Archive
on KPIs
Input specifications used to be the norm; we would be very specific about what we wanted and how it should be made and delivered, or performed in the case of a service. I can well remember deciding to go out and start replacing the fork lift truck (FLT) fleet at a logistics operation that I had just taken over. Having talked to the vehicle buyer they produced a spec that had been used previously; it was half an inch thick, had drawings of all sorts of components that are standard on any FLT and even had a requirement for a specific pantone colour plus three pages alone on the fleet number, font, style and positioning. Read more…
on accentuating the positive
A call asking for some free advice is a fact of life in my line of work and rarely does a week go by without one. Whether the caller gets the advice they are seeking depends on how well I know them and last week’s call was from someone I have known for a while so I was at least prepared to listen. Read more…
on health and safety as a way of life
Last week I was asked to cast an eye over a job specification for a facilities manager’s role. It was all fine stuff and typical of what you see in the modern world although, for me, too much couched in the management speak of corporate human resources. Ok, I know that they have a lot to comply with, as do all of us, but I come from a world where we were free of all of this stuff. I digress though, because my musing today is about one line in that job spec that required the successful candidate to be able to embed the organisation’s health and safety culture within their team and area of operations. Read more…
on making the most of a dodgy boss
The obvious positive that you can take from working for a poor boss is that you can see how not to do it. Learning from your own mistakes and failures is great, but watching others screw up is all very good experience and you can benefit a lot from it, but there is another, often overlooked, plus side to working for a dodgy boss. Read more…
on making an impact
Even those without too much ego tend to want to be well thought of and for anyone scrambling up the greasy pole of promotion it is an important factor. Sure you don’t want to be everyone’s pal because you have to make the tough calls, right?But what impact are you making with your style of leadership? Read more…
on cutting cost being easy; you just have to spend a little
One of the things that leaders need to do is to make space for their followers so that they can do their jobs. Keeping the flies away as one of my early mentors used to put it, although his choice of words was a little more colourful. Read more…
on the leadership advice that no-one gave me
Last week I was asked what advice I could give to someone who was about to make the move up from the shop floor to their first management position. It’s forty five years since I had my own first go at taking that step and the memories of it are still painful today. Read more…
Musings from the facilities front #3
Life is never dull as an FM; I have heard or read that so many times over the years. People expound about how great it is not knowing what you will face at work each day, but I do wonder if that is the best way to be working. Read more…
Just do it
Things that need to be done can sometimes seem hard, complicated and daunting. Finding a place to start can often be hard and as for trying to get diverse groups of people around the table, let alone to agree to anything, looks impossible. There are all sorts of platitudes that can get trotted out at times like this; the journey of a thousand paces starts with a single step, or eating the elephant one bite at a time being two of my least favourites, especially when they are trotted out by people who don’t have to do the hard jobs. Making things happen takes all sorts of things, but there is one tool that works every time. Read more…
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the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke 