Sometimes, stepping outside to get a breath of fresh air can make all the difference in the world in a person's outlook. For many maintenance and engineering managers, involvement in the planning of a retrofit also can lead to a new point of view.
Mike Lochary, a longtime building engineer at C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air, Md., realized this change of heart while specifying products and systems for a series of lighting and HVAC retrofits in the Harford County Public Schools in 2012. The new products and systems to be installed opened his mind to the new and exciting possibilities for his building.
"One of the biggest things is when you work at a place for a long time, you get stuck in your ways," Lochary says. "You don't look at new stuff like you should. You always have to keep looking at the new stuff and look at how it's going to benefit you in the future."
In many instances, the reasons for failing to embrace a new technology or install new products are understandable. Work orders pile up, and more urgent issues need attention. Managers can try to justify their reasons for not looking for new perspectives and embracing change, but the results of such actions generally do not benefit managers, their departments or facilities.
The first steps to opening the mind to new ideas are straightforward. Talk with peers and others you respect. Attend conferences to hear about peers' accomplishments.
No matter how it occurs, managers need to embrace new ideas and technology. The time is long past in facilities for outdated thinking and for doing something a certain way only because "that's the way it's always been done."
Dave Lubach offers insights gleaned from conversations with managers who make key maintenance and engineering decisions in commercial and institutional facilities.
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