Service, service, service!!

Im sure I've written about this before and risk sounding like a broken record, but, I am constantly disappointed by my own experiences as well as stories I hear about service, not just in the FM world, but in life in general.

Why is it so bad?

I've considered this for a little while and I think it comes down to the fact that we (collective human beings) are selfish creatures.  Service, ultimately, requires us to think about of ourselves less and others more, something I think a lot of people struggle to do.  I don't think it is always purposely but generally we are busy, rushing, thinking about a lot of things, multi-tasking and we forget to stop. We forget to stop and think about how we responded to that person who approached us for assistance might have felt when we brushed them aside with 'I'm too busy'. We forget to stop and consider the difference we could to make to another person by listening when they want to talk about an issue they're facing.

I read about a lady who, at 8 months pregnant, went shopping at a large supermarket - there were no large carrier bags available but she was offered a box to put her shopping into. Nobody fetched a box for her. Nobody assisted her in getting her box of shopping into her shopping trolley or thought to offer help into the car with it, despite seeing her struggling. What has happened to humankind that we don't help each other? It's not my job attitude!? Why should I help?

We are a selfish society - a society that demands things instantly, a society without patience, not prepared to wait. Whatever happened to the patience we had when shopping by mail order? Sending off your order with a cheque, waiting for the cheque to clear and then allowing 28 days for delivery? If we don't receive something the next day we start complaining, perhaps commenting the service isn't very good and we wonder why it is taking so long.  We don't need to wait for the bookshop or library to be open, we can use the internet, search engines or download an 'E-book', again instantly.

Good service makes the customer feel loved! And it doesn't take that much effort.  Can I leave you with a challenge?  Think about how you can add to the service of others in your everyday life......holding a door open for someone, asking that mum struggling with a pram up steps if you can help her, calling your customer to let them know the progress on their call, make a colleague a cup of tea.....there's lots more.....can you do that? Can we be challenged to think a bit more about other people rather than just ourselves? 

Let me know how you get on!!! 

The end of another year

So, it's the end of 2013. And what a year it has been.  There have been ups and downs, as always, but some have been more extreme than usual.  The old cliche 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' is never more true than the past few months. 

The major focus of my year has been the end of my marriage - I'm not going to talk about that again in this post - I've done that previously and I want this to be positive - but when I was thinking about writing this, I realised that there was 6 months of 2013 before that happened and some really good stuff happened!

Studies
Entering 2013 saw the continuation of my studies for the BIFM Level 4 Diploma in Facilities Management.  I had already surprised myself in staying motivated to keep studying on my own and found a process that worked well for me continuing to study and complete assignments ahead of schedule.  Despite personal events delaying studies in the summer, I'm still on schedule and hope to be finished the qualification during the first quarter of 2014. 

London 
During the year I was fortunate to visit London for work on more than one occasion.  I love this city and I find these trips a great way to get to know colleagues in the London office better which helps when I call needing advice or assistance when I'm back in the local office.   One of these trips included a one day ISO22301 BCMS Foundation training course - it's an introduction to the best practices associated with business continuity management as defined by the ISO23301 standard.  I met people who are responsible for business continuity management in various sectors - very interesting! The day ended with a test!  Fortunately I passed!!

BIFM 

The new year also saw more progress in setting up the BIFM Channel Islands' Branch.  An interim committee met regularly to form the branch and prepare for launch events in both Jersey and Guernsey.  We had great support from Laura at BIFM HQ and Gareth Andrews, the Chair of the SW Region of which the Branch is part of.  Gareth actually won 'Volunteer of the Year' at the BIFM Volunteer Recognition Awards in July 2013.  

April saw the launch of the BIFM Channel Islands' Branch. 
It was a really exciting time as the committee had worked hard to get the Branch launched and a day in Jersey and then the next in Guernsey saw around 100 FM professionals meeting to learn about what the BIFM is about and what it can do for them.  BIFM CEO Gareth Tancred presented, along with Linda Hausmanis providing an overview of BIFM qualifications.   During the same week the fortnightly publication FM World featured one of my blog posts - how excited was I?  This may have actually been one of the best weeks of the year for me.  I was buzzing!

Twitter
2013 saw me starting to make good use of Twitter from a professional aspect.  I started to connect with more people in the FM industry and it was great to learn from other people, share experiences and get to know some of the movers and shakers in the industry. 

