Facility Managers Should Seek Allies in Other Departments
November 2, 2010
Today’s topic is the value of having allies in other departments.
To win support from other departments, facility managers may have to go out of their way to learn how they can help those departments. Asking for more work may seem like the last thing a resource-strapped facility organization needs. But in the long run, the more that the facility department is seen as a resource, the more facility managers will build clout and the easier life gets to be.
Once other departments see the value of the facility department, you will have more people on your side in a staff meeting when you need to contest a budget cut or justify an investment. In the best case, the other departments will see your requests as ways to help them, not as ways to advance a narrow facility management agenda.
Being on good terms with other department heads can also reduce one of facility management’s biggest headaches: being the last to know about changes that will affect the facility, like a departmental reorganization or plans for servers that will require additional cooling. What’s more, facility managers who take care of other departments can call in favors when the time comes.
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