What do you do if you need to prioritize tasks and make efficient decisions as a Facility Manager?

As a Facility Manager, I prioritize tasks by categorizing them into urgent, important, and non-critical. This system ensures that vital issues, particularly those affecting safety or critical operations, are addressed first. I also use management software to track and predict maintenance needs, helping prevent emergencies before they happen. Decision-making extends beyond immediate concerns; I evaluate the long-term impacts of my choices. For instance, opting for cost-effective solutions might save money initially but could lead to higher expenses later. Effective prioritization involves considering both immediate and future benefits to make the most informed decisions.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a good system to use to prioritise tasks. Color-coding your tasks is a tactic that can help you visualize high-priority items. As you go through your to-do list , try giving yourself four colors based on level of priority. Use the code as follows: Green = Highest priority items Yellow = Second-highest priority Blue = Third-highest priority Red = Not a priority Once you’ve labeled your tasks by color, these colors will directly translate to your Eisenhower Matrix. Your green tasks are your “do” tasks for quadrant one. Your yellow tasks are your “schedule” tasks for quadrant two. Your blue tasks are your “delegate” tasks for quadrant three, and your red tasks are your “delete” tasks for quadrant four.

I prefer to use Importance - urgency matrix, it’s so helpful in this matter. Starting by categorizing tasks, Making the analysis of each one with the relevant impacts. Then starting with the highest urgency & Importance. Keep your eyes on the least tasks DO NOT ignore them completely.

Every single day in the life of a facility manager involves prioritizing tasks to make efficient decisions. A good practice is to review and refine your to-do list three times per day (a detailed check at beginning/end of day, and a shorter review before or after lunch). Tasks can be divided into categories such as urgent (immediate), same-day, same-week, and other. Seek to delegate tasks that are best served by others. If a priority remains on the "to-do" list for more than a week or two, it likely wasn't a high priority to begin with and should be considered for delegation or outright removal.

I think assessing priority is critical. Depending on your industry, we typically try to focus on life safety and security first, along with critical equipment and any items that could impact the customers. Improvements on cosmetic repairs take a back seat to those.

As a Facility Manager, prioritizing tasks effectively starts with strategic delegation and the smart use of technology. Focus on tasks unique to your role and delegate others, empowering your team and enhancing efficiency. Embrace facility management software to track real-time progress and automate routine tasks. This not only streamlines operations but also harnesses data for informed decision-making. Regularly update your strategies based on this feedback, ensuring adaptability in managing facilities. Combining delegation with technology fosters a proactive management style, essential for modern facility management.

Strategic planning is a cornerstone of effective facility management. By planning ahead, you can anticipate potential issues and allocate resources to prevent or mitigate them. This involves regular maintenance schedules, risk assessments, and staying informed about the latest industry standards and regulations. A comprehensive plan also includes a clear understanding of your facility's operational requirements and the objectives of your organization, which will guide your decision-making

Assessment and audit of your facilities are essential in making sure that you are on top of everything. This includes scheduling your periodic services. This in turn will help in making sure all risks are recorded and the FM having the foresight of these risks and plan properly.

There is saying if you fail to plan you plan to fail, so planning is one of the most important aspect of any work, will do a detailed planning going in depth of the requirement as we say the devils lies in the detail, to understand where it is coming and then prioritize it on CRITICAL, URGENT & IMPORTANT criteria, accordingly devide your team basis on their capacity to handle the task, and deligate them the responsibility and keep a watch in their progress and let them come back with list of solutions/proposal & choose one of them seen the over all requirement of your business, and keep it continue the process till you get the desired result, use Pareto principle dedicate your 80℅ on CRITICAL & URGENT work & rest on IMPORTANT work.

A strategic plan is an outline of the direction of an organization; it outlines broad, long-term, significant plans and the methods and actions by which the organization will operate. FM organizations may generate strategic facility plans and/or facility master plans. * Strategic facility plan: is a long-term facility plan encompassing an entire portfolio of owned and/or leased space that sets strategic facility goals based on the organization’s strategic objectives. **Facility master plan, real estate master plan, or campus plan: is a detailed long- or mid-term set of specifications and schedule for implementing elements of a strategic facility plan for a particular project.

Effective task prioritization isn't just about delegation; it's about strategic task alignment based on your team's unique capabilities. Here's my approach: Conduct a thorough assessment of each member's strengths and areas for growth. Assign tasks that challenge them just beyond their current skills to foster development and engagement. This method does more than streamline tasks; it transforms routine operations into opportunities for team growth. By empowering your staff, you enhance productivity, boost morale, and build a team equipped to handle challenges proactively, ultimately making your role more effective and impactful.

Putting together a well thought out strategic plan and sharing it with your team is criticical. Assign an owner to each strategic initiative and schedule weekly one on ones. Also, I found that utilizing a CRM for everything internally and externally provides me a quick snapshot of my priorities and next actions. If I start to get distracted I revert to the tasks at hand.

Assess resource availability and allocate them wisely to tasks based on their importance and urgency. This includes manpower, equipment, and budget allocation.

To prioritize tasks and make efficient decisions as a facility manager, use techniques like the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks by urgency and importance. Focus on high-impact tasks that align with organizational goals, delegate when possible, and leverage technology for streamlined processes. Regularly assess priorities and adjust as needed to ensure optimal use of time and resources.

Empowering a team through strategic delegation is a crucial component of successful facility management. By recognising each team member’s strengths, aspirations, potential and assigning tasks accordingly, you can create a work environment that fosters collaboration, good productivity, and, above all, trust.

Within the Data Center Industry FM works across other teams with the communication workflow like Engineering, IT, Capacity and Operations. It is critical for these teams to make decisions that are not going to build in problems into their Facility or Mission Critical Data Center. I have seen the adoption of Asset Mgmt and Monitoring over the last 2 Decades and over the last few years Operators and Designers are now leveraging an integrated platform that communicate across the portfolio and teams with Digital Twin and Simulation. Now Teams can predict whats going to happen before implementing a change to make better enginnering decisions. Automate, Integarate + Know with the Data-Driven Decisions that our Data Center Community is embracing.

As a Facility Manager, embracing technology is transformative, not just a trend. Implementing Facility Management Software (FMS) is key. It offers a comprehensive platform for managing assets, tracking work orders, and analyzing data. This integration allows me to see beyond daily operations and anticipate future needs. With FMS, I gain valuable insights often hidden in paperwork or communication gaps. It ensures that my team is aligned, enhancing our decision-making process. Leveraging this technology doesn't only facilitate operations; it strategically enhances them, making decision-making quicker and more effective.

Implement facility management software or tools to streamline processes, track tasks, and monitor performance, helping you make informed decisions and prioritize effectively.

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) uses automated technology to assist with the effective and efficient management of maintenance activities. It generally includes elements such as equipment and inventory management, computerized work orders and applications for scheduling planned maintenance tasks as well as numerous other features. In general terms, a computer-aided facility management (CAFM) system may incorporate the functionality of CMMS and add special or geographic information system (GIS) applications. GIS provides a way to reference or map assets and processes relative to location.

"You can't manage what you can't measure” Monitoring planned tasks versus actual progress is vital for ensuring goals are met. Identifying risks early allows for proactive issue resolution. You need to keep an eye on how things are going to stay on track. Checking what you planned to do against what's actually happening helps you reach your goals. And if there are any problems, spotting them early means you can fix them before they get worse.

Effective prioritization hinges on strategic delegation and leveraging technology. Identify tasks unique to your role and delegate others, empowering your team and freeing your focus for critical decisions. Use facility management software to monitor real-time progress and automate routine tasks. This technology not only streamlines operations but also provides data insights for smarter decisions. Regularly adjust your strategies based on this data to maintain adaptability in managing facilities. Combining delegation with technological tools enables a proactive approach to facility management.