BIFM South West Region QTD
In advance of the first quarterly training day for the BIFM Channel Islands' branch event at the end of June, I attended the June quarterly training day run by the BIFM South West Region in Bristol.  It was entitled Employment Law & People Management.  A review of the day can be found here BIFM SW Region QTD on the BIFM website. I was very excited to finally meet Liz Kentish and her husband David at this event and chatted like old friends over dinner along with Nick Fox from the SW Region Committee who I had met in January at a committee meeting, also in Bristol. 

(L) Liz Kentish - Deputy Chair and (R) Ismena Clout - Chair
of the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM)
I was lucky to meet both these amazing and inspiring ladies during 2013

A devastating loss
It wasn't all good news during the first part of 2013 - I woke up one morning in June to the devastating news that the young son of very good friends of ours had died during the night.  He had only celebrated his first birthday a couple of weeks previously and was a beautiful little boy.  Words still fail me to begin to understand how his mum and dad and older brother must feel as well as the extended family and their circle of friends.  Friendships and faith were certainly proved as we went through (and still go through) the journey with them - unanswered questions from the medical side of things, the loss we could only imagine they were experiencing and the terrible sad day of his funeral and celebration of life service.  


More BIFM
The beginning of July was the BIFM's Rising's FM Careers Day.  Held in London at the University of London's Senate House.  From my use of Twitter and involvement on the Channel Islands Branch committee I was very excited to be going to this event and was hoping to meet people I'd been in contact with!  There were stands with employers, recruiters and training providers and a variety of sessions to attend, including personal FM journeys, live debates, personal style surgeries, benefits of training and qualifications and looking at the strategic role of the facilities manager, as well as refreshments, lunch and vital networking opportunities.  The Rising FM's committee did a fabulous work in putting the event together and I was thrilled to be there, to meet the committee and have even made some friends!  

August meant school summer holidays - plans changed due to our personal circumstances but I managed to buy a second hand tent and booked five days at a local campsite.I asked my dad to help me trial run setting up the tent in his garden......we gave up!!  Later, You Tube-ing how to set up this particular type of tent I laughed as I realised we'd tried to put it up inside-out!  Sending the link to my dad, we watched it, ready to erect the monster for real the next day  on the campsite!!   The girls had a fantastic time - the weather was perfect!  Sunshine and warm days meant swimming in the on-site pool, playing in the fields, visiting the animals and surviving the chase of an escaped sheep!  They made new friends, even joining them for a game of French cricket which only ended when it was so dark they couldn't see the ball!  

A new school term started in September and my youngest daughter started 'big' school!  At nearly 5 she looked so grown up in her uniform and even now, at the end of her first full term, I can't believe my baby is in school!  I watch my two girls run ahead of me on their way to school and my heart swells with pride - they are beautiful, clever, funny girls who love each other very much and I love them more than I can ever explain.  They too have been through so much this year.  Our friends' child's death was a loss for them too - he was their little friend, who they adored.  Mummy and daddy separating was hard for them to understand and my only hope is that this won't make future relationships difficult for them.  

London - again!

November saw me back in London again.  This time for a few days holiday.  I met up with a friend and had a amazing day!  I've been to London on numerous occasions for work and it usually entails, airport, hotel and office and not much else!  This trip enabled me to walk along Southbank for the first time!  We visited the Tate Gallery, had a pub lunch then took a walk across the Millennium Bridge and ended up in a roof-top bar by St Paul's Cathedral!  We watched the sun set over the London skyline and a surprise fireworks display in front the of cathedral gave a lovely ending to a very relaxed and enjoyable day.  This may have been one of the best days of the year for me!

My purpose for visiting London was to attend the BIFM's Women in FM (WIFM) annual conference.  I won't go into detail here - I have already written a lengthly blog post about the day - it was a great day and I can't wait for next years!!  I also attended a Rising FM's event.  It was entitled "What turns you on!" and speaker David McQueen led a very interactive evening encouraging us to consider the things which motivate and demotivate us in our careers.  We looked at how we can use these things to challenge us and then set some goals for achievement in the short term.  

End of year winnings!
The year ended with a highlight......I won the office Christmas Jumper Competition!!  Doesn't take much to excite me :-)

Yes, I am a Christmas Tree!! 






