It is a new day. The pandemic, hurricanes, fires, and economic uncertainties are all reasons facilities management organizations must get it right when caring for infrastructure and maintaining financial viability. Moving forward, organizations should ask themselves several questions as they survey their own programs. It’s time to review and reenforce processes and protocols for routine assessments, which can mitigate costly repairs and prolong the lifecycle of assets. Specifically, consider questions like:
- How are maintenance problems communicated and addressed?
- What is the time expectation or sense of urgency for completion?
- How are capital projects prioritized?
- Does current staff have the skillset to perform crucial work?
- How is maintenance staff productivity calculated and who is checking the work?
New Normal, New Approach
Facility managers may also want to consider a grassroots bottom-up leadership approach. Beginning at the operational level, use data and equal engagement with staff instead of a top-down decision-making process.
- Let’s start with the data being used to make decisions.
Where does it come from? Work order or CMMS software, employee verbal input or reactive replacement? How can that data be used more efficiently?
- Can innovative equipment increase productivity?
Will new software make an organization more efficient? Even futuristic artificial intelligence (AI) programs have been known to be a controversial concern: from a workforce standpoint it’s viewed as a job eliminator, yet from a leadership point of view it is a cost-efficient method to sustain viability.
- This is where staff engagement can be essential.
Staff engagement has shown it can galvanize a new cultural energy within any company committed to overcoming business challenges, as well as navigate a more inclusive and loyal workforce in the process.
It is a New Day
As organizations forge ahead and shape what the new normal might be, they should look at who is at the decision-making table. Is there room for input from others – those on the ground? How does the organization use the data they possess? Can they do better? And they should insist that preventive maintenance take place as an ongoing standard, which would significantly reduce premature failure rates, allowing the owner to obtain maximum lifespan on components.
As an FCA project manager, I sometimes see simple improvements that could have been addressed with minimal cost, but conditions were allowed to worsen as a result of poor engagement or processes. I have put a lot of questions on the table that I hope today’s organizations will consider when working toward the stable infrastructure and financial viability of the future.
