Facilities management is one of the areas of management that does not specialise. It covers an array of roles that ensure the efficient running of a company.
For instance, there is a difference between facilities and property management. The latter is concerned with solely looking after the building whereas facilities management will also incorporate the management of staff within a company. Furthermore, facilities management is concerned with the services that maintain a building rather than issues regarding the ownership of the property.
Facilities Management
A facilities manager will look after the day-to-day and also think strategically for many departments with a company. They will troubleshoot when required so that improvements to less than efficient systems that have broken down can be made. It will be their role to ensure processes run seamlessly concerning the building, equipment, and staff, currently and for the foreseeable future.
The upkeep of a building will be just as important to the facilities management as staff functioning correctly and all being aware of what is expected of them to ensure the efficient running of the business. The communication between the facilities manager and everyone concerned will be of paramount importance so that every process works efficiently within the company being overseen by them.
Other Management
When it comes to other managers, they will specifically deal with one area of a business such as its property. They will then be concerned with things like leases that relate to buildings occupied. This would be a financial role in that it would be making sure that rents are collected from tenants when due. It would be, for instance, for the property manager to communicate with the facility manager in the event of problems concerning the payment of rent. So, you can say in this respect that the facilities manager is the boss of the other individual managers, whether they be property managers or from other financial or employment-based areas of the business such as HR.
Variety of Responsibilities
So, comparing facilities management with other management roles within a company is to come up with a role that is more general and overseeing. This, however, does not take away its need to know the technicalities of all the areas it is managing. So, in this regard, the facilities manager needs to manage widely yet have specialist knowledge in each of those areas to be able to manage each one effectively when called upon. Although, working strategically they should not necessarily wait to be called upon because some things are preventable and it is better to detect a problem before it becomes a serious one.
Then, apart from the variety of management roles a facility manager is required to have, there will be a decision to make about which management style to adopt to prove most effective overall. It may be necessary to fine-tune the management style differently when communicating with different managers. This is a demonstration of how versatile a facilities manager needs to be.
To summarise, the role of a facilities manager needs a broad style of management that requires a good deal of communication with those at every level. It is about managing staff and buildings. A good deal of legal and financial knowledge will stand the facilities manager in good stead, as will some good communication skills to liaise with all those required to keep services going. This is whether they be customers, clients, business associates, tradespeople, or legal representatives. It is for the facilities manager to coordinate all these services, whether their actions and solutions impact the business, staff, or both.
Although the individual managers from sections act as the first point of contact, it is the facilities manager that should be there to turn to in the event of a problem that appears difficult to solve. It will be for the facilities manager to come up with a solution. Another role of the facilities manager will be in prevention and looking ahead to what might happen that could potentially impact the efficient running of the business.
