FM Training Consultants
As in any other profession training for a good Facilities Manager never stops, nor should they want it to. There is always something new to learn from organised training courses, informal meetings and lectures to networking and benchmarking.
There is never going to be a complete and perfect FM service, every facet of what is delivered has to be reviewed and challenged on a regular basis to find out if there is a better way of formatting or delivering it. The FM's have a number of paths open to them to undertake the review process, service audits, benchmarking, peer review, performance and trend analysis and investigating the innovations being introduced into the market place through articles, exhibitions and membership of the British Institute of Facilities Management.
The review process cannot be undertaken effectively unless the FM understands the processes that must be gone through and the content of each service. It is here where training becomes essential, all of us must learn from those who have already been there and done it, from their successes and failures and from a thorough appreciation of what has worked and failed.
There are particular skills that must be attained and these are set out in the Core Competences for the facilities management profession as defined by the BIFM and which are listed in the section headed Governing Body for Facilities Management.
There are specific base skills that FM's must attain and these are often learned in the harsh School of Life, they include strong interpersonal abilities, negotiating, lateral thinking, team building and the ability to be self starting.
Interpersonal skills are essential as the FM will be exposed to every conceivable character and mixture of attitudes with many different individuals, FM team colleagues, customers (some easy, some difficult), the Board, the Finance Director, the Landlord, the Local Authority officers, etcetera. There is a vast array of different expectations, attitudes and interests to contend with and often only with experience will the effective FM be able to handle the diverse relationships effectively.
Negotiating outcomes will become second nature to the good FM but not without experiencing some very hard lessons along the way. Someone once said ' …you may have lost the battle but you can still go on to win the war…' or words to that effect! The FM will do well to remember this sentiment, there will be many times when someone or other will beat you in negotiation, you have to weigh up whether that is a major concern for you or whether you will go on to negotiate better than them on another day. One of the major thoughts to hold in you mind is if you don't ask you will not get, another is make sure you understand what is important to the other party, it may be you can give them exactly what they want and still get a win for yourself!
Lateral thinking is a skill that many managers never acquire, it is that exceptional ability to remove oneself from the trees, stand back and look at the situation in a completely different way. This will provide you with a number of new potential solutions that would not normally have occurred to you, it may be necessary to view things from the customer's perspective or as a complete outsider with no personal interests in the issue at hand.
Effective team building is based on the foundation of mutual respect and the recognition of other people's skills and abilities. It demands the creation of the thought that the whole is greater than the individual and an environment in which they know their opinions and ideas will be heard and seriously considered. In every team there will be key players such as: -
- The Leader
- The Challenger
- The Expert
- The Ambassador
- The Judge
- The Innovator
- The Diplomat
- The Conformer
- The Out-put Pusher
- The Quality Controller
- The Supporter
- The Reviewer
Most decisions in good teams are reached by consensus and it is clear everybody is in general agreement and willing to go along.
A good leader does not dominate the team, nor does the team defer unduly to them. There is little evidence of a struggle for power as the team operates. The issue is not who controls, but how to get the job done and the following factors are vital to building a successful team.
- Balanced roles
- Clear objectives and agreed goals
- Openness and confrontation
- Support and trust
- Co-operation and conflict
- Sound procedures
- Appropriate leadership
- Regular review
- Individual development
- Sound inter-group relations
- Good communication