Quality Management Principles Can Help Facility Managers Resolve Complaints
February 23, 2015
Successfully confronting and resolving the complaints the facility management department is faced with on a daily basis falls in line with a quality management system (QMS) or "the whole plan, do, check, act cycle," says Kit Tuveson, facility management consultant, Tuveson & Associates.
A key step in a QMS is gathering feedback. Facility managers can start by seeing what other departments within the larger organization might also be gathering employee feedback, so that the facility management department isn't reinventing the wheel. "HR has employee surveys. IT has surveys," Tuveson says. "There may be things going on that you can leverage and get support for." He suggests starting small with some simple surveys vetted with occupants friendly to the facility management department.
Other resources to explore in creating a QMS are other facility managers and property managers, and educational modules from organizations such as BOMI and IFMA.
And, naturally, involve your in-house people and your vendors as well, he says. It is not likely that all the service providers touching the facility are going to align around a common QMS, so facility managers should establish some metrics that providers can report back on. And for any vendors who are not already doing QMS, make it a part of the specs and requirements going forward. "It's not difficult but it might be complicated," Tuveson says.
Contrary to a once popular perception, invisibility is not the hallmark of good facility management and will certainly not improve any situation around a complaint.
"The best facilities teams are out there engaging their customers, setting expectations, managing perceptions, and being really clear about what limits are, what affordability, processes and procedures are," Tuveson says. "They don't leave it up to the panoply of occupants to figure out for themselves because they will ask for the moon."
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