Anticipating Client Needs

1. Anticipation of Needs

? Know your client’s business

? Think as your client should and as they think

 How does a FM anticipate their client's needs? What does it mean to anticipate their needs to raise service delivery. Well, anticipating needs according to Ringo is listening to building principals, teachers and district facility officials to problem solve, program build and strategically plan toward a common business goal by aggressively identifying areas of opportunity to be of service before those services arise or even realized. Anticipating needs from an operations perspective requires your FM teams to remain mobile, engaged and aware of the building activities and programs it delivers to the community.

As President and CEO of a Facility Management firm, I saw my #1 job as anticipating the needs of my colleagues and clients. In other words, “staying ahead.” I expect every associate/employee to stay ahead of the end-user or clients and colleagues at their work locations. This is only achieved by creating a comprehensive culture of engagement and awareness. Facility managers and their teams must first view the services the client provides its customers through their eyes, but with the knowledge and competency they have as a facility professional.

It’s mandatory to view our services through the eyes of the end- user. When firms make this an institutional practice, engaged and aware FM professionals achieve operational excellence and customers and colleagues feel valued and inspired to bring their best to the business.

Serving K-12 schools means you are in the business of educational support services. How far or how well will you drill your operations down to the end-user? Do you understand the culture of the building, management style of the principal and how the surrounding community utilizes the facility? How well are you utilizing current events and trends to help support the mission and vision of the school?

How do you support the educational mission if you are a facility professional at a specialty school, i.e., vocational school? What about a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics school? What about a PreK-5 primary school? What about a high school? What about combination school such as a K-12 or K-8?

In a PreK-5 school it is important to be proactive with compliance of licensing for any PreK classrooms. Safety compliance and regulations for PreK rooms should be checked daily and repaired often. Compliance status should be reported to school district officials on a monthly basis, whether requested or not. Facility teams should stock up on items for immediate replacement if necessary. Proper cleaning supplies for sanitizing and disinfecting areas where small children lay and crawl and emphasizing that to the frontline team as a routine practice is important. Safe and operable playground equipment is key for PreK teachers and principals. Principals want to know that the areas are safe, attractive and ready to receive students. What items are new to the market that increase access for students and decrease chance of injury?

A principal of a vocational school will not be concerned with PreK licensing and playground equipment safety. However, the operability of the ventilation system will be high on their radar due to the taxing from dust and particulate matter of construction and repair shops. Filter replacement and preventative maintenance on support systems are also crucial to your ability to provide consistent and reliable services. Vocational schools are more likely to be used during after-hours and weekends by the district and community. The district expects the facility to be as inviting and purposeful during off-hours as it is during instruction.

There are only a few things that will cause FM teams more angst than not being aware or ready to provide services for events scheduled by the district or paid for by the community. FM teams will often claim the reason they were not prepared for an event in their facility is due to not being told of the event in the first place. However, at the moment, this does not help support your client and their needs. It is more than likely to cause embarrassment for your client with their stakeholders. FM teams must diligently take all steps to proactively and repeatedly communicate or inquire about the facility’s needs.

 When preparing for events, the ability to schedule and allocate resources, both human and capital, are key. Proper staffing and building protocol knowledge, including contact numbers of appropriate staff, are key.

 Thinking as your client does is different than how you think. As a facility professional you are there as the facilities and/or technical expert. You are the trusted advisor. However, to do what is needed or in the best interest of the facility and thus the district, you must learn to think as your client does to preempt or be proactive. Facilities Management is a discipline.