It goes without saying that the facility management world has changed dramatically. Managers sense they must refresh their approach to strengthening and sustaining their organizations by revisiting management tools and techniques to find what works in this new work environment.

Employees feel differently about their jobs since the pandemic and have new perspectives on what their employment means. A recent Gartner survey reiterates that employees are questioning their jobs after working through the changes brought about by the pandemic:

• 65 percent are rethinking the place that work should have in their overall lives;

• 52 percent question the purpose of their day-to-day job; and

• 50 percent changed their expectations towards their employer.

These statistics are supported by facility management professionals. In addition, other pandemic outcomes within the industry have given rise to a significantly higher value placed by staff on the happiness factor associated with their current job, and how it contributes to their overall sense of well-being.

Often overlooked as a critical management activity is the role coaching plays in solidifying the culture of an organization and influencing how engaged staff are in supporting the facility management mission. When coaching is incorporated into the management playbook, organizations are inclined to be more stable and staff are more invested in the organization’s outcomes. Establishing personal relationships between facility management staff and coaches, and the power of the words that are used when coaching interactions take place, have a significant impact on how staff view themselves and their contributions to the organization.

There is an abundance of information about how to develop coaching skills and implement a coaching plan, as well as models for what it takes to be a successful staff coach. So much of the information, however, makes the “art” of coaching overly complicated to the point that it implies it can be a full-time job for a manager. Coaching models range from the “necessary 15 steps to successful coaching” to “the 25 phases of a successful coaching plan.” It is no wonder facility managers shy away from the task of finding coaches and implementing a coaching program.

Over the years, managers have indicated that keeping the role of coaching in their organizations as simple as possible has proven to be the most successful approach. The art of coaching does not have to be a cumbersome chore. As an example, The Peak Performance Center structured the essence of coaching around three concepts that are easy to understand and develop. It is not difficult to grasp the elements of these concepts and formulate a playbook for institutionalizing them into a facility management routine.

• Strong human relations skills;

• Communication skills; and

• Analytical skills

Strong human relations skills

The foundation of coaching is strong human relations skills that focus on the establishment of trust and confidentiality between the coach and the individual being coached.

Human relations (HR) studies on coaching techniques have shown that staff prefer an advisor who expresses certainty and confidence that the relationship and topics discussed will be confined to the individuals involved. Facility management staff describe coaches who display a certain amount of charisma and confidence as those who typically speak a language of certainty and honesty. When these coaches talk, staff listen because their opinions are respected, and staff trust the guidance and direction they provide.

These coaches also are not reluctant to admit what they don’t know and to commit to finding answers to questions or problems where information is not readily available to them. Facility management staff find these coaches to be rare, but exceptional.

Another essential component of human relations skills necessary to support staff coaching is the ability to challenge and motivate staff to stretch their capabilities and reach beyond their comfort zone. For any coach, the bottom line and goal is to enhance performance by helping the individual identify their strengths and weaknesses, which typically requires frank discussions about current skills, gaps in skills to achieve desired outcomes and long-term career or employment goals.

As an aftermath of the pandemic, facility staff frequently report a feeling of repetitiveness and boredom in their current jobs. They say they are feeling less than excited about their work and there is too much sameness or routine associated with their job. The challenge for a facility management coach is to motivate staff so they can identify an ideal facility-related function themselves and then collaborate with the coach to craft a plan that achieves the goal.

Communication skills

The centerpiece of a coaching playbook is building solid communication skills. To do this requires an understanding of listening and questioning — and when to use each technique. Both skills require concentration and practice.

Active listening dictates focus so the coach is not just hearing words but understanding the context around them. The coach also watches body language that often tells more than the actual words about how the individual is feeling. Active listening incorporates feedback during the listening process to assure the individual the coach is processing the words and understanding the meaning. Nodding during the discussion, summarizing what has been said, and taking notes without making notetaking a major distraction, are all part of being an effective listener.

The companion to listening is formulating the right words for feedback to the individual to receive the desired answers and results the coach is seeking. Questions not only collect information but direct attention and shape how the involvement of the coach is perceived. A study by Harvard University identified follow-up questions as having extra impact when two individuals are having a coaching conversation. They reassure staff the coach listened, understood, and is interested in knowing more about the topic under discussion.

Questions asked by coaches should never be rhetorical in that the questioning always should be a pathway for dialogue, not monologue. The hope of a good coach in asking questions is that staff will reach deeper within themselves so they can more fully elaborate their answers. Coaches are looking for staff perspective on potential barriers to achieving goals such as time, training, tools, and employee temperament. Asking the right questions helps staff sort through their feelings and formulate appropriate answers.

Coaches that provide direction and instruction to staff either through personal experiences or feedback from occupants and senior management create the greatest learning experiences associated with communication. Hearing about lessons learned and outcomes accomplished from personal experiences of the coach solidifies the coach and staff relationship. Facility management staff find it rewarding to know their coach had similar experiences that shaped their knowledge, skills and abilities associated with facility management functions. With direction and instruction from the coach, a development plan that is tangible, realistic, and embraced by staff can be created.

Analytic skills

To be an effective coach, an individual must be a keen observer of staff actions and their outcomes. Coaching is more than dialogue and conversation. There are times when a coach must observe staff in the performance of their duties and their interactions with other staff and customers to obtain a holistic picture of the individual they are coaching.

An engaged coach needs to spend time observing staff outside of an in-office visit and should suggest opportunities to accompany staff on appointments with customers and in the performance of their work. Occasionally, a coach should sit with employees during team meetings to observe interactions with other colleagues. Doing this helps the coach provide better guidance and suggestions for further staff development. This type of observation gives the coach a chance to determine gaps between current performance, and the desired performance discussed during dialogue and feedback sessions.

Coaching on an organizational level

The coaching playbook described above is targeted towards individual staff members and their relationship with a coach on a one-to-one basis. What if a facility manager wants to achieve a bigger change on an organizational level within specific groups of the department? There are approaches to achieve coaching on a large-scale basis through “connected coaching.” This is a powerful way to effect organizational change and strengthen performance for a large group of staff when there is an overarching goal such as improved customer service, coalescing organization units around a common business goal, or building better communication and collaboration.

Korn Ferry, a global organizational consulting company describes a connected coaching system that is not particularly different from the three-component approach described above, but on a massive scale that takes advantage of coaching technology and what they describe as a coaching ecosystem. Connected coaching is used when there is a need to:

• Align individual and organizational objectives;

• Identify and coach a critical mass to drive a significant culture change;

• Deliver a consistent, quality coaching conversation;

• Build a connected coaching journey to a large population; and

• Scale the intelligence and outcomes.

The beauty of a connected coaching approach for a facility management organization is that not only are the coaches connected to individuals in the organization, but they are connected to each other and can share insights, support each other, and network. Eventually, the connected coaches become a community of practice or a center of excellence that can be replicated within an organization whenever a new challenge appears that requires change on a scale larger than just an individual-to-individual approach.

STORMY FRIDAY is founder and president of The Friday Group, an international facilities services consulting firm. She is a member of the ProFMI Commission, a governance body that serves as an advisory committee for the Professional Facility Management Institute's (ProFMI) activities.