Facilities managers need to improve their people skills if they want to meet the constantly- changing expectations placed upon them by their organisations. This usually means delivering more in less time, with fewer resources, to much higher quality standards and to increasingly limited budgets. The effective application of management tools and techniques is no longer adequate on its own in this new working environment. All work gets done with the help of, and through, people. When things go wrong, this can often be traced back to people issues. It is essential that FMs develop their people skills. They struggle to deliver excellent work because they have not been trained adequately to equip themselves with appropriate competences and behaviours to successfully manage people at work. So let us take a look at some of the key behaviours which can help facilities managers to close this gap and improve how they deal with, and manage the people in, their fast-paced working environments. This is all based on my personal experience, having managed large teams of people in the UK and abroad over the last 30 years, and some academic research I carried out more recently.
Behavioural characteristics
You need to be genuine, open and honest with others. Show authentic concern for others that is based on true feelings and not invented ones. Apply only behaviours that come naturally to you, not forced or artificial ones. Put these behaviours into regular practice so that others get used to them and can learn for themselves that you are an authentic person worthy of their trust. Observe the behaviour of people in your team and try to understand why people behave the way they do. This will give you some important information that will help you to understand what others are like, what they value and what they believe in. This will help when you come to think about ways of approaching people to discuss sensitive issues arising from their work. Approaching people in a sensitive way will build trust and go a long way towards establishing a genuine rapport. Your behaviour is public and observable: others will see if you actually do what you say you are going to do and judge you accordingly.
Leading others
Adopt leadership behaviours according to the people you are managing in your team. It is sometimes more appropriate not to be too authoritarian if you want to get the most out of your team – for example, during feasibility or planning phases when you want to encourage the team to generate a number of options. People can feel quite intimidated by authoritarian behaviour and they might react by being overcautious and guarded. But it is sometimes necessary to apply more assertive, firm or demanding behaviours depending on the attitudes and characters of your team members. Being in charge of the facilities team, you must make the final decisions at times when all discussions have been exhausted and the team still has differing views of what should be done. This is particularly important when managing temporary or contract staff. It appears that such staff often have a different attitude towards the company they work for and the people they work with than their permanently-employed colleagues. They have different goals and objectives. As a facilities manager you must lead these temporary staff in such as to inspire respect for what you are and what you are trying to do. You must influence them through your leadership style and approach so they will give their best for your company and for you, irrespective of what other motives they may have to work such as money and personal gains.
Influencing others
You cannot change others. What you can hope to do is to try and influence them in such a way as to bring them to see the benefits of a change of attitude or behaviour. Share with others your experience of what it feels like to work in a highly successful or valued team so that they adopt behaviours which are associated with success. Develop an understanding of which buttons to push with people to genuinely influence them. The key word here is genuine. People are generally quite perceptive and they will find out very quickly if you have concealed motives or if you are trying to use them as a means to an end. Such an approach will damage your working relationship with people and, as a result, they will not trust you in the future. There is no harm in selling people the benefits of a change in behaviour, but you need to manage this carefully, with openness and honesty.
Authentizotic behaviour
Authentizotic is a hybrid concept. It denotes, on the one hand, a workplace or behaviour which is genuine and, on the other, a workplace or behaviour which takes account of what is important to others. To cultivate authentizotic behaviour, you need to develop an understanding of what makes the other person tick and what it is that is important to them. Show genuine concern and feeling for the needs of others. Make people feel good about work, themselves, other team members and the work they do. Help people to understand more about their strengths and weaknesses and limitations, and prevent them from engaging in self-destructive activities. This can be done by giving regular compliments, genuinely and from your heart.
Tell people regularly that they work and that you value them as a member of your team. Concentrate on the times when people do things right. This develops ‘repeat behaviours’ because people feel good about themselves when they do things well and when this is openly acknowledged. Tune into people’s emotional needs; instil a sense of belonging, pride and confidence in everything they do; and demonstrate empathy and support for team members.
Conflict management
Establish the root causes of the conflict by talking to others openly and honestly to find out the real reason why the conflict has arisen. Concentrate on the work issues and do not get personal. Be tolerant and open to compromise. Create environments which encourage the rational and objective exchange of information. Observe the behaviours of your team members so you can detect conflict early; then take immediate action to stop the conflict from developing into something much bigger.
Sometimes it is a good idea to create a ‘war room’ for managing conflicts — a neutral ground where you can resolve conflicts more effectively. People conflicts are not easy to manage and can take time and effort. Do not shy away and tell yourself that things will get better on their own — they won’t. A good approach is to view conflict as an opportunity to better find out what your team members really think and how they feel about you and their work in general. Encourage people to speak their mind freely but don’t allow disrespect to develop and don’t allow the discussion to become personal. Often conflicts arise because people have different views, values and beliefs. Conflict does not necessarily mean that one person is right and the other person is wrong.
|
|
It is important how you approach people and how you say things to them. The tone of voice, the words you use and your body language play an important role in this. Do not act aggressively, raise your voice or choose words that may offend others. They will probably react in the same way and then things will get out of hand. Good preparation is crucial in all of this; willingness to compromise with, and show respect to, others is a must too.
Dr Eddie Fisher FBIFM has over 25 years of both practical and academic experience in managing facilities, project and programme management teams
