What’s the attraction?

There are several reasons why people serve as directors on their condo's board; some honourable ones and some not so honourable. Sometimes one will join the board for one reason and stay for another.

It all depends on the person and the condo community.

Serving the community
There are people who are directors because they have the skills and experience to do a good job and they want to serve their community. At the same time they are protecting their investment and they are helping the residents in their condo community.

These can be a very satisfying reasons for being a director.

Learn skills

Others join the board so they can learn how the board operates, learn about managing a property and gain experience being a director.

Directors chair meetings, deal with conflict, hire contractors and employees and negotiate contracts. They make budgets and buy equipment and services.

Outside of business corporations, it is hard for ordinary people to pick up these important practical skills.

Welding power
Others are directors because they enjoy welding power. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Making important decisions and seeing them through to completion can be very satisfying.

Of course welding political power can be extremely destructive if a person becomes a ten-cent Mussolini who loves bossing everyone around.

Social activity
Some people are bored and lonely so they join the board for the social life it gives them. Some boards really do very little as the manager actually runs the corporation while they enjoy gossiping about the residents as they drink their coffee and munch on their cookies.

Keeping scoundrels at bay
Some directors stay on the board in order to keep scoundrels off the board.

Sometimes it is just a case of the "ins" and the "outs" who are fighting over the spoils and at other times, there are good reasons to keep some residents off the board. A responsible director will want to remain on the board to prevent the "low fees" gang from getting in control and start wreaking the building.

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