I am so grateful for family and friends - there are some very special people in my life.  It would be unfair to name them - I'm likely to miss someone and they are all special in different ways and for different reasons!  There are some who are there to listen, others whose advice I respect and value, those who help practically, one or two who will be very honest - a hug when it's needed and a message of 'stop feeling sorry for yourself and get a grip' at other times!  I've had some great support through the difficult times, including work, and am ready to face 2014 in a better frame of mind, hopeful for the future. So all that remains for me to say is 'thank you' and I wish you all a very happy, healthy and successful 2014.  

Review of the WIFM Conference 2013

The date was Tuesday 12th November, and the location....the London Studios of ITV on London's Southbank.  Over 150 professional women from the BIFM (British Institute of Facilities Management) membership along with a decent scattering of men, gathered for the second annual conference of the BIFM's Special Interest Group "Women in FM" (WIFM).  This year's theme was "Your Journey" and what a journey we had.

After arriving and being welcomed by some lovely members of the WIFM Committee, Debra Ward, Chair of Women in FM, opened the day. She said she hoped the day would stimulate, challenge and inspire us both personally and professionally....we weren't let down!


Natalie Reynolds - Negotiating Your Journey

Debra introduced Natalie Reynolds, founder and director of advantage SPRING and works with a range of global companies to develop internal negotiation capability through coaching and training.

Natalie's presentation was titled 'Negotiating your Journey' and she explained that good negotiation ends with both parties feeling satisfied.    Negotiation will require different approaches for different situations. Natalie likened it to putting a jacket on or taking it off - change in persona or behaviour 'who do I need to be today?'.  It's not about being liked, it will be uncomfortable, the adrenalin will be pumping, heart will be pounding, palms may be sweating.

As with anything that might be uncomfortable planning and preparation is key.  Natalie suggested we map the variables, understand the priorities, plan our move and then plan some more!  Open extreme, don't start by saying what you want exactly, allow others to negotiate - allow them to feel that they got what they wanted too.  How about a trade?  Don't just give things away...if you...then I will.....  

Natalie went on to ask if negotiation was a 'man's game'?  The quick answer is NO!  Men and women can negotiate as well as each other, but just approach it differently.  She said as women we generally don't ask!  How can you get what you want when you don't ask for it?  When we do ask, we don't aim high enough!  We don't like changing character, don't like to say no and often more effective at negotiating for others. 

Natalie ended her presentation by explaining the Gorilla Effect to us - when told it's a man's role (to negotiate) aim to do better - puff out your chest, become the alpha, like the gorilla. And, have confidence (or 'balls') to start negotiating. 

Louise Webster - Your Journey after Kids
Louise shared her story of her journey after having her children and seeing other professional women at the school gates who weren't using the skills they had after having their own children.  Louise explained how she feels passionate about bringing a woman as a whole to the workplace - becoming a parent enhances the type of person we are and the skills and talents we have as parents can be brought into the workplace e.g. wisdom, compassion etc. 

Louise set up Beyond the School Run and presented some of the opportunities this has given her, including meeting with advisors at No 10 Downing Street.  Her website gives all the information of what it is she offers.  Her plan is to inspire, connect and engage.  She advises parents to 'be the change' and encourages them to explore the opportunities around them for flexible working. 


Lynette Allen - Personal Development of Your Journey
Lynette began her presentation by telling her story - it was inspiring. A woman feeling trapped in her situation yet wanting to become someone and not knowing how to do it. Fighting despite the fear and overcoming obstacles to become the successful woman she is today.  

She asked....what are the women who are successful doing that those unsuccessful aren't? And then gave us 6 points....

1. Ask for what you want
Work out what it is you want and then ask for it. People are not mind readers.

2. Blag it!
Blagging with confidence.  You might know the answer or how to do it....say 'leave it with me' and find out.  

3. Being visible
If you are invisible and desperate to be seen, ask, put yourself forward!  Don't wait for someone to come to you and ask you to do something!

4. Trust yourself
Women who don't believe how good they are don't have trust in themselves.  We lose trust in ourselves so easily.  Lynette suggested we use our intuition, look at facial expressions, have belief in ourselves. 

5. Put yourself forward for things
We make the decision that we aren't good enough before we give others opportunity to decide. Don't write yourself off!

6. Having an idea of what you want
What do I want?  How can we aim for something if we don't know what we're aiming at?  

If someone thinks you are good enough.... Don't spend 20mins explaining why you are not!

