Being more obvious isn't just friendlier, it actually helps us do our jobs.
When Facilities Management works well, it's invisible. Which makes us the unrecognised magicians who keep everything ticking. On the other hand, when things go wrong, then everyone has something to say about our work, and those are our moments to take charge of our narrative. Regardless, in the end we're still only being judged on how we handle emergencies. There is another way to make our contribution clearer: make the work we do more obvious.
Being more obvious isn't just friendlier, it actually helps us do our jobs.
- making us look active
- giving occupiers names and faces to interact with
- making occupiers more understanding when their issue gets deprioritised
The issues belong to the space
Being obvious is about transparency. It's about moving away from the outdated concept that issues and trouble tickets belong to facilities staff and are only visible to those who raised them. Rather, the issues belong to the space. Just like occupiers have access to certain parts of the space – the corridors, their office, etc – they also need visibility of the issues in those areas. This means that the facilities management software is a connection between facilities staff to the space and the people. And our work is out there for them to see.
...spend less time apologising and explaining...
Being prominent means that occupiers see more of the day-to-day thankless tasks of keeping the space running smoothly. The visibility of our activity also gives them insight into our operations. This gives them more confidence in us and it builds a strong relationship of trust and mutual respect. This is reinforced by our personal interactions when dealing with issues that affect them. As a result, when work gets shifted around, we spend less time apologising and less time explaining since they already know what's going on in their space.