At the end of January, I made
the long trek to Houston to
attend the Chapter Leaders conference
at IFMA Headquarters. The conference
attracted approximately 130
people and I had the chance
to meet with the current Chair,
Matt Dawson, and a number of
the Board Directors. Of great
value was meeting some of our
peers from the US Chapters and
sharing ideas about Chapter
events, website and communications.
Aside
from the training, IFMA HQ hosted
a cocktail reception attended
by delegates and interestingly,
two police officers, complete
with handcuffs and pistols.
Did IFMA cocktail parties have
a reputation for getting wild...?
Drop me an e-mail
if you think you know why they
were there...?!
First correct answer will receive
a $50 seminar voucher.
GUEST
ARTICLE
PUTTING THE M INTO FM
PART2
By Martin Pickard, CFM
& President of the
UK Chapter of IFMA
In
facilities management
today technical abilities
are not enough to guarantee
success.
In
the second of a specially
reproduced series of articles
originally published in
PFM Magazine, the UK's
leading FM Magazine (www.pfmonthenet.net),
Martin draws upon his
personal experience of
a 33 year career in Facilities
Management to explore
the behavioural side of
FM from a practitioners
perspective.
FM
People Skills
Whatever
job we do in FM, we are all
in the people business.
We are people who provide
services for people through
people. The good facility
manager understands how people
work and think and uses that
knowledge to deliver a more
effective service. The profession
obviously has distinct connections
with the built environment
but only in so far as buildings
are required to house people
and in the provision of people
to service them. Indeed now
that so many people work on
the move or at remote locations,
we frequently find ourselves
providing services to people
operating entirely outside
of the building envelope.
Good interpersonal
skills are therefore essential
attributes of a successful
facility manager in addition
to the technical skills required
to maintain and manage today's
complex workplace. Of course
we all have interpersonal
skills. We interact with other
people from the day we are
born. We learn to communicate
our own needs and wants and
to interpret those of other
people. But clearly some of
us are better at it than others.
It is not
difficult to spot a facility
manager with strong people
skills. They are easy to be
around. Their customers, suppliers
and staff enjoy working for
them. They are self assured,
good communicators and make
great team leaders. However
even those with natural ability
can improve their performance
through training and developing
their abilities in key areas.
For
example:
Emotional
intelligence. Self
knowledge and personal
growth
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