One year to the Olympics - the countdown begins

On 6 July 2005, we knew that London would be hosting the 2012 Olympic games. I remember being in the car in Brentwood, Essex, with my husband when the news was announced, and I punched the air with a loud 'Yes!'.

This week marks the one year countdown, and look how far we've come! As with the games themselves, making it happen has taken dedication, clear goals, deadlines, and most of all, teamwork.

I think the role of LOCOG is similar to that of a facilities management team - co-ordinating a myriad of functions - construction, transport, ticketing, acommodation, tourism - and at the same time building and maintaining a profile (or brand) that all stakeholders will recognise.

What can you and your team learn from the preparation for the 2012 Olympics? I'd imagine you are pretty good at delivering services, working effectively with suppliers and clients. But what about the profile of FM? Are you a bit like LOCOG with their ticketing? Do people only talk about the FM team when things go wrong?

Here are my seven steps for raising the profile of your FM team:

1. Understand the strategic value of your FM service
2. Understand your organization’s strategy and business objectives
3. Align FM to these objectives
4. Gather evidence – performance data that tells your story
5. Create a ‘one team approach’ with your service partners
6. Know your audience
7. Use a common language to communicate

If you'd like a copy of my full white paper on the seven steps, please drop me a line.

Liz Kentish The FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call me on 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

A little thank you goes a long way

I really want to share with you this email I received earlier this week...

"Dear Liz

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking your time to recognise two of the Front of House teams I work with here in London: Rio Tinto and Capita Symonds.

You might be unaware of this however my team at Rio Tinto was very excited when they were mentioned by you on Twitter a while ago. Your comments were very complimentary and your acknowledgement of their professional and friendly service really boosted the morale within the team. As we are very keen on celebrating success we also shared your “tweet” in our internal Portico newsletter in the month of June to further recognise the Rio Tinto team.

It is not until today I have realised that you also visited one of my teams at Capita Symonds for the “Women in FM” event a couple of weeks ago. You generously followed up by sending a “Thank you” note to the organiser and the reception team. Again, your comments were really complimentary and acknowledged the teams’ efforts. Your kind comments again had the same positive effect and really boosted the motivation within the team.

For any reception team in the city of London today, the expectations are very high from both visors and clients. The general rule is usually that “No news are good news” in regards to the Front of House service and if any feedback ever reaches the team, it is likely to be negative. This is particularly de-motivating considering the sheer volume of visitors, meetings and switchboard calls that are dealt with in an excellent manner on daily basis. This does my all means not mean that we don’t welcome and appreciate constructive feedback as it encourage us to work on a constructive solution to improve the existing service and prevent a similar scenario in the future.

Thank you again for your acknowledgment of my teams and their hard work; it really makes a difference to them and me.

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Haman, Client Services Manager, Portico"

Facilities Manager as Coach?

We should be clear about what is required of a manager when performing the role of coach in their organisation. Let's first look at all management activity of which there are three key areas.

Managing
Leading, and
Coaching

These three activities are complimentary and will help you achieve your business objectives, by enabling your team to perform at their best.

When you are leading, you create and share a vision of the future with the team and ensure their activities are consistent with that vision and making it happen.

When you are managing, you facilitate results by controlling the work of the team, by agreeing and measuring such things as client satisfaction, PPMs, budgets, timescales and so on.

When you are coaching, you support your team members in their learning, to enable them to develop the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to successfully deliver their job responsibilities and goals.

These three styles often overlap because some of the processes and skills that are used in one area are also key in another.

High performance is not achieved if the manager is not clear about which approach to use in a particular situation. For example, if you take a coaching approach when deadlines are tight or a crisis has arisen, time may be lost. If you take a management approach when one of your team has made a mistake, they may miss the chance to leanr from it.

Interested in coaching skills for yourself, or looking for some coaching support? Contact us now coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk 01778 561326 / 07717 787077

How a small group can change the world

Last week I had a meeting in Leeds, and was delighted to be offered use of the meeting facilities at BNY Mellon. In their meeting room was a poster featuring Margaret Mead, and she was quoted as saying,

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'

This got me thinking about facilities management, and the numerous debates going on in the sector about 'professionalisation' and 'collaboration'. Rather than segmenting the sector into clients/individuals/service providers/consultants and so on, isn't it time we started pulling together to make our industry an even more attractive place to work, develop and create revenue?

We need to consider:
• How will we achieve our goal for the facilities management sector?
• What will help us?
• What will hold us back?
• How will we overcome difficulties?
• How will we share success?
• When do things need to be done?
• Who will be responsible?
• How will we review progress?

So, next time you meet with someone who maybe doesn't share the same views as you on moving FM forward, why not consider how you can work together?