Leveraging Facilities Management Technology For Leadership

The business environment has evolved tremendously over time. The tools have changed, as have the individuals that comprise our workforce and our customer base. One thing that has remained consistent, however, is the need for great leaders and the traits they must possess to guide us to the top. Empathy, eloquence, discernment, and modesty are all critical factors in determining both you and your company’s success as leaders. The Disney Institute, however, takes their definition of leadership a step further. They argue that “great leadership depends upon the actions one takes with respect to the organization’s values.” The Institute calls this “values-infused leadership” – those who “actively cultivate success by making values the foundation of their decision-making.”

“Value-infused” leaders meld their business skills with the vision and values of the company to create a workplace culture that is engaging, inspiring and innovative. They infuse these four factors into their everyday leadership style:

Proactive – Rather than allowing the workplace culture and values to evolve naturally, a proactive leader works to create a set of values that aligns with business objectives. They utilize technology to communicate with and involve the entire workforce, offering a higher level of success.

Purposeful – A purposeful leader recognizes that to remain stagnant is to limit your success. Change is a natural step in achieving success. It is the leader’s job to decide what changes are needed to move the team forward, but also the wisdom to understand what can be retained. Change without purpose is chaos.

Aligned – While healthy conflict can benefit the success of the business, a breakdown between personal and organizational values causes confusion and creates an untenable work environment. Those who wish to find long-term success align themselves with a company, and other individuals, whose values are consistent with their own.

Inclusive – We all have it within ourselves to be a leader. But leadership can be demanding and requires a consistent and strong hand to guide the ship. True leaders are not threatened by this, but rather embrace it, empowering their workforce to fight for their own successes. Through ongoing education, communication, and equipping the team with the proper tools, employees are able to tap into their own leadership skills to find organization and individual success.

The one business skill that unifies all of these leadership qualities and influences our success is communication. Our ability to effectively communicate and bring people together has, since the beginning of time, hinged on our ability to interact and relay information. Our predecessors were able to successfully relay messages through the use of homing pigeons, the telegraph, telephone and, eventually, computers. Technology has evolved by leaps and bounds since the early days, where we no longer have to rely solely on mail, phone calls, or even email anymore.

Through the use of technology such as SaaS based faciilty managemeent solutions, we now have the ability to manage business activity and share relevant information, breaking down the barriers of space and time. We can assemble the information at our fingertips to predict what the future will look like, and align imagination and creation to successfully mold our businesses into the world we envision. Equally, the values of the company can be propagated through the consistent sharing of information and ideas using communication technology, either in direct examples or simply from highlighting the actions of leadership and peers.

The Voice of the Customer: Leveraging Technology for Success

iOffice client, FaciliCorp is a facilities management consulting firm who helps their clients manage every aspect of their company. Through the use of facility management technology, also known as Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) or Facilities Management Software, and mobile applications, they have found success in streamlining and automating their processes, improved responsiveness to customer requests, and increased their ability to share real-time information with users regarding performance and daily business activity.

60% of top Executive level clients cited access to real-time information regarding performance of critical assets and services as the driving force behind their decision to invest in an iOffice solution. 84% of surveyed iOffice users improved their ability to track data and reporting by implementing facility management software at their organization.

FaciliCorp has benefited from the ease of use, flexibility, and overall functionality of our facility management modules to consistently and effectively manage their resources, improve on day-to-day management of the organization, and generate reports for presentations to top level executives. As a facility management consulting firm, they have found the unique benefit of passing along these successes to their clients in the form of space and move planning. Their ability to evolve and recognize the need for technology in the workplace has positioned the company as leaders in their field. Since investing in the facilities management technology platform, their workforce has realized an increase in productivity of 31-50% and achieved a return on their investment within the first 1-3 months. And these kind of positive advances are perfect for aligning with and promoting core values within the company.

“We are now able to quickly present (graphically) multiple options of move scenarios to present to our clients.” -Scott Carelli, Executive Project Manager, FaciliCorp

Quality leadership is rarely a fully formed trait. Even the most natural leaders are consistently assessing and strategizing how they will stay on top. Being able to see the big picture and end goals, while also focusing on more minute details, can be especially difficult. But, by using management and communicative tools effectively, which helps compile information on the numerous variables and moving parts of the organization; leaders are able to make educated decisions to ensure success. In turn, these strong, informed decisions could be aligned with the values of the organization and lead the team in the right direction.