Regularly monitor the progress of ongoing tasks and projects. Maintain open lines of communication with your team and contractors. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) and use performance metrics to gauge progress. This allows you to identify any bottlenecks, make necessary adjustments, and ensure tasks are completed within defined timelines.

A typical prioritization approach is to assess the situation and identify the scope, urgency, and impact of each task. The 5 Ds are: Do, Diminish, Delegate, Defer, and Delete. Seek to eliminate tasks that are not legitimate since they often detract from monitoring small issues. Stakeholders often become less cooperative on assisting to resolve larger issues when seemingly small and minor problems are not actioned.

I agree, continuous monitoring of any task assigned is the key to success or it increases the chances of getting good results

As a Facility Manager, prioritize tasks by automating processes, customizing operations, and using a systematic approach. Build a talented team, stay adaptable, and advocate for your profession.

In my experience nothing beats empowering your team, prioritizing tasks, communication and delegating. Prioritize tasks by categorizing them - Top Priority and non crucial. Strategic planning done by a team and not an individual also goes a long way.

A reflexao sobre a realiza??o de tarefas de manuten??o realizadas é muito importante, pois além da retrospectiva intrinseca sobre tudo aquilo que foi pensado, planeado, programado, realizado, ate ao resultado pretendido, todas estas fases nem sempre correm de forma desejada, sendo que a reflex?o leva-nos a retroceder e corrigir certos metodos e praticas de manute manuten??o, que todo o gestor de manuten?ao tem que estar atento, disponivel e proativo. Certas práticas de planeamentos de manuten?ao sao influenciadas por fatores externos, o que, tambem a reflex?o é algo importante pois, todo o gestor de manuten?ao devera desenvolver esfor?os e competências para criar alternativas. Todo o gestor de manuten?ao é pois um refletor.

Addition to the above mentioned, to properly prioritize your tasks, make a list of everything you need to do and then assign a score based on importance and due date. Another option is to use the ABCDE approach, which involves assigning a letter to each task based on its priority. "A" for things that are absolutely necessary to do which is affecting the operations and occupants comfort. "B" for less critical but nonetheless significant activities. "C" for delightful but not essential jobs. "D" stands for assignable tasks on the specific period. "E" for tasks that are able to be dropped until further notice.

From my experience Use a Priority Matrix: Create a priority matrix or grid to categorize tasks based on their urgency and importance. This helps you visually identify high-priority tasks that require immediate attention and those that can be addressed later.Delegate Appropriately: Identify tasks that can be delegated to team members based on their skills and availability. Delegating tasks effectively frees up your time to focus on more critical responsibilities while empowering your team to take ownership of their work.Utilize Technology: Implement facility management software or tools to streamline processes, track tasks, and prioritize maintenance activities.

Perform criticality assessment for the facility assets, locations and systems to determine which of these are critical to the facility operations and safety. From this assessment you can generate the facility priority matrix so you can effectively manage your work and tasks accordingly to a solid prioritization. One of the most important aspects in the tasks prioritizing in any facility is the safety. If any task is related to the health, safety and environment it must be the highest priority and the most critical to the facility operation. A good dashboard of a CAFM software can be setup to track the tasks with their priority and monitor the responses.

Highlight highlight highlight !!! What best you need to do is highlight tasks based on importance. If you highlight your task when prioritizing tasks helps you as facility manager to know which comes best, first or which task should come last. Write them down, list as many as you can. from experience, the tasks I list down are most re-sorted as critical task and attended to in that order. This is pertinent if you want to be a good FM. This process has helped me in prioritizing tasks.

- ?? Prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance. - ? Set deadlines to create a sense of urgency. - ?? Use data to inform decision-making processes. - ?? Delegate tasks to appropriate team members. - ?? Focus on tasks that align with organizational goals. - ?? Utilize tools and technology for efficiency. - ?? Make decisions swiftly but thoughtfully. - ?? Continuously evaluate and adjust priorities as needed. - ?? Communicate priorities clearly to the team. - ?? Celebrate achievements and milestones along the way.