How Community Association Management Software Can Help Combat Procrastination

From high school students avoiding their homework to professionals opening their social media apps instead of their Excel sheets, procrastination affects us all. Even though members of HOA management are responsible for planning ahead for their communities, they can still fall victim to this trap.

We all know the unfortunate consequences of procrastination, but it continues to affect our output, mental health, and those who depend on us. In fact, 20% of people are habitual procrastinators. So, why do people procrastinate?

The Causes and Effects of Procrastination

It might be tempting to call people who procrastinate lazy, but that would be inaccurate. People avoid their work for a variety of reasons, including: 

• Perfectionism: feeling that not completing the task at all is better than doing it incorrectly.
• Poor planning: underestimating the scope of the task
• Unfulfilling work: perceiving a task as boring or unpleasant
• Distractions: turning to social media, television, and even cleaning the baseboards to avoid required tasks 
• Fear and anxiety: avoiding a task out of fear of inadequacy or that the results (of a medical exam, for example) could bring bad news 

Procrastination can be linked to high levels of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. This can cause a vicious circle of avoidance-depression-avoidance that results in getting nothing done.

HOA board volunteers are no different; one person’s procrastination can affect the whole team and even the entire community. How can community association management overcome the temptation of procrastination?

Why HOA Boards Sometimes Deal with Procrastination

HOA board members don’t get paid for the hours they put in, but that doesn’t mean their work is easy. Community association management has many demands, including:

• Setting goals for the community and board
• Communicating with community members
• Planning community events
• Running streamlined board meetings
• Creating a budget for the association
• Collecting dues and assigning late fees
• Reconciling bank accounts
• Hiring and paying contractors and vendors
• Maintaining landscaping and common areas

The list goes on and on. While serving on an HOA board is rewarding, it’s crucial to remember that board volunteers have entire lives and careers outside their time serving the HOA.  It’s understandable that a board member might put off a task to complete something for their job or help their children with homework. 

If it seems as if board members in your HOA are procrastinating their workload, consider these potential causes:

• Overwhelming workload: the sheer volume of tasks can lead to procrastination as board members feel swamped by their duties.
• Lack of training or necessary skills: board volunteers may feel unprepared to complete their assigned tasks.

It’s very possible that board members feel completely exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally due to the pile of work that needs to be done. Working together to fix this problem is critical so the community can thrive.

The Importance of Combatting Procrastination

Procrastination within your HOA board is a problem you’ll want to resolve as soon as possible. Uncompleted tasks can affect your entire community, leading to issues like:

• Resentment between board members
• Financial problems
• Overgrown landscaping
• Injuries due to unmaintained common areas
• Broken trust between community members and community association management

Not only do members of community association management need to stay on top of their daily, weekly, and monthly tasks for the community to grow, but they need to plan for the following year. The end of the year can be stressful, but working ahead can alleviate some of that pressure. 

With proper planning, many aspects of community association management can be completed ahead of time, setting your team up for a smooth year. Consider working on these tasks in advance:

• Budget preparation
• Scheduling maintenance
• Setting goals

Allowing plenty of time to complete these essential tasks ensures they are done well and avoids rushed decisions and increased stress. By planning ahead, your board will have the mental capacity and free time to look for new opportunities that could be missed if they are simply fighting to keep above water.

Avoiding Procrastination in Community Association Management

The importance of avoiding procrastination is evident, but curing the issue is not so simple. Thinking about the causes of procrastination helps to develop a solution. 

For example, if the work is unfulfilling for board members, where can you bring in more excitement and innovation to motivate and engage board members, breaking them out of the rut of complacency? If board members procrastinate because they feel inadequate or don’t know how to complete the assigned work, what tools can you provide to empower your board volunteers and help them achieve their goals efficiently and quickly?

As we approach the end of the calendar year, remember that other HOAs are already looking ahead toward the new year. Community associations must keep up with industry trends and standards. Late planning or not allowing room for creativity can cause your association to be left behind. By the time December rolls around, it will be too late. Start planning for the new year now.

How HOA Management Software Can Help Overcome Procrastination

HOA management software reduces the burden on HOA boards by removing many tedious tasks that volunteers avoid. HOA software can:

• Automate invoicing
• Process online payments
• Reconcile bank accounts
• Send texts, emails, or phone calls to community members
• Generate financial reports

By leveraging HOA management software, board volunteers can free up their time and prioritize more rewarding tasks, such as setting goals for the year ahead, seeking new opportunities, and spending time with community members. 

HOA management software can help board members stay focused and organized with:

• Calendar integration
• Task management tools
• Document storage
• Member management
• Communication options

HOA management software prevents procrastination with clear priorities, deadlines, and reminders and by providing board members with support.

Board volunteers are dedicated community members who want to see their neighborhoods flourish. When given the proper tools and training to complete their tasks, they will no longer be tempted to avoid doing them.

PayHOA’s HOA Management Software

PayHOA’s HOA management software is designed to make life easier for both HOA community members and board members of self-managed HOAs. Their portal has all the features mentioned above in one central place for board members to access. 

PayHOA empowers board members to manage a community association with features like:

• Secure, automatic online payments
• Storage for important documents, maintenance history, communications, and payment history
• Simplified accounting that doesn’t require accounting knowledge
• Goal tracking to keep board members motivated

When board members procrastinate, entire communities suffer. Setting board members up with the tools and support they need to complete their duties ensures communities can thrive. Community association management software is one tool that can free your board members from cumbersome, monotonous duties and allow them to focus on the reason they volunteered in the first place: improving their communities. 

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PayHOA offers an HOA management software solution for HOAs of any size or managerial priorities. To find out if PayHOA fits all your HOA management needs, try our software free for 30 days.