As a facility manager, you may sometimes feel more like a taskmaster than a leader. You are faced with a revolving door of to-do’s and rarely a moment to reorient the big picture. After all, “first things first” is the common mantra when it comes to management. But, as a facility manager you are ultimately in charge of the direction of your maintenance programs. You have the capability to change and become a true leader within your facility with a little help.
Leadership is fundamentally about improving your facility from within. There are two ways in which leaders achieve this goal, both of which are effective for facility managers:
The empowerment-driven approach.
A substantial number of highly effective leaders get to their positions because they are exceptional resources for the rest of their teams. Rather than directing and micromanaging, these leaders empower their teams to make decisions based on a clear objective and ample support given by the leadership. This takes the burden of being taskmaster off your shoulders, as your team can better solve problems on their own and take direction on projects you assign.
The mission-driven approach.
This is the more difficult approach to leadership because it requires you to not only come up with a mission and vision for your facility but also be the driving force behind that mission. The mission-driven approach is a lead-by-example approach and is more hands-on than an empowerment-driven approach. However, by becoming more involved at the hands-on level and exemplifying the values of your department, you can unite your maintenance team under a common goal.
Leaders can use these two styles under different circumstances to inspire and empower their maintenance teams. This is the approach we take at MaintenX with our immense subcontractor network, and with it, we are able to achieve a higher level of service and enthusiasm with every member of our team.
To learn more about effective facility management for businesses of all sizes, visit our resource center.
