The Top IFMA Courses That Can Help You Further Your FM Career
There are many ways to develop your career and skill set in facilities management, whether it’s through on-the-job experience, a professional certification program or networking at conferences like the World Workplace. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is a great resource to gather industry knowledge and timely news updates. They offer a catalogue of online courses, which can help you build specific skills without taking time away from your job. We’ve highlighted five IFMA courses to help facility managers further their careers.
Performance management
Being able to clearly track and gauge performance is a crucial part of a facility manager’s job. Performance Management in Facilities: Measuring What’s Most Important teaches you how to develop a performance management strategy that takes data and business goals into account to create meaningful metrics. The course covers both high-level concepts and more fine-grained tactics for performance management. Facility managers looking to gain a stronger understanding of business strategy and analysis will find this course especially helpful.
Human and environmental factors
Understanding the variables at play in your office allows you to pinpoint and address problems quickly. This is particularly important for safety and emergencies. The Human and Environmental Factors course takes you through health, safety, security and emergency preparedness in the office, which can help you anticipate issues and address crises before they come up. This is most relevant for managers who are responsible for overseeing an entire office building.
Technology
Technology is a crucial part of your office’s infrastructure, and there are plenty of tools an office might require, such as CAD, project management and building automation. As a facility manager, working with many of these technologies might be a part of your job description.
What is computer-aided design (CAD?) CAD refers to the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design via a computer and can be used to design curves and figures in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space.
The Technology course is designed to help you understand, evaluate and implement industry-related software in your workplace. Even if you don’t work with technology directly, this content can also help you gain insight into the responsibilities of tech workers on your team like IT staff.
Innovation and quality assessment
Quality Assessment and Innovation focuses on data analysis and innovation processes as well as how to use these tools to your advantage. An effective approach to innovation helps your office become more adaptive to future changes and can even help your company be more competitive in your industry.
This course is particularly helpful for facility managers in charge of measuring the quality of a facility and making subsequent adjustments.
It may also be useful to offices that are looking to improve their current workflows.
Sustainability
Your sustainability plan can determine the level of energy efficiency in your building, and finding that balance can benefit your business through reduced costs and increased productivity.
Creating a sustainable office is a comprehensive exercise that takes careful preparation and attention to detail.
FM Sustainability: Creating Your Action Plan addresses these needs by putting an emphasis on planning and implementation. Covering topics that range from metrics and operations to communication and leadership, this course can be useful to managers with varying levels of experience in developing green workplaces.
IFMA courses are effective because they synthesize industry knowledge, create clear lessons and provide evaluation to track progress. By taking these courses, facility managers can keep their industry skills up-to-date and find more opportunities for career advancement.
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