Lynette's end statement was brilliant....."If at first you succeed try not to look surprised"

We had a delicious lunch and a good natter with like-minded people, a photo shoot in front of the ITV banner (above) and tweeting it to the large screen in the room (I'm sure we were too excited about it!!). 

My BIFM WIFM Conference Buddies
L-R: Me, Tanya Brick, Robert Cunliffe, Jason Gurd

Miss Representation - documentary & debate
"The most common way people give up their power is by believing they have none" Alice Walker

Miss Representation explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. And, how despite our achievements the worth of women is coming from how we look.  Young girls seeking an identity are learning from media that sexuality is empowerment.  
We are inspired by what we see - we need to be women of integrity in order to be seen by those who are influenced. 

The debate followed with an amazing panel made up of Anne Lennox Martin, Julie Kortens and David Emanuel.  The lovely Lucy Jeynes kept things running brilliantly and some of the main points are noted below:

• we need to collaborate with men now to go forward
• some are guilty but all are responsible
• we can recognise the issues but now all need to do our bit
• FM is not supporting buildings, it is supporting people working in buildings
• all of it starts with us
• build what you want
• keep being restless in order change - not being restless enough means only slow change
• looking after the ones we love comes first and we learn to live another day

The film can be found here if you'd like to watch it. 

Stella Creasy - The Politics of it All
Stella Creasy is the MP for Walthamstow.  She faced rape, death and bomb threats via social media following a campaign to get a woman on a UK bank note who isn't a monarch.  The reason? To celebrate one woman in society for the contribution they have made.
Stella told us of a Chinese (I think) saying "Woman hold up half the sky".

The growth of woman in senior positions has only been very very slow. There has only been a 4% increase of women in Government in the past 15 years.  Who is telling our story?  Woman are objectified. It has been proved that equal societies are more prosperous.  We (women) know we can do things.....and do them as good as men.  We can follow our dreams, work hard and achieve....anything we want.  

Stella spoke about The Bechdel Test.  It asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.  Many contemporary works fail this test of gender bias.

'The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off!' Stella Creasy

It is important to support women to participate every step of the way.  We each have the power to say what we want. We need to build our internal confidence to help fight external battles.  

Stella suggested we have rooms for women in our workplaces. Somewhere for them to organise and collaborate. An opportunity to support and cheerlead each other and also somewhere to call into question those who either consciously or sub consciously prevent women from succeeding. 

Claire Smith - Overcoming Roadblocks at Home and Away


ThClaire encouraged us to enjoy the journey rather than it always being a struggle.  She said help can come from some surprising quarters but we won't know if we don't ask.  We should be supporting each other, women supporting women.  Unrealistic roles models lead to discouragement and are disheartening.  Some success stories are too shiny - they don't tell the full story, leaving out discouragements and compromises.  We need realistic role models who have real and honest conversations.  Making the best of our gifts and talents.

"There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women" Madeleine Albright
  
In the past women went through situations which made it tough to stay afloat and survive, never mind thrive.  Claire suggested we consider that some older woman may feel resentment towards the younger generation, perhaps they think we have it easier now?  What is their story? What happened to make them into the people they are now? 

Claire shared her story with some great tales and brilliant expressions which had us laughing.  She told us how some people had told her she couldn't do what she wanted to do, they said they were telling her for her own good.  Fortunately Claire didn't let that stop her from doing what she wanted to do and challenged them to tell her why she couldn't do what she wanted to do.  So, knowing that other people are very quick to make assumptions about you she gave some advice on how to get around those roadblocks.

1. Trust your instincts
You will know when you are being patronised.  If it makes you feel uncomfortable you are right.  Don't just talk, do something

2. Be determined
Be bloody minded - dress it up, say in own words but ask 'why not?' Don't be too reasonable

3. Ask for help as necessary....but choose very wisely. Choose your allies carefully.
You can define yourself about what you say about yourself and how you say it...do it on your terms

4. Keep going with skills and qualifications
Never be too busy to go to seminar, conference etc. other people doing same as you. Same struggles, you are not alone. 


So that is an overview!  It was a brilliant day, ending with wine and canapes, and the thanks and congratulations for a superb event must go to the WIFM Committee - they did a great job, it was a professional day and run very well indeed.  Can't wait for 2014!

One of the statistics!

