During my more than 30 years working as a service provider within the community association industry, I have dealt primarily with technical issues. Although I often attend dozens of board meetings and annual meetings per year, my involvement is usually limited to making a presentation and responding to questions; my position is generally that of an outside observer. During this time I have run into my fair share of naysayers and destructive or obstructive members.

There was a time years ago when I was president of my office condominium development for a two-year period. During that time, in order to make up for inadequate assessments of prior years, we special-assessed each of the members more than $6,000 and addressed every significant maintenance issue regarding the building exterior and common grounds of the association. We replaced the roof, partially replaced siding, repainted the exterior, had new signs made, replaced and upgraded the landscaping, and repaved parking lots. I became Association president as a means of self-defense, to protect my investment in the building. I was involved as a member, but it was strictly business. 

At one point I was also a resident member of a condominium association of some 300 units. I had nothing to do with the association and had no interest in the association. It was simply a place to live. I actively refused involvement. 

Now, with a second home that is part of a planned development, I again find myself personally involved with a homeowners’ association. But this involvement is unlike any I have ever experienced in the past. This experience has awakened in me an appreciation of the nature and importance of “community.” This particular community and the individuals that live here (or, like me, have a second home here) broadly share a set of similar views. That has encouraged me to interact with my fellow community members at a more extensive and interesting level. 

This is certainly not to say that every one of these interactions has been pleasant. How could they be when you're dealing with the complexities inherent in human nature? Perhaps it is a maturity that arrives with advancing age, but I’m beginning to realize that it is not a matter of people being either right or wrong, but rather how well certain people are able to adapt. 

It is easy to get annoyed at the few negative individuals in a community, but one must learn to accept that as being entirely normal and natural. When confronted with the same set of circumstances, people within any community will respond differently, in ways that are entirely within the range of possible human reactions. Some people will laugh, others will cry, and some will get angry.

I’m experiencing this all for the first time now that I am actually personally invested in the community. In this case, the community is a group of individuals who occupy the same geographical area, living in reasonable proximity. Each of us has a set of individual character traits; some are weak, and some are strong. The difference now is that I find I am actively engaged about working in concert with other individuals to keep the community strong and moving forward in a positive direction.

As I try to relate what I am currently experiencing myself to what I have observed about successful communities that I’ve worked with over the last three decades, a few simple lessons have emerged:

1. 1)Be positive. No one likes to be around negative people. Try to find constructive solutions rather than be one who constantly complains about things.
2. 2)Listen to others. Regular community meetings and social events allow for discussion of issues that will inevitably arise in any community, offering the opportunity for appropriate actions to emerge.
3. 3)Be helpful. Helping others seems to open the door to friendship and draws out the good of all involved.
4. 4)Be tolerant. Not everybody's going to agree with you, and you must be respectful of the views of others. It is not always necessary to prove that your point of view is right.
5. 5)Be yourself. Don't try and change your viewpoint simply so you'll fit in with others. The fact is that the community is made richer by including all sorts of interesting people who don't always agree. Diversity can be challenging but it is also good.
6. 6)Have fun. Community has lots of opportunities to have fun. Generally with others on a group level, the social events help cement relationship and promote goodwill.

Something I learned from a manager many years ago is that communities themselves are like a living, breathing organism. Although community can be healthy, you still will have good days, bad days, or situations where it can become dysfunctional. The difference in the mindset of the community depends upon a number of factors, most of which are reflective of the complexities of human nature. These complexities make it nearly impossible to guess what may happen next, but demonstrate that a significant core group working together in good faith can move an organization in a positive direction.

Lastly, I’ve realized that a community of people is, after all, just made up of people. There is one character trait - self-interest - that influences every human action. In primitive times it is likely that any individual lacking self-interest was probably eventually deleted from the gene pool. Self-interest today in a well-functioning, smaller community may be expressed by community members complaining about litter or poor maintenance. Unlike being under a larger governing body where it is difficult for a single voice to be heard, it is generally easy for a single individual to make himself or herself heard in a reasonably small homeowners’ association. Generally there will be other individuals who share that same self-interest, so together they can correct whatever problem exists.

One of the other factors that separates a small community from a larger governmental organization is that the leadership of the relatively small community must face the community members (their neighbors) on a daily basis. That usually imposes a certain social restraint against leadership making really bad decisions.

I have come to truly value community, as have many others. This was pointed out in the results of a recent CAI Research Foundation survey. Unfortunately, the media tends to report only the negative things regarding community. Positive things are generally not considered news.