Integrated Facilities Improvement Committees

Integrated Facility Improvement (IFI) Committees

An Interdisciplinary Facilities Improvement (IFI) Committee will have a significant impact on your facility operations. The idea is that members suited better to solve the results and different issues are achieved via inclusion. Bringing together members of different disciplines in an organization will be best suited to solve issues, as well as be proactive and consistent in its operations and drive excellence to levels not previously experienced.

?IFI Committee Meetings should be monthly and occur at the same date/time. This will give your committee the consistency it needs to be productive and gather feedback on new initiatives and programs. The committee and its members all should have roles and responsibilities resembling any board or group of professionals that expect to accomplish what it sets out, and be taken seriously.

?A district or region wide Interdisciplinary Facilities Improvement Committee should have a minimum of one person from the following categories: district facility representative, company senior management, parent, principal, teacher, custodian, engineer, operations manager, and a representative from your major vendors, i.e., landscape or supplies vendor. Having these member groups represented will ensure that your planning and discussions include every intellectual perspective involved with providing comprehensive facility services.

The rationale and expectations of what each member will bring to the committee is described below. Proper selection of committee members is essential for the group to do its best work.

A district facility representative will bring the district’s perspective along with an understanding of district policies and financial resources, and appetite to pursue committee initiatives. This member visits several buildings in their daily travels and will help sell or discuss developing programs with other groups in the field, including other principals.

A company senior management member’s attendance such as the CEO, COO, Vice President and/or Director of Operations would denote the committee’s importance, and approve attendance of the hourly employees. The senior management member would approach or posit possible solutions for the group with a global or industry wide perspective. They will also bear in mind contractual, legal and financial angles that will need to be considered before due diligence, development and implementation would proceed.

A parent will be a great advocate for the committee and bring a unique stakeholder perspective. They are the end-user, and buy-in from this classification will go a long way in understanding the opportunities and obstacles facing facilities.

A principal will bring a wider perspective to the committee. Principals on average have more experience than teachers and would be able to speak to the previous effectiveness of recommended programs. Principals, like parents on the committee, will help advocate for initiatives brought forward for implementation. Having one of their colleagues with buy-in will help buffer natural skepticism. As programs are tweaked to perfection principals will help explain the process, rather than a knee-jerk reaction to be scrapped, rather than working through the obstacles of new program implementation.

A teacher will bring the impact of operational changes to their ability to instruct or directly carry out the primary mission of the district. They will be able to tell you the impact that feeding kids breakfast in their classroom will have on the flow of their day and impact on instruction. The teacher will be able to tell you how escorting children to and from lavatories will impact their schedule etc.

A custodian will bring the perspective of a team member that is responsible for executing most of the initiatives the committee will develop. Custodians on the committee should have years of experience and have worked in multiple settings to productively participate in discussions with the other member groups.

A building engineer is the residential technical expert for all buildings. The engineer, like the custodian, should have years of experience in multiple settings. The engineer also should be of the higher classification or possess certifications.

An operations manager will help provide input to the group from a frontline manager perspective. This group member’s perspective will also help tie in best practices and work flows from other school buildings when developing and implementing programs.

?A vendor representative will bring a fresh eyed perspective to the committee. The vendor is not an employee of the vendor or of the district. They do business in similar environments, and possibly could offer best practices occurring elsewhere, or how programs considered would impact their ability to serve the district.

Now we have covered who should be on the committee and why it is time to look at what roles these individuals will fill. The committee is led via a Chair and Co-Chair. Professional titles are invalid during the meetings. Every participant and their opinions are equal. There are five titles for committee members.

Committee positions and their responsibilities are as follows:

1. ? ? ? Chair

? ? ? ? ? Stop meeting

? ? ? ? ? Start meeting

? Direct the flow of the meeting

? Members is preferably a district or the vendor senior management official

2. Co-Chair:

? Run the meeting in the absence of the Chair

? Member is preferably a district or the vendor senior management official

? Provide preliminary research to substantiate proceeding on proposals

3. Recording Secretary:

· ? ? ? ? Record all substantial notes and discuss on agenda items

· ? ? ? ? Send out notes of meeting to committee members

· ? ? ? ? Take roll-call

4. Corresponding Secretary:

· ? