The ‘Only’ 61 Things That Matter

30 years ago, almost to the day, I presented a paper at a strata conference on the Gold Coast. I called it ‘The only 16 things that matter’. It was a call to strata managers to focus on the routine services in their strata management agreements, rather than becoming involved in extraneous non-paying matters.  This year I’ve done the same task and there are ‘only’ 61 things that matter.

As we know, the demands of a modern world, and a government agenda expanding the role of strata owners in governing private property, has resulted in an astronomical increase in the scope of a strata managers work.  Management fees have not kept pace.

Our work this year has focussed on two things. First, helping strata managers increase their fees. Second, we have written a complete set of Standard Operating Procedures. There is one for each task a strata manager does as agreed or additional services, all 61 of them. 

Our SOPs are state specific. We have completed a set for Victoria and NSW, and we are now working on versions for WA and Qld. We can’t wait to share them with our coaching and mentoring clients in the New Year. In the meantime, over the summer break, we want to preview some highlights.  

Each one sets out - 

• A description of the task
• Why you do the task 
• What authority you have to do the task 
• How you go about doing it (step by step) 
• What you achieve when you do the task properly 
• The consequences of non-compliance 
• The common roadblocks in performing the task (and how to get around them) 
• How you are paid for the task 

We aim to capture 80% of our clients’ work on each moving part of their client-facing service delivery. The remaining 20% comes from tweaks our clients make to customise them to their own way of doing things.

SOPs are important in all forms of business. They -

1. standardise best practices we have observed in our consultancy work
2. plug the gaps of bad practices we have observed in some businesses
3. capture your ‘tribal knowledge’ (before it walks out the door)
4. produce consistent work
5. reduce errors
6. manage risk
7. assist staff onboarding
8. underpin internal training
9. increase profitability

Clients who have signed up for these so far value, in particular, the roadblocks section. What stops us from doing these tasks in a timely and efficient way, and what do we do to get around these roadblocks? Understanding these ‘pain points’ is really making a difference. 

So, for the next 7 weeks, as our gift to you, we will share the roadblocks sections of some of our more frequently used SOPs. We hope that, knowing these roadblocks, you’ll save precious time next year and improve your client satisfaction levels in 2025. If you think we’ve missed something, please comment. When we return in January, we will send you a complimentary copy of the full SOP. Send your feedback to admin@michaelteys.com 

Check out the first roadblock here.

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