The facilities management field is full of a diverse set of leaders that propel the industry forward. To shine some light on these leaders, Building Operating Management launched its Facility Influencer program. Shawn Black, regional vice president of business development at CGP Maintenance & Construction Services, Inc. is a nearly decade-long leader in facilities management. Black details his unlikely path to facilities management, his love of coaching and podcasting, and where he sees the field going in the future.
FacilitiesNet: What got you into the facilities field?
Shawn Black: It was not planned. I have been doing what I do for almost 30 years in business development, marketing, sales, customer service, all that stuff. Probably in the early 2000’s up to that point, I was working kind of white-collar jobs – so software development and a lot of technical stuff. I got kind of burnt out and I started working blue collar jobs.
One of my clients wanted me to come on board for a door company. I had been working in the trades for a while now. I have been through a couple different trades such as general manufacturing, doors, windows and electrical contracting. So, I was doing design marketing, and we were doing a lot of solar projects. I was doing about 110 hours a week, trying to get things running and we tripled our size in the time I was there.
However, I was burnt out and so a friend of mine wanted to hire me on as a director for their West Coast operation for their business development. It was a recruiting company and the only caveat was I had to kind of be on call. After coming from an environmental working hard 110 plus hours a week, I could not do it. I needed some balance and so she referred me to the company I work for now, which is CGP Maintenance & Construction Services, Inc.
I met with their CEOs and went through probably the hardest interview I have ever had in my entire life. It was a tough process; I went through three different interview processes and group interviews. They put me through the works with the site tests, intelligence test, and an Emotional IQ test. If I did not get this job, I did not know what the heck I would do. I ended up getting a job with them, and they are general contractors. They did not realize at the time, but what they really do is they work with restaurants, hospitality, retail and in facility service. That is how I got started and I have been doing it for nine years now.
FacilitiesNet: What led to you becoming a leadership coach?
Black: Having been in a lot of different leadership positions from bringing other people on my team to being a sales manager a director, and general manager, I was thinking I knew what I was doing and I am a natural leader. Then having started this job working with Jim, our CEO, I realized I had no clue what I was doing. One of the best books I've ever read was “Winning" by Jack Welch. As soon as I read that book, I knew right away that I had no clue how to run, manage or lead people. Leading people is way different than managing or being a boss, so that book pretty much inspired me to get into the path.
Then working with Jim – he has been in leadership coaching and life coaching for forever. He is one of the smartest people I have known, and that really pushed me to do more, to be a better leader. So, I went through John Maxwell's courses and became a John Maxwell coach. Then I continued with that journey and went through classes to become NLP-certified for language neural linguistic programming, leading me to become a master linguist. I am just continuing from there now.
I have been to four of David Grimm’s summits and been through his programs there – it is just amazing. The thing is, the more you learn about leadership, the more you realize there is so, so much more to learn. It also becomes about serving people and making an impact on them. I have had people come up to me that I had worked with in the past and they told me that I made such a huge impact on their lives. I think more than anything else it surprised the heck out of me. I did not think I did much for that person at the time. However, finding out later that I made a huge impact on them was amazing. So, that thought process still drives me to be a leader and a coach.
FacilitiesNet: What is the Service Evolution Podcast and how did you get involved with it?
Black: The Service Evolution Podcast is a podcast for leaders in the service industry. It is a resource to go to learn how to be a better leader, learn how to make an impact on people, how to grow and be competitive in the service environment. We started it as FM Evolution, and it was really focused on facility management and grew quite a bit over the first couple of years.
I looked at doing a podcast and was challenged to do so because I went to see Gary Vaynerchuk. He had told us if you want to have the best platform possible for marketing that you need to start a podcast. They are practically free, and it gives you the ability to become an authority in your space.
So, I came back to talk to Jim about starting a podcast and I wanted it to be about facility management. He did not know what a podcast was, so I had to explain what it was. Then he still did not know what it was. However, he told me if I believed that strongly in it, then let us do it. He is very supportive of all my crazy ideas.
We started the podcast, and it took off well. We have got a solid audience, though it will never be Joe Rogan. It is not that generalized – it is a very niche market for what we do. I am really excited for the rebranding of the Service Evolution Podcast because it really is opening to everyone who was in facility management, but now also everyone else who is serving facility management as well.
FacilitiesNet: Where do you see the facilities management industry going in the future?
Black: We have a skills gap in this industry that is pretty severe. Also, the new people coming in are quite different than the people going out. There is a lot of knowledge leaving the industry, both good and bad. This gives a fresh perspective on what is happening in the industry. I think the industry will evolve and continue to become highly, highly technical. The facility management industry is already one of the most challenging careers people can get into. It is also one of the most underrated and underexposed because you have to be an amazing communicator and a great leader. Then you also have to be highly technical, and able to deal with the trades.
There is a huge combination of that and then on top of that, there is a high demand for time. I think people will continue to evolve with the technology coming out to be able to save time and to be able to streamline communication. The utilization of AI and other technologies that come out including augmented realities are going to completely change the way facility managers do their job right now. A lot of people are home-based and some work from the office depending on the type of facility that they manage. I think that is going to continue, but it is going to become so much more integrated with what they can see from those positions compared to what they are able to access now.
Jeff Wardon, Jr. is the assistant editor for the facilities market.
