Many condo and HOA Boards ask us how often their Board should meet. Our usual answer is that ‘it depends.’ Meetings should be about taking care of association business and fixing problems. Meeting more often and longer doesn’t equal better. In fact, meeting frequency and duration are often signs that your Board lacks efficiencies or isn’t addressing the real problems.
Some Boards meet monthly because there’s always a problem to fix. Ask yourself if you are just talking about the problem or if you’re fixing the underlying issues. Many people try to resolve issues by talking about them instead of taking action. Identifying the root cause and fixing the problem is the only way to resolve a problem. When you get to the source of problems and take action, your Board can usually start meeting less frequently.
Does your Board have a solid management plan? Do you have an operating system? When you have strong business practices in place, you can meet less frequently and still get more done. Monthly financial and performance reports keep Board members informed. This allows you to move to quarterly or semi-annual meetings while still giving you the option of calling an emergency meeting if a problem arises.
Implementing more efficiencies in management, communications and meetings can help your Board evolve over time so that current meeting frequency and duration no longer works. Board meeting frequency is often defined in bylaws, so consult your governing documents if it’s time to make a switch. We encourage Boards to adopt reasonable rules governing the frequency and duration of meetings as the needs evolve.
An HOA Board should review its meeting frequency and duration on a regular basis. This is a good topic to add to an annual Board assessment. Implement efficiencies and systems that keep your community running like a well-oiled machine…and you’ll find that frequent meetings aren’t needed as you initially thought.