Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

Part Seven - Anticipating the unexpected

Be ready for anything! Also, remember 100 years from now, will the big problem in front of you matter?

FM by nature is fire fighting, and so it is important to take some time to step back and think strategically. Chances are in the long run you'll make life easier for yourself.

Know your facility from the inside out.

Create via a loose leaf binder with tabs, your Home & Office Bible as I call it. Keep one book at work and one for your home office. Put in all your vendors’ contact information; copies of all maintenance contracts; copies of any memos that you have issued; contact information for all senior management and your direct reports. In case of an emergency you will have all the info you need in your binders - both at home and at work. I know way too many FMs that solely rely on computers. Now you are prepared for any power outage, blackout or any other FM surprises that may happen.

Have a business continuity plan and know it inside out. Make sure your clients and tenants know what to do. Keep key contact numbers with you at all times – mobile and landline. People will look to you in a crisis, make sure you are always prepared.


What to share your own tips? Send them to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 0178 561326

Am I becoming a workaholic?

Those of you who know me will know I like to keep busy. Just over a week ago I had surgery on my shoulder, and since then have been confined to the house – not only because I can’t drive for a few weeks, but also because of the snow.

I had a long list of things to do once I felt well enough – write out my Christmas cards, buy all my gifts online, write a few blogs, articles and e-books – but nowhere in that list was there any ‘down time’. Does that sound familiar to any of you?

Anyway, day one after I came home from hospital went a bit like this:

Check e-mails; check voicemails; put on TV; two minutes later turn off TV; pick up magazine; put down magazine, and on it went all day. Because I was full of painkillers my concentration was appalling.

What did this teach me? That sometimes I need to do nothing. I started to rediscover some wonderful ways to relax – watching the robins on the patio, tip-toeing through the snow to the bird food; reading Christmas cards; drinking a cup of hot chocolate while it was still hot! (If you work in FM, you’ll know just how many drinks go cold while we sort out an issue!)

I realised that we have to give ourselves permission to stop doing stuff – after all, we’re called Human Beings, not Human Doings!

I’m not a great believer in New Year’s resolutions – I prefer to have several small, short-term goals to stretch myself out of my comfort zone – but I looked back at the personal goals I set last January...and guess what? Yep, I promised myself I would take more time to ‘smell the roses’.

So, will you help me? When we meet up at an event, or when I’m coaching you and your team, will you ask me what I’ve done recently that’s been relaxing, me-time?

I hope you are staying safe in the bad weather – if you still have snow, why not take some time for yourself - go and throw a few snowballs or build a snowman?

Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

Part Six - Measuring your performance

Joe Selby said recently on the IFMA Listserve: Find out what measures your CEO uses to determine whether or not the company is meeting its own internal goals monthly, quarterly and annually. Look at what aspects of the strategic business plan your group or department supports either directly or indirectly. For instance, most companies will include performance to budget as a major overall organizational metric, so the lowest hanging fruit of all for your group is your performance to your group/department budget. Are you over? Under? How do you keep track of this and what initiatives do you have in place to keep watch on your budget performance over the course of the year.

Your company may have an initiative related to business growth that's tied to recruiting and headcount. That's another area that facilities departments have a direct impact on and should be one you measure yourself against regularly.

Here's the overall point - don't measure pointless things that have nothing whatever to do with the success of your company and execution of your company's strategic plan. Way too many service departments (not just picking on facilities groups here) will measure nonsense things like the number of work orders they complete in a quarter or annually. Who cares? That doesn't demonstrate that you're being effective. It demonstrates that you're there and busy, period.

Being busy does not mean you're actively contributing to the success of your organization. It can, in fact, demonstrate just the opposite (as in you're completing a ton of maintenance work orders because you're doing a lousy job on your preventative maintenance programs, or you're executing lots of personnel moves because you're doing a lousy job of space utilization planning).

Measure the things you're doing that contribute to the successful execution of your organization's overall strategic plan.

My number one tip to FMs (Facility managers): As you translate business goals into project requirements think in terms of constructability and operability.

Define your goals, personally and for the whole FM service. Make them challenging, specific, timed, measurable and achievable. Is it about increasing customer satisfaction, reducing deductions, or reducing staff turnover?

Be specific and make your objectives measurable. For example, by what percentage do you want to increase customer satisfaction?
 
Want to share your own tips? Send them to Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or comment below.