Condo Media - February 2018 - 27

MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS
When you have this many people
involved in a complicated process
in which emotions and stress levels
run high, effective communication is
critical, Pierce notes. "How smoothly
the claims process will be perceived
to have gone," he says, "will depend
in large part on how well everyone
communicates." The association's
manager and insurance agent carry
the bulk of the communications load.
"They must work hard and proactively to prevent communications
breakdowns-to make sure everyone
gets the information they need,"
Pierce says.
Communication with owners should
begin immediately following the disaster and should continue throughout
the recovery process, Pierce suggests.
"It's like a relay race," he says. "If you
fall down at the first hurdle, you're
going to have a hard time getting over
the hurdles that follow." Owners,
understandably, will be seeking information following a disaster and will
have questions brokers and managers
may not be able to answer right away.
McNabb's advice: "Communicate
even if you don't have any information
to provide." Let owners know what
you're doing and when you'll be able to
provide more detail.
"Managers should over-communicate with owners," Scott Wolf, CMCA,
AMS, PCAM, managing partner at
Brigs, LLC, AAMC, agrees. "Answer
their questions honestly," he advises,
even if the honest answer is, "we don't
know." You may not be able to tell
owners when the insurance claim will
be processed or when the new roof
will be complete, he notes. "But you
can tell them the board has selected a
contractor and let them know you're
there for them and doing everything
possible to push the process forward."
Wolf suggests providing status reports
on the insurance claim and recovery
through regular email messages and
holding periodic meetings to provide
more detailed updates and respond to
owners' questions.

"When you explain something to them
over the phone, they only grasp part of
what you're telling them."
PUT IT IN WRITING
Ronda Ziner, CPM, regional property
manager at E.P. Management Corp.,
learned a lot about disaster response
when a 40-unit property she managed
burned to the ground. Her advice to
managers and boards: communicate
with owners in writing as much as
possible. "They are already upset," she
notes. "When you explain something
to them over the phone, they only
grasp part of what you're telling them."
On any claim involving the master
policy, her company sends a letter
to affected owners "walking them
through the claim process." In addition to being easier for owners to
digest, Ziner says, written communications also protect the manager and
the association by documenting the
response and making it more difficult

for owners to complain later that they
haven't received essential information.
Wolf doesn't dispute the advantages
of written communications, but he
does suggest, "be very cautious about
what you write." Information that
isn't explained clearly can be misinterpreted, he notes, and erroneous
assumptions can be shared widely
and magnified on Facebook and other
social media platforms. Following a
devastating fire at one of his communities, owners created a Facebook page
on which to share information about
where to find temporary housing, discounted furniture, and other advice.
"That worked for about two minutes,"
Wolf says, before owners started posting messages, reporting (incorrectly)
that the association was under-insured
and that the building would have to be
February 2018

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Condo Media - February 2018

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