3 Harmonious Habits for Facility Management and HR

With the New Year comes a new set of goals, both personal and professional. That’s why we wanted to start the year with a series of New Year’s Resolutions for 2014 that will have you both healthier and happier in the workplace at the same time.

3 Habits for Facility Management and HR

In today’s installment, we take a look at three goals facility managers can set to maintain a more harmonious relationship with their HR department in 2014!

1. Be A Team Leader!

In your profession as a facility manager, consider yourself part of a team, all working towards the same common goals. In reaching these goals, you will need to work closely with HR as well as IT. And since each of these roles are crucial to your success, maintaining a healthy relationship should be your #1 goal.

Building a strong relationship, one where everyone works as a well-oiled machine, requires both communication and attention to detail. At the beginning of the year, call a meeting with leadership from both facility management and HR. Discuss your objectives, mapping out an organized plan in which each goal can be met with ease. Consult with the team as to what has both worked or not worked in the previous months, taking everything into consideration when mapping out the plan for the coming year. Be sure to encourage everyone to contribute, as each member has a stake in these goals.

Contemplate your commonalities — for example, if an employee is moving departments and needs a new workspace, what is the most organic solution? Here are some other things to think about:

• Are your human resource and facility management software integrating in real time?
• What can HR do to help facility managers more efficiently allocate employees throughout a commercial space?
• What can facility managers do to help HR strengthen or enforce policy, improve training, etc.?

While meeting, take note of your shared goals to assist in putting the right people in the right places in order to create a healthier, more organized workforce.

Resolution: Take pro-active steps to let HR know you are available. Remember they’re your teammates and it’s your job to lead the team.

2. You Can’t Facilitate if You Don’t Communicate!

As with any relationship, whether personal or professional, communication is key. Be sure your colleagues know that you have an “open door” policy. Remember, communication is a two-way street and, when you are listening, your teammates are more apt to reciprocate.

With keeping the line of communication open at all times being a key to success, we turn to our techno world for assistance. Establish the most effective, as well as preferred, means of communication amongst your colleagues. Since a majority of your personnel are likely to be a part of the mobilized world, consider your mobile options, integrating smart-phone compatible facility management software into your communication options. By ensuring all software meets the organization’s professional needs, as well as on-the-go access, an efficient line of communication is always open.

Resolution: Step up your communication game in 2014. Be sure you have the tools in place to streamline your internal interactions, both behind the desk and on the go!

3. Bring Your Best Self to Work

When we walk into the office every morning, we bring our thoughts, feelings and energy along with us. That is to be expected, as we are all human beings with lives that extend beyond the workplace. But your outlook doesn’t just affect your own job performance — it impacts everyone around you as well.

So this year, make an effort to bring your best self into work each day. Take responsibility for the energy and attitude that you project. If you view each interaction with a coworker, supervisor, colleague, or employee as an opportunity to improve that person’s outlook on the workday, you will be amazed at what a difference you can make all on your own.

While this may seem obvious, we often lose sight of this when we are going through something difficult, personally or professionally. Decide today to adopt a positive outlook and observe the impact it has on those around you!

Resolution: Present the best of you and what you have to offer! Whatever steps you can take to feel happier and more refreshed in the New Year — whether it’s getting more sleep, taking more time for yourself, or burning off those extra holiday pounds — take them! Great attitudes are contagious.

Great leaders often have similar traits which revolve around being charismatic, eloquent to effect and confident in their ability. While we may not all be graced with such positive attributes, there are multiple actions that you can implement for this, or any, new year that will help develop those coveted leadership skills. These three key points we have discussed above are great building blocks for future success, as well as refinement pieces for continued exceptionality.