Still contemplating a foray into the exciting world of Facilities Management? Yay!
In our last post, we introduced you to the Top Ten Skills you need if you’re going to hack it as a FM professional.
Today we’re going to cover off the first two competencies in greater depth: Communication Skills and Tech Savvy.
If you thought “Yes! I hate people! Managing facilities sounds like the job for me!”, think again. After all, how will you keep your finger on the pulse of everything that’s going on if you’re holed up in the supply room counting the spare light bulbs?
Facilities Managers are constantly dealing with various stakeholders, and the good ones understand that miscommunications cause extra work, which wastes both time and money. The best ones? They seem to intuitively know what’s going to happen before it does…usually because they’re good at getting information out of people.
Being a clear and effective communicator is vital to any Facilities Management role, and the better you are at connecting with and understanding people, the more effective you’ll be at your job.
Pop culture would have us believe that you can either be good with people, or good with computers, but not both. Well, get ready to break a stereotype isn’t Facilities Management exciting?!
Unless you’re managing a Medieval Village, you’ll need to know your way around a computer (and probably a smartphone, security system, phone system…etc). Most large companies use some form of software to manage who goes where, so being a quick study when it comes to new technology will definitely give you the upper hand. You’ll be in close contact with your organization’s IT department, so knowing the ropes and the lingo is absolutely essential if you want to avoid miscommunications (for details on miscommunication see point 1).
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