Facilities management is a dynamic field shaped by passionate individuals. To celebrate these individuals, Building Operating Management launched its Facility Influencer program. Charles Thomas, facility operations consultant at LACE Management, is a 10-plus year veteran of the industry. In our interview Thomas talks about his experiences in the industry and where he sees it going in the coming years.
FacilitiesNet: How did you get started in facilities/operations management?
Thomas: I got my start back when I lived in Pennsylvania, working at Walmart full time. I think I was about 22 and I was working in the shipping and receiving department. I did that until I landed a full-time position working for an outsourcing firm where we covered soft services in the facilities industry. I quickly rose through the ranks and was a facility manager there for a few years. Then I moved to the Washington, D.C. area and that is where I really got my facility specific start.
The second job that I had when I came here, I was working under two military vets that played no games when it came to our work and just getting things done. We were covering some soft services but for the end users and everything within the organization that was in the Virginia location. However, there were a lot of locations all over the nation, but for the most part we were soft services. Sort of like what people use in the break room or office supplies, but all things else it was just straight traditional facility stuff. It was there that I learned the things that I know now about the industry and know how to conduct yourself.
With my curious mind within anything that I am really involved with, I was learning so much at a rapid speed and I just fell in love with the industry just because it is like a jack of all trades role. There are never things that you know and there are never things that you are never going to know. Everything about what we do in this industry is always something to learn and always something to do.
FacilitiesNet: What drives your passion for helping out others?
Thomas: I love seeing progress being made in anyone's journey, and if I can be of help in some type of way, I am going to do that. To me, that is just what a leader does, and I fully consider myself a leader, no matter if it is a direct position that I have or indirect. I have always just seen myself as a leader, you know? You either have that or you do not.
From indirect or direct leadership roles I have held on sports teams, musical organizations or my professional career, that has always just been my mindset. I am always going to help; I am always going to see somebody that needs something or maybe does not need something. I am always going to be there to be helpful to that person. Any great leader that I have had the opportunity to work alongside of, that is what they did. That kind of push only produces in me a great relationship with others. It only produces great work down the line that you are trying to accomplish.
No matter where a person started from, and I'm including myself within this as well, the mindset to me is to just always get better. If you are always focusing on that, you will always make some progress. Communicating that type of philosophy to others quickly makes it understood that it is only you against yourself and not anyone else. You are only trying to battle with your own self. To me, that is just exactly how you get better, not by thinking about anybody else and trying to compete with them. However, if you fixate on your own self and act on that, you will always be ahead of the game.
The excitement that I get from helping others is like no other kind of feeling that I have. It feels great to do and it is always a great way to let people know that you are not just into your own progress as a person. You are about other people, and you do not mind getting out of your own way to see somebody else have shine.
FacilitiesNet: What is LACE Management and why did you start it?
Thomas: LACE Management is a facility and small business operations consulting firm that I created to honestly just have something of my own from all the knowledge I was gaining over the course of my career. I have been very fortunate to work with so many different great people that they probably do not even know the impact they had toward the creation of LACE Management.
LACE is an acronym for Living Above Common Expectations, and that is again something else I try my best to live by. That is how we handle anything that we do for any person, any organization and anything. Then we always let people know that from the get-go, we are always going to do things a little bit outside of the box. I have always said that we are going to be enhancing whatever program you have or do not have with creativity and innovation. Whatever plan we put out for you and your team or your organization, it is always going to be a tailor-made thing.
FacilitiesNet: Where do you see facilities management going in the coming years?
Thomas: I think that the more the world goes in the artificial intelligence direction and keeps advancing on a technological level, the more of a shift to consulting I think we will see. It will be the go-to for organizations to contract out to consultants that know exactly what they are talking about. As much as a help AI can be in automation, I think there will always be a need for nuanced expertise from a human. That was another reason why I created LACE Management: the nuances of the expertise we have, they cannot be matched by most things that are made. I will continue to say that I think the way to go is just down the line – I do not know how far away we are from it – but I think people that have been in the industry can go toward a consulting area. That is, where they can make some noise and really leave their mark with the organization, or just with the industry period.
Jeff Wardon, Jr. is the assistant editor for the facilities market.
