At this year’s IIDEX / Neocon Conference in Toronto, I had a chance to speak to a room full of facility and property management professionals about promoting their FM role within their organizations. In most of my discussions with facility managers, their profession doesn’t get as much recognition in their organizations as other departments or groups. It’s time that changed.
I recently delivered a workshop on Strategic Writing to a group of FM professionals. It’s the same workshop I’ve given for other Property Management and Facility Management organizations who want to elevate their ability to write well, and present a good image and influence others.
Some of the participants had the same concern that others have had related to memo’s or letters. The approach I teach is focused primarily on communicating information and influencing the reader to do what you want, whether it’s agreement, approval or to follow directions. Since the writing has a clear purpose, I teach techniques that support the purpose. Every Facility Management professional needs to know how to communicate effectively to be successful yet this soft skill is often overlooked.
To that point, here is a very relevant quote:
“The only people in the world who can change things are those who can sell ideas” – - Louis Wyse, advertising executive
Effective Facility Management is all about communications. Whether you are managing office space, maintaining building systems, developing strategic asset plans or all of the above, good communication skills are essential.
