The creation of a board of directors in an association (after turnover from the developer) is intended for the residents to have the opportunity to vet and elect potential board member candidates via an unbiased election process. Residents run for the board of directors for different reasons. For example, they may believe their skill set could be an enhancement to the prior board or with dealing with a specific situation, political aspirations, they believe that the prior board is responsible for mismanagement of the association, and unfortunately in some cases, the individual may have a personal agenda. There are also different levels of involvement on a board of directors that in some positions require active daily participation on a variety of topics while others require less. A board position is volunteer in nature and comes with no compensation regardless of countless hours of service.

First and foremost, when a unit owner of an association decides to run for the board of directors, they must understand that they will be accepting the fiduciary duty of representing all unit owners and only making decisions in the best interests of the association. The summarized definition of a fiduciary in this case is when power is entrusted to someone for the benefit of the entire membership. It means making decisions and taking actions that are not self-serving and solely having the best interests of all of the unit owners in mind. Examples include unbiased vendor selection and not requesting kickbacks, enforcing the association rules and regulations equally for all unit owners, relying on the advice of the professionals working on behalf of the association among many other things. A potential board member must also understand that while they may have a lot of experience from their individual careers that experience may not always correlate with the operation of an association. For this reason, associations hire professionals such as management companies, lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, consultants, etc. to assist them, thereby ensuring all decisions are in the best interests of the association.