How to Avoid Burning Out Your Manager

The Challenge

As managers, we deal with the many issues of boards and the problems of residents, and we must respond to people quickly. In this day and age, the client expects immediate responses, but sometimes managers are dealing with many issues at once and need some extra time to respond thoughtfully.

The Solution

Technology can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s great to be able to be on top of everything and especially with accounting-type matters; the software has improved so much and everyone has access to it. On the other hand, although everyone expects a timely reply, it may often take time to research a particular matter and work out a proper response or solution. The main thing, however, is even if there is no immediate answer at hand, we need to communicate to the client that we have heard their issue and give them a time frame on when we will get back to them with an action plan.

The Lesson

It is very important how you communicate with boards and residents. That’s the number one thing: making sure that everybody remains in the loop and is satisfied with the communication, and that, if there’s an issue, we get back to them on a timely basis with a relevant and thoughtful response or solution.