How Your HOA Board Can Help Prevent Gossip in Your Community

Gossip can create a lot of havoc in a community. It can lead to alienation of friends, emotional turmoil, ruined reputations, and any form of relational regression. A society that spreads rumors and gossip makes the residents uncomfortable and unable to interact with other residents well.

As a board member, keeping away gossip from your community should be a priority to maintain peace and harmony amongst the residents. In this article, you will learn how the HOA board can help prevent gossip in the community.

Ways to Prevent Gossip in Your Community

Lead by Example 

As a board member, you should lead by example so the residents can emulate you. If you want a gossip-free community, you should not be seen or heard gossiping about anything in the community.

If the board member is a gossiper, the residents will lose trust in the members they elected as board members to represent them. It will also be tough to address gossip when the board member is the gossip leader in the community.

Address Gossip Quickly and Professionally

Your duty as a board member is to discuss any gossip before it becomes a big issue. Start by actively listening and asking questions to understand the root cause. It would help if you remained calm and collected without putting in your feelings so you could see and feel the situation from each perspective.

After actively listening and you know the root cause, communicate the solution to solve the matter so that the gossip can die completely. Community members won’t continue gossiping once the story has been told. 

Encourage Direct Contact With the Board

A single person can start a gossip, and before you know it, it will spread to the entire community, especially on social media. To avoid the spread of rumors, encourage the residents to ask questions or raise their concerns to the board instead of asking one another.

When residents raise their concerns or ask questions to the other residents, it creates confusion, and rumors start there. Management can help by ensuring they respond to questions quickly and thoroughly, explaining why a decision was made. Most community gossip gets the ‘what’ right, but different and mysterious motives are assumed. 

Communication Should be a Priority - Prevention is key

Where does most gossip come from? A lack of information. Community members want to know what is happening in their community. Speculating about that is natural if there is a vacuum of information. 

Board members and community management teams should prioritize effective communication with the residents. When board members communicate regularly, the residents get first-hand information, building a transparent community. This is the best way to stop gossip in its tracks. 

If you hear a rumor going around - address it publicly. You don’t have to say, “we heard this rumor” or “Susie was saying,” but you can add a ‘Did You Know’ section to the newsletter that addresses the real story and the real why. 

Promote Positivity

In a community where positivity is shared, there is less gossip since people do not have anything negative to communicate. People tend to speak about what is happening in a community; if it is positive news, they will spread that. You can promote positivity through positive updates, exciting news in the community, and appreciating the residents who have done well.

Bottom Line

A community filled with gossip prevents the board members from making good and thoughtful decisions since they are overly worried about the residents' reactions. It also creates dissatisfaction and wastes time. 

If you need help limiting gossip in your community, social media strategies, or better ways to communicate, we can help! Contact us today to learn more.