How can you make your property management practices more inclusive?

1 Assess your current situation

In order to become more inclusive, it is important to understand where you currently stand and what your goals are. Begin by assessing your property management policies, procedures, and practices. Ask yourself questions such as how accessible your facilities are for people with disabilities, different languages, or cultural backgrounds; how you communicate with tenants, visitors, and staff about their needs and preferences; how you handle complaints, feedback, and suggestions related to inclusion and diversity; how you train and support your property management team to be more inclusive and respectful; and how you measure and monitor your performance and progress on inclusion and diversity. Additionally, it is beneficial to seek external input from stakeholders such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or audits in order to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to inclusion and diversity.

3 Implement your action plan

Once you have your goals and priorities, you can create and implement your action plan. This is where you outline the specific steps, tasks, resources, and responsibilities for achieving your goals. You can use a project management tool or a simple checklist to keep track of your progress and deadlines. Some examples of actions you can take include conducting an accessibility audit of your facilities and making the necessary modifications or upgrades, creating and distributing a tenant handbook that covers property management policies and procedures related to inclusion and diversity, designing and delivering a training program for property management staff on topics such as cultural awareness, disability etiquette, or conflict resolution, creating and promoting a feedback mechanism for tenants, visitors, and staff to share their opinions and concerns on inclusion and diversity, and celebrating and recognizing achievements and successes on inclusion and diversity with awards, certificates, or testimonials.

4 Evaluate your results and impact

The last step to becoming more inclusive is to evaluate your results and impact. You can measure and report on your performance and progress by using surveys, interviews, or focus groups with tenants, visitors, and staff. Additionally, you can assess accessibility ratings, tenant satisfaction scores, or complaint rates. Training evaluations, staff feedback, or turnover rates are also important to consider. Furthermore, you should look into diversity and inclusion reports, audits, or certifications. Comparing your results and impact with your baseline, targets, or peers will help you identify achievements, challenges, and areas for improvement.

5 Keep learning and improving

Becoming more inclusive is an ongoing process that requires continuous learning and improvement. To stay up to date with the latest trends and best practices in property management and facility management, consider reading industry publications, attending webinars, joining professional associations, seeking feedback from experts or peers, and attending workshops or conferences. Additionally, it is important to review and update your goals and priorities regularly to remain relevant, competitive, and responsive to the changing needs and preferences of your tenants, visitors, and staff.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?