I started this blog as a place to get some of the rambling thoughts in my head out although most of what has been written is to do with my professional life, today’s blog is personal.

I considered for a while whether this was an appropriate blog post but sometimes the difficult subjects to talk about are the ones which we really do need to share.  People say that you should separate your work life and your home life however I’m not sure that I agree.  What happens in your personal life will have an effect on how you are at work and if we’re interested in our people then surely this is part of it – part of what makes them tick, their vulnerabilities and weaknesses as well as those things they have overcome to make them into the people they are today.  This post explains why I've not blogged for a while!  

In December 2012 it was estimated that 42% of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce. (Office for National Statistics www.ons.gov.uk).  I have just become part of the statistics – I’m getting divorced.  It still feels like I’m talking about someone else when I write those words.  I got married 17 years ago to a man I thought I would be with forever!  Yet, four months ago he told me he didn’t want to be married to me anymore and had feelings for someone else.  My world shattered, my dreams died, my hope vanished and I was completely stunned and shocked that this was happening to me.  We didn’t have a perfect marriage (who does?) but I honestly never expected this to happen.

So why write about this now?  Well, despite it being four months ago, some days it feels like it has only just happened.  People around me try to say the right thing and I know it is all meant with good intentions but it’s similar to how we can react when we see someone who has lost a loved one – you don’t know what to say for the best but want to provide some words of comfort and encouragement.  Comments such as ‘you’re better off without him’ or ‘you’ll meet someone else’ are so unhelpful – I don’t feel better off without him and I don’t particularly want to meet anyone else right now.  The most popular one, once finding out he is with someone else (who incidentally is half his age) is ‘oh, it will never last!’.  It doesn’t really matter if it lasts or not – he’s still left, he still wanted to be with her more than he wanted to be with me and the rejection and feeling of not being worth fighting for is crushing.  The range of feelings is vast – typical for dealing with loss, grief for the loss of what could have been, for the death of a dream and that doesn’t have any timeframe on it of when I should have ‘got over it’ or ‘moved on’.  I’m going through a major life change – no one to share the day to day stuff with, having half a week with my children and the other half on my own, and the clinical process of legal paperwork - a couple of signatures, a few hundred quid and in a few weeks I’ll be divorced!

I still have the odd wobble and, although they are less, they can happen quite unexpectedly.  The overwhelming feeling of guilt that I could have done more which would have prevented this, the intense loneliness and insomnia.  I miss not having someone there to talk about nonsense with – something odd I saw on the way home from work or that I bought ‘such and such’ from the shop as it was on offer – real nonsense but conversations you perhaps don’t realise you have or take for granted that suddenly there’s no one there to tell.  My sister told me I could phone her to ask her what I should have for tea but I have resisted so far!!!

I have some amazing friends and my family have been so very supportive yet, when they are all married (and I don’t have any close friends who have been through divorce with children – and I think it does make a difference) it’s very hard to feel you can ‘bother’ them.  They often tell me that I’m doing ‘really well’ – I don’t know!  I don’t really know how I should be and most times I don’t feel like I’m doing very well.  I had to take my daughter’s Brownies uniform out of the washing basket and spray it with Febreze last week because I hadn’t got around to washing it – I told a colleague thinking we’d have a bit of a giggle and a ‘nevermind, we all do that sometimes’ but she promptly told me that it wasn’t good and gave suggestions on how to run my household – that really piled on the guilt!!  I have to remind myself that I’m not a bad person, just in a bad situation right now.  I have to be patient with myself that this may take some time to overcome, that I need to give myself a break, take care of myself and despite not always understanding how I feel, allow myself to feel the way I do without worrying about what other people think.  There is no timeframe for recovering from grief. 

How can you help?  You might not know me personally and that’s fine.  These are my tips for how you could help me right now and maybe some of them will be things you can do for your own friends who may be in the a similar situation –

1.       Don’t bash the ex – yes, he’s been an arse; yes, what he has done is awful; yes, it may not last; yes, I do deserve better – BUT, these things are for me to say.  Please don’t bash him – he is still the father of my children, the man I have spent nearly half my life with and I do still care for him.

2.       Give me a hug – physical touch is good for us.

3.       You don’t need to give advice or offer answers – listening is just fine. 

4.       Still be friends with M if you want to be – I’m fine with that and I think he may just need some friends in the future!

