Recognition Programs Offer Validation, Other Benefits to Facility Managers
June 6, 2011
Today's tip from Building Operating Management: Recognition programs can offer validation for facility managers.
Facility managers often think of themselves as being invisible. From one perspective, that’s not a bad thing. Too often, visibility can mean that something has gone wrong with the building. Being invisible means that the roof isn't leaking, temperatures are OK with most people, the power is working, and so on.
But being invisible also has its drawbacks. One of them is a sense that no one cares what the facility manager is doing. Over the long term, that sense can sap a facility manager's enthusiasm for trying new things. Why bother, if no one notices?
Fortunately, there are a variety of industry recognition programs that facility managers can use to validate the good work that they're doing. They amount to atta boys from knowledgeable third parties that at least confirm the facility manager’s belief that his or her work has real value.
One example is the FMXcellence recognition program sponsored by Building Operating Management. This program honors facility departments for adding value to their organizations in a wide variety of ways, from green initiatives to project management successes. An important goal of the FMXcellence program is to recognize facility departments that are addressing key organizational goals.
Another example is the Maintenance Solutions Achievement Awards, which recognizes facility accomplishments that have contributed to the overall success of the organization in one of four categories: renovation and retrofits, sustainability, financial management and personnel management.
Programs like these can provide more than a pat on the back from an external source. They can offer evidence to top management that the facility department is doing good work in a way that helps the organization. They boost team morale, providing encouragement to resource-strapped facility staffs. And the industry recognition can also be a career building tool.
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