EVERY BUILDING HAS ONE: HOW TO GET GADFLIES TO SHUT UP AND PITCH IN

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Be diplomatic. Being blunt is satisfying but ultimately not rewarding. New board members should no take a holier-than-thou position, since that alienates board members you may want as allies.

"They often get on the board and feel like they have a better way to run it," observes Carl Borenstein, an executive at Veritas Property Management, which is not affiliated with the building. That can result, says attorney Stuart Saft, a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf, in "a siege mentality. I've been on boards where we're doing our job for a long time, and then somebody new comes on who doesn't have the institutional memory of the other members. The first thing they want to do is tell us everything they know about what we should be doing, notwithstanding the fact that we have done this for years."

Brusque Board

By the same token, board members should not be brusque and offhand with fellow directors and shareholders. When Howard was calling about his dryer, the board president should have handled it differently, professionals note. He should have been diplomatic and certainly should have seen that the problem was fixed. It should never have gotten to the point where the DOB was brought in.

Listen, learn and use psychology. Experts say that new board members should temper their remarks, since the art of politics is seeking consensus and compromise — subtly leading in the desired direction rather than pushing.

Even if you know what you want

to achieve, move the other board

members slowly in that direction.

It's about group psychology.

"Whenever I go on a new board, I try to listen and learn," Saft says. "I look to see what's happening and who's in charge. I make suggestions as I go along. I pick my fights. Even if you know what you want to achieve, you move the other board members slowly in the direction you want them to go. It's about group psychology."

The board, for its part, should have embraced the newcomer's enthusiasm, rather than fighting it every step of the way. For instance, when the newly elected Howard requested to see past records of the corporation, the board should not have refused. "That makes him think there's something they don't want him to see," says Borenstein. A lawsuit would serve no one's purposes — both Howard and the co-op would be paying out of pocket — and Howard would have won a right he already had: to examine the co-op's history.

Commit to a Committee

Borenstein says that one way to handle critics is to assign them to committees that channel their enthusiasm into constructive areas. "Shutting him down is not the right approach. The quickest way to shut someone up is to volunteer them for a job" involving the criticized area. "If you try to shut them down totally, that creates more animosity."

Look at the facts as objectively as you can. In the case of the statute of limitations and the contractor, there can be other reasons that a board might not sue a contractor in such a situation besides ignorance of the law, reasons a competent attorney or managing agent might have explained to the board.

"The problem with bringing a claim on a $200,000 project is, what's it going to cost to bring the claim?" observes Saft. "How certain is the reviewing engineer that the job was done improperly? Is the contractor judgment-proof at this point? If the contractor has gone out of business, or filed for bankruptcy or has loads of claims against him, you could wind up spending $75,000 and at the end of the day [get] nothing."

A Little Knowledge, A Lot of 'Tude

Experts agree that boards and newcomers should remember that a little knowledge could almost be as dangerous as no knowledge. Howard sought out information but brought with it preconceptions that colored his interpretation of the facts. "He's right in saying that board members have to pay attention, but he's painting this board really badly, and I'm not sure if the problem was the board or the managing agent," says Saft. "You need to get good advice. That's why you hire professionals. Obviously, they had the wrong professionals."

In the end, experts say that boards should embrace those who seek out knowledge — and follow suit. Most experts agree that if boards rely too heavily on professional advice without having the wisdom to give them perspective, the building could be heading for trouble.

"He is trying to do the right thing," says Wagner. "He is educating himself. He is doing his homework and asking a lot of good questions." In fact, board members, new and old, need to remember the adage, often quoted by the late co-op advocate Charles Rappaport: "An informed board is an effective board."

Adapted from Habitat March 2012. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>