Communication is one of the eleven competency areas as identified by the International Facility Management Association’s global job task analyses.
What is Communications?
- Communication is the process of creating and sending messages with the goal to influence the opinions, actions and decisions of the intended audience.
- Effective communication requires:
- Knowledge of the intended audience.
- Clarity of purpose in a message.
- Easy-to-understand language.
- Use of appropriate media.
- Feedback that confirms the purpose was achieved.
Why is Communications important?
- Helps advance the facility management agendas to the intended audiences.
- Inefficient communication could cause service delays or incorrect deliveries.
How the Communications competency helps the Facility Manager
- Increase community relations.
- Increase union or work council relations.
- Establish facility manager’s position in the organization as either a strategic player or as a traditional supporter of facility needs.
- Use the appropriate technology to gather, store and share information with all stakeholders in an effective manner.
- Communicate effectively with vendors and suppliers to ensure complete understanding of organizational and customer requirements.
Examples
- Promote facility management information and recommendations to internal stakeholders, including:
- Facility staff.
- Senior management.
- Boards of directors.
- Internal customers.
- Business units.
- Relevant partners – IT, security, human resources, etc.
- Prepare reports for external stakeholders, including:
- Public.
- Customers.
- Develop and implement a facility management communication plan that includes:
- Messages.
- Reminders.
- Vision and mission statements.
- Annual reports.
- Select the situation-appropriate media and techniques for communicating with stakeholders, including:
- Internal/external facility management website.
- Presentations.
- White papers.
- Mock-ups.
- Models.
- Webinars.
- Reports.
- Renderings.
The Competency Areas
All the 11 competency areas are:
- Technology.
- Real Estate and Property Management.
- Quality.
- Human Factors.
- Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity.
- Communication.
- Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability.
- Leadership and Strategy.
- Finance and Business.
- Project Management.
- Operations and Maintenance.
Image credit: Katarzyna Tyl from Pixabay
Kazeem Olugbade, ProFM, is a facility management professional who has extensive knowledge and skills in the subject areas.
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