When an HOA board volunteer is asked to serve for a longer period of time than he or she might like, or when that board volunteer is asked to shoulder too many responsibilities, it can often lead to burnout. This is something your HOA board obviously wants to reduce as much as possible, both for the sake of the board member in question but also for the good of the community in general. Ideally, this is handled by bringing in new HOA Board Members to help with community service, every year or two.
Naturally, this can be easier said than done. Depending on the size of your community, and the level of involvement the HOA has, you may or may not find it easy to get new volunteers to sign on. However, there are a few tips you can follow to make the process a little easier.
- One tip is to begin the process early—as in, immediately after a new resident moves into your community! You can do this by having a current HOA board member assigned to go meet new community members upon their arrival. This doesn’t mean you need to start hounding them to serve on the board, but presenting some information about what the board does might plant a seed of interest.
- Another tip is to avoid, as best you can, overburdening professionals whose lives are already plenty busy. Just because an accountant moves onto the block doesn’t mean you should assume he or she will help with HOA bookkeeping! But again, going to meet the individual is helpful, and will give you a feel for how much involvement the person would like to take on.
- A final tip is to actually empower your residents so they become encouraged to become a New HOA Board Member. Say you meet a new resident who is particularly chatty and gifted at making friends with people. This resident might make a perfect member of your community welcoming committee—so approach him or her about doing precisely that!