I’m worried, says Liz Kentish, FM coach and chair of the BIFM’s Women in FM Sig. It seems to me that our sector is becoming more concerned about the effectiveness of our buildings and plant, and less concerned about our people. If we find something unexpected with, for example, a chiller unit, what do we do? Take action! Why? Because it’s critical to the running of the building. We might call in an engineer, increase the number of checks, replace a filter – we do whatever is needed to ensure the chiller unit is working effectively again. But what do we do for our people?
To help answer this question, I was asked to speak at three of the WiFM events during the last 12 months year. I presented the tools and techniques I see as sustaining your teams. So let me tell you more about the approach.
Maintaining and sustaining
Having worked in the field of occupational health for 15 years, Liz’s reference to maintaining and sustaining employees struck a chord with me.
I can recount numerous circumstances where companies genuinely felt they were focusing on their staff’s wellbeing. But with the most common cause of occupational absence being work-related stress or musculoskeletal injury there appeared to be a mismatch.
Before we investigate this further, we need to ask, what does the phrase maintaining and sustaining employees actually mean?
A frequent response from FMs is that it relates to the team culture which should encourage the health and fitness of its employees and enable them to provide the client with the high level of service expected.
This is an appropriate definition, but again, what does it mean in practice?
In simple terms, for employees to stay fit and healthy and be motivated in the workplace, there are four key factors they need to have:
- Physical energy
- Mental focus
- Emotional understanding
- A sense of drive and purpose
How many of these factors apply to you? Take our test to see how you score in these four areas (see previous page).
What does it all mean?
Your scores can be increased when you set personal goals, although the company can support you in these areas too. For example:
- Are there water machines readily available in your office?
- If you work in open plan offices, have you and your colleagues had an opportunity to discuss ways of working?
- Is the environment conducive to productive working or does your neighbour still shout down the phone trying to be heard in the southern hemisphere ?
- Do you have a clear understanding of not only your personal and team’s objectives for the year, but also an understanding of how this contributes to the company as a whole?
Having read this, you may start to identify issues that could be having an impact on personal energy levels and therefore the sustainability of your teams. You may even feel there are changes you could begin to help you address these concerns.
Some of the most common issues managers have been raising are:
- Whether they are effectively supporting their employees, both personally and professionally with the pressures exerted on them by the current recession.
- The possible increased risk of burn out rates as people are expected to do more with less resources.
- Whether the current reductions in head count will start to have an impact on the level of service to the client.
It would be easy for Liz and I to give subjective comments and advice regarding these questions; however as FMs you all know it is fatal to spend precious time and money implementing changes at work if:
- you have not carried out an appropriate risk assessment to identify your work force’s sustainability risks; and
- you do not have a system to monitor the impact of any changes implemented.
This is why, Liz concludes, we must encourage the FM professionals we work with to always follow a formalised process. This helps them understand how personal energy levels can have an impact on employee performance and how sustainable their people are.
A well-structured process also ensures managers are complying with the HSE’s management of stress at work standards and guidelines (see box above).
Have you noticed a drop in:
- your own or your team’s personal energy levels?
- your team’s performance levels? or
- client satisfaction?
Then it’s time to consider how you can look after your employees sustainability in the same way you look after your buildings and machinery. Basically, it’s essential.
THE TEST: HOW DO YOU SCORE ON PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL FACTORS?
Physical energy
- Do you sit in your chair for longer than 90 minutes without getting up and moving? Yes / No
- Do you rely on caffeine to get you through the day? Yes / No
- Do you find yourself working through the day having little time to eat nutritious food? Yes / No
Mental focus
- Do you find yourself flitting from one thing to another rather than focusing on one thing at a time? Yes / No
- Do you sit at your desk to eat your lunch? Yes / No
- Do your meetings last longer than 90 minutes? Yes / No
Emotional understanding
- Would you describe yourself as optimistic rather than pessimistic? Yes / No
- Do you feel energised when you get home and able to enjoy the evening with your friends and family?Yes / No
- Do you feel you are able to gauge other people’s mood and interact with them appropriately? Yes / No
A sense of drive and purpose
- Do you have hobbies and interests outside work that you partake in on a regular basis? Yes / No
- Do you enjoy the work that you do and feel it is of benefit to other people? Yes / No
- Have you ever thought about your personal values in life and whether you apply these to your day to day living? Yes / No
Scoring
Within areas 1 and 2:
- – Each yes scores 0 points – Each no scores 1 point
Within areas 3 and 4:
- – Each yes scores 1 point – Each no scores 0 point
How did you do?
0 – 4 Oh dear! Your personal energy management skills are in crisis. You need to take action immediately.
5 – 9 You have some personal energy management skills but there is room for improvement.
10 – 12 Congratulations! You are managing your personal energy levels efficiently.
Bethan Jones is a performance consultant at Bethan Jones Consulting. Liz Kentish a business coach at Liz Kentish Coaching
