Posts Tagged ‘writing’

5 Ways to Develop Better Procedures and Practices for Facilities Management

While I deal with many Facilities clients who have little if any documented processes, policies and procedures, simply writing detailed documents isn’t the answer.

Having them will definitely improve results, improve consistency, enable training and cross-training, make it easier for someone to fill in for an absence and provide a means of explaining / defending your approach to many controversial or unpopular policies. When doing operational reviews for clients, not having documented procedures is one of the biggest issues I find.

Unfortunately, if they are long and difficult to follow, they won’t achieve these results, they will only absorb your time and take up space.

Posted by Michel Theriault May 16, 2010

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Make Your Memos Hit The Mark – Featured Article in Buildings Magazine

I’m very happy that my article “Make Your Memos Hit The Mark” is the cover article for the January issue of Buildings Magazine. This is a great US based magazine for both Facilities Managers and Building Managers.

While it’s nice to have your ideas and concepts features by a magazine like Buildings, I’m glad that Buildings is putting focus on the non-technical skills in the industry.

Posted by Michel Theriault Jan 27, 2010

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Communication Skills for FM : Not English 101

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

Posted by Michel Theriault Oct 25, 2009

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Write Persuasive Proposals

Whether you are a facility manager, property manager or a supplier, writing RFP’s, writing responses to RFP’s and evaluating them is an important part of the supplier / client relationship.

Suppliers can do their clients a favor by writing better proposals that are easier to evaluate, provide the info they need and let them differentiate you from your competition. Writing proposals is tough, but with the right techniques, you can improve your success.

This 1 day workshop is being made available to the public for the first time through Conestoga College’s School of Business continuing education in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The Workshop is based on the upcoming book “Win More Business … Write Better Proposals”.

Posted by Michel Theriault Aug 15, 2009

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Procuring FM Services – Are You Asking The Right Questions?

There is a simple mistake many Facility Managers (or their procurement departments) make when writing the Request For Proposal (RFP) questions for FM services. I’ve seen it time and time again, having written my share of proposal responses both for past employers and for some consulting clients, assessed procurement practices, procured FM services and helped FM clients with their evaluation process for their own procurement initiatives. As you can see, I have lots of experience with RFP questions, both good and bad.