Get to Know Our Employees

At Cardinal we believe we have the most well-trained, experienced professionals that care about the communities they serve. In this post, we feature one of our team members who have been doing a phenomenal job exemplifying Cardinal team spirit.

Today, get to know Lisa Kindred, Assistant, Team Lead.

Tell us about your role and your primary responsibilities.

As a Management Assistant, I am responsible for the administrative duties for the community associations in my portfolio. These duties include proofreading and editing community-wide mailers, finalizing management reports for Board of Directors meetings, guiding homeowners through the architectural application approval process, processing resale packages, and drafting correspondence to homeowners regarding compliance with their Association’s governing documents, rules and regulations, and policy resolutions. I also provide customer service via email, over the phone, and in person to homeowners, helping resolve their questions and concerns.

How did you first learn about Cardinal and how did that impact your desire to want to work here?

I learned about Cardinal from a job listing I saw on Indeed.com. Before applying, I visited the website and read about the company. I found out it is family-owned and has been in business in the DMV area for over 30 years. I also found that the community I grew up in is one of the HOAs that they manage (Shout out to the Townhouses of Saratoga and the Saratoga Stingrays!). Being a NOVA girl all my life, I was excited about the idea of working for a company that serves communities in the region that I call home.

Cardinal is a family-oriented company, how does working here allow you to balance your career and family life?

I love that I don’t have to feel hesitant to make requests that I know will help me balance my personal life. Cardinal allows employees to work remotely up to two days each week and if I ever need to switch my days in the office due to appointments or feel like I need a mental health day, my supervisor has always been understanding and flexible with my requests.

What do you find most challenging about your role/position?

There is a certain stigma when it comes to community associations, especially when it comes to issuing notices for compliance inspections, and sometimes we get tough feedback from owners who are upset after they receive a notice. While it can be challenging to speak with owners when they are distressed in the heat of the moment, I find it very rewarding to provide the best customer service I can to answer their questions and help them resolve their concerns.

How has Cardinal helped you with your career development and name three career lessons you’ve learned thus far?

Within my first year working as a Management Assistant, I started to see myself making community association management my career and spoke to my supervisor about the next steps I could take to advance toward that goal. Cardinal paid for my membership to CAI, the M-100 course, as well as the CMCA exam, and now I look forward to becoming a manager one day!

Three career lessons I’ve learned thus far include:

1. Teamwork makes the dream work – Such a cliché, right? But it’s so true! Whenever my coworkers see an email from me, or vice versa, we always make it a priority to respond to each other because we know that in order for us to do our jobs and move forward with our respective tasks, we need responses as soon as possible to check whatever we’re working on off of our to-do lists.
2. Communication is key when providing customer service – even if you’re not able to fully respond to an inquiry right away, always confirm receipt so that you don’t leave anyone wondering if their message got through and provide a reasonable timeframe of when you’ll circle back with them.
3. Take accountability when you make a mistake – no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, so always show that you’ve learned from it by articulating what you will do moving forward to avoid making the same mistake again

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see cast as you and why?

Yara Shahidi because I really like her acting style on the TV shows she stars in and I feel like her quirky personality would do mine justice on the big screen!

Name one fun or unlikely thing people may not know about Cardinal but should

Our events committee holds raffles for awesome prizes like tickets to professional sports games!

Do you have any tips for someone that may be looking to get into the community management industry?

Apply to work at Cardinal because the company will invest in your career development 😀

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