A Regional Manager doesn’t have to be able to do every task a Community Manager does.

What is the role of a regional property manager?

Are they expected to know every granular detail of each onsite team members role?

Absolutely wonderful post by Andrea Duque, CAM - a must read by both RPM’s and onsite teams alike.

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Andrea Duque, CAM

I want to hear your thoughts💭

A Regional Manager doesn’t have to be able to do every task a Community Manager does.

But they should understand the operation well enough to lead it.

I’ve been thinking about this after seeing some of the conversations around Regional Managers and whether they are “competent” if they can’t perform every day-to-day property task.

Here’s where I think we need more nuance.

When a Community Manager becomes a Regional Manager, their job changes.

They move from primarily executing the operation to leading, coaching, and overseeing the people executing it.

That doesn’t mean operational knowledge no longer matters.

It means the expectation changes.

A Regional Manager should understand the systems, the financials, the leasing process, resident experience, maintenance operations, compliance, and the realities of running a property.

They should be able to ask the right questions.

They should be able to identify when something isn’t right.

They should be able to coach a Community Manager through a problem.

And they should absolutely be able to connect the day-to-day work back to the bigger business strategy.

But do they need to remember every click in every software platform?

Do they need to be the person entering every invoice?

Do they need to be able to step into every position and perform every task better than the person currently doing it?

I’m not convinced that’s the right measurement of Regional leadership.

To me, the better question is:

Can this Regional Manager develop strong Community Managers who can successfully run their properties?

Can they create accountability?

Can they communicate the why behind the expectations?

Can they remove barriers?

Can they recognize when a team needs support versus when it needs accountability?

Can they translate the expectations from ownership, asset management, and corporate into something the on-site team can actually execute?

And here’s where I want to open the conversation, especially with Regional Managers and VPs who oversee this role:

Where do you draw the line between operational knowledge and operational execution for a Regional Manager?

What should a Regional Manager still be expected to know how to do?

And what should we stop using as a measure of whether someone is effective in the role?

I’d genuinely like to hear different perspectives.

Because I don’t think the answer is that Regional Managers shouldn’t know the work.

I think the real question is:

What does “knowing the work” need to look like at the Regional level?

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