5.       Don’t gossip – I was gutted to have people I hardly know coming up to me saying ‘I’m sorry about you and M – x told me!!!!!!!’ – that’s not your news to tell.

Why am I sharing all of this?  I think it’s important to share real life experiences.  I hope that, one day, I’ll be able to help someone who might be going through something similar to me – to stand by them and say ‘I understand’ and ‘it’s ok’.  I know that I will be ok, that this struggle is just temporary.  I know life will be different (it already is) but I will be fine.  I will be more than fine, I will thrive, I will succeed, I will be happy again.

You are what you wear.....or are you???

Formal, business, smart, smart-casual, casual......all ways of describing the type of clothes we wear!

Do the clothes we wear affect how we work?  Does it affect our influence on our customers or colleagues?  How we present ourselves.

From the little research I've done before writing this, it seems that the opinion is divided between those who think dressing for work should be smart and others who think casual is fine.  A question was posted on Twitter just recently regarding what smart-casual is and this blog post has come out of that.  There was a variety of responses.

It's an interesting subject to consider - in my office we have recently be advised that senior management in our head office have decided all the men should wear ties again (requirement for ties had been relaxed for some time, unless meeting with clients).  I had heard that some staff members (not from my office) had been away on business in a Southern Hemisphere country and had gone to visit their clients wearing shorts and t-shirts!  I have to wonder why these 'professionals' even considered this would be acceptable dress for a business meeting - never mind how hot it was!  It obviously didn't create the right first impression.

I also heard a story about a relationship manager going to meet their corporate client and turned up to their office to find all the staff in jeans and flip flops and felt it could have been the office of a well-known social media provider, rather than an office of corporate professionals managing their clients' millions of pounds!  Why did the manager feel that way? 

I had a look into what 'casual' means and came up with the following:

- being without ceremony or formalising, relaxed (casual events)
- being or seeming unconcerned or apathetic (casual attitude)
- shallow or superficial (casual affair)
- not serious or thorough, hasty and without attention to detail (casual inspection)
- without definite or serious intention, offhand (casual remark)

All seems to be negative in my opinion.  

I wonder if I'm slightly biased writing this - my own opinion is that working in a professional environment (for me it's facilities management within the finance industry) should mean we dress for that environment. Smart dress, smart mind!  Does sloppy dress mean sloppy work?  Does casual dress mean casual attitude?  That we don't work as hard?  Are we as productive wearing jeans and t-shirt as we are wearing a suit?  Do we work better if we feel comfortable in what we are wearing?

Personally, I feel better about myself if I make a little bit of an effort when I get dressed in the mornings.  Being very honest, there are very few times when I like what I see in the mirror and if I can feel confident in what I'm wearing then it helps with my confidence in the office and facing the variety of issues/dramas of daily life in facilities management!!  Something smart, high heels, hair done nicely and a bit of make up will make me feel a little more powerful.  Then there's the 'lucky pants'!  Actually I don't have lucky pants but a matching set of underwear is always a good way to start the day (however, if you ever meet me you can't ask me about it - I blush very easily!!!!!).

Let's get back to the point......perhaps there's an argument for wearing something in-between?  Smart-casual?  What about 'dress down Friday'?  I feel like I'm asking more questions rather than giving answers.  I don't think I have the answers. 

Should what we wear be a matter of personal choice?  Does it matter what our customers' think or expect?  What do we expect when we go into an establishment?  A bank or insurance office?  A hotel or restaurant?  I'm sure we all have expectations.....what are they?  Should we pay attention to our own expectations of others when we make the decision of what we are going to wear, how we portray ourselves. 

Please feel free to leave comments, giving your thoughts on this.  It would be great to have feedback!

The importance of management in FM

On Twitter recently there has been some discussion over what to call FM for the hash tag.....should it be #facilitiesmanagement or #facilitymanagement or even #facman?  Another suggestion was to forget management and just use #facilities.

It just so happened that at the end of last week I attended the quarterly training day of the BIFM's South West Region, which was held at the Bristol Hilton Hotel.  One of the speakers was the fabulous Liz Kentish (The FM Coach and deputy chair of the BIFM).  Liz's presentation focused on transformational skills and developing the leadership and management skills of facilities managers so they can be influencing and driving business rather than just supporting the facilities function.  

I think it is such an important point to remember.  Read the extract below.... I have to confess I can't remember where I got it from...(it was in an FM magazine a little while ago and I apologise to whoever wrote it for not acknowledging you - please let me know if it was you!!)

