conflicts arise. There is a complete lack of coherence in management approaches across the boards.

In an effort to avoid these often unfavorable situations, the single most important action an HOA or condominium association can take is to work with a local reputable and experienced management company. They can provide valuable industry insight to design and implement a strategic plan appropriate for your neighborhood. A property manager with a clear understanding of your association goals can bring those visions to life.

If your association is seeking to develop an effective strategic plan here are a few of our most important tips.

Strategize

First and foremost, identify your Association mission. What are the short and long term neighborhood goals? This is a brainstorming process. Take all facets of property management into consideration. Think through the physical property goals, administrative concerns, and the financial/ budgetary factors.

Identify what overarching goals are most important to include in your strategic plan. The goals will give shape to the management of the property. The decided goals for the HOA strategic plan should interrelate with forethought and more importantly, be reasonable. If it is done right, the goals can be achieved cohesively.

Each property has unique needs, priorities and resources. Take the time during this step to be thorough. This strategic plan will set the foundation for the community for years to come. A property manager with years of local experience can often provide useful insight to support your Board during this process.

Identify Action Steps 

It’s great to formalize a strategic plan and get some HOA goals in place, but it won’t help if they are not set in motion.

Once a strategic plan with cohesive, reasonable goals is in place, identify your actions steps.

Break down each goal into smaller goals alongside generalized, realistic timelines. Determine tangible steps to achieve the decided goals. This will enable the Board to move the community forward with promptness and attain desired results.

Define Success

A crucial step as part of HOA strategic planning is defining how the Board and community will measure success. We can develop a strategic plan, we can create action steps and begin to implement. However, if we are not sure when we have ‘achieved our goal’ we may become limited by our own goals.

As you consider how to define success, it may become apparent that specificity is key. It is essential to use very clear goals. When establishing project completion goals, include timelines and proposed expenditures. When considering financial and budget goals, strategize with approximate but real numbers. Administrative goals can be based on specific completion percentages.

Be Flexible

Although a strategic plan is a long term and well thought out document, it is also a working document. Consider the ever changing environment and needs of the community and our world. It is paramount to move in harmony with new property needs as they arrive, while not losing sight of the overarching goals established for your HOA.

When a goal is achieved, reassess the community needs, and implement new goals accordingly. If a goal no longer seems relevant, change it. Be flexible with the strategic plan.

Successfully implement a long term strategic plan for your HOA or Condo Association 

There are various ways of successfully managing an HOA or condo association when a long term strategic plan is in place. We hope that these tips can help your association through the strategic planning process.

In addition to the above tips, working with an equipped property management company can bring local industry experience to simplify the process. They’ll help to develop and implement a feasible and achievable strategic plan for your HOA, and bring your association visions to life!

Interested in developing a long-term strategic road map for your association? Complete the form below to see how we can help.