A funny smell permeates the executive offices. The emergency generator fails during an emergency. A water main breaks in front of one of your buildings. A dog-and-pony show turns into a cross examination.
Events like these instantly transform any day into a bad one. And every facility executive has bad days. That includes the facility executives who seem lucky in the eyes of their peers. These are the facility executives who have achieved a good deal of success controlling costs and keeping projects on schedule, who seem to get the funds they need, who are respected top executives, who work for organizations that seem to understand the value of facilities.
These facility executives hardly lead stress-free lives. But they seem to be spared some of the headaches that plague their counterparts in organizations that are more tight-fisted, or less forward-thinking, or more bureaucratic, or . . . .
What’s to be done if bad days outnumber good ones?
No matter how many fires they have to put out, the most successful facility executives keep looking for ways to improve facility performance. Many times, that involves listening — to top executives, to business unit clients, to occupants — to figure out what improvements matter, then making those facility department priorities. These facility executives don’t lose sight of the big picture even as they tackle problems that require them to focus on myriad small details.
And if that doesn’t work? Facility executives who can’t move an organization forward, despite their best efforts, should consider whether it’s time to move on.
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