Don't get too distracted by the word "Facilities".

FM is primarily a management skill, the Facilities side is the specialisation of that skill. As a management discipline, many of the skills you could expect are commonplace in management disciplines; Communicating, negotiation, presentation, relationship management, people management, process management, resource allocation, prioritisation, etc. 

But, the Facilities part of FM is the specialisation. FM is a broad, varied & complicated discipline. Experience and knowledge give a big shortcut, but primarily I would say the skills required are practicality, tenacity, resilience, being able to work alone, good judgement, decision making, attention to detail and drive to specialise and improve your knowledge. 

No one is born knowing how the air-conditioning works (or perhaps more relevantly: why it isn't working right now), but a good FM will find out. They'll look into it, they'll ask people, they'll make their engineers explain it to them and they'll test the competency of "experts" by asking difficult questions until they are satisfied with the answers.

Let's remember that we are managing facilities services and work to develop the skills to do our jobs better.

Women in a man's world?

This could be such a long post and there's an awful lot of thoughts going round in my head!

It's interesting to me that there is such a stereotyping of roles for genders.  Most of it is just taken as 'that's just how it is'....but it doesn't have to be like that.

My two young daughters were watching a children's programme on television where a man and a lady dress up and pretend to do different jobs....this particular show had the lady dressing up as a builder...and my 4 year old made a groan of displeasure and muttered something about it being a boys job!  I don't think I've ever told her that she could be a builder if she wanted to be....the general assumption is that builders are men. 

I was invited to attend the Guernsey Women's Development Forum recently and was very interested in the topic of "female breadwinners".

I think women have a pretty clear understanding of what issues they face so perhaps it is time for the men to be involved in these presentations, for them to hear and start to understand the battles we face as women in our professions. But on the other side, what about the attitude of women...I am not a fan of generalisation and tend to avoid it if I can....... I think there should be an opportunity for men to be involved in these conversations that women have.

I also think that positions in leaderships and on boards should be given on the merits of the individual; what skills does that person have? What is their experience? Or level of expertise? What can they bring to our business and how can they help move the business forward and make improve,nets I. The areas important to us? Eg bottom line, market share, reputation etc.

I don't think it is right for it to be a competition between men and women as to who can get to the top but more so an opportunity of working together. To compliment each other. Does it matter if there isn't a woman in the leadership team or on the board? Yes and no! Depends on the reasons why. If its because the men have an attitude of the women not being up to job then that's not right but if there really isn't a woman in the organisation with the right skills or experience to offer value to the team then there's no point in having a woman in the team for the sake of it.

We're still changing the traditional mindset....how many of us grew up with the man of the house being the provider and the woman being the homemaker and childminder? Many families still work this way but I think it is changing.  I think women faced the dilemma of needing to go out to work again during the 1980s when interest rates were high and mortgages were a struggle.  It came out of necessity, women not really having much choice.  They gained a sense of independence, of achievement and could make their own financial contribution to their family.  

From this I think perhaps some of these women actually decided they liked working.....it wasn't just working because they had to, they enjoyed it, found it more purposeful and satisfying than being at home.  I'm not denying being a homemaker and looking after children isn't an important job, it certainly is and I, personally, take my hat off to those mothers who are full time careers for their families. It's a tough job!

My own experience is interesting....I have two children,one at school and one starting later this year.  Just over two years ago I went back to work full time, purely due to financial need and my husband became part time and took over the school and nursery run and after school care.  At first I hated it!  But, as time has gone on, it's been the best thing we ever did.  Financially, we manage better, I enjoy my job and fee like I'm making a career out of it and my husband is much better at looking after the girls than I am!!  He says he wouldn't want to go back to work full time now.  We are basically playing to our strengths.  We work well as a team.  I couldn't do what I do without him being there for our children.  Other people seem to have more of an issue with it than we do!  I go away on business from time to time, being away from home for a night to two; I study or work late.  It's not an issue for us but for others it is, however, if I was a man doing this job, working late, going away on business no head would turn, no second thought would be Ives...it's what men do....right?  

Perhaps now is the time to realise that women can have a career, that they can do just as well as men but lets not make it a competition, lets make it a collaboration, complimentary members of teams, of leadership, of boards.  

There's so much more I could say.....maybe that's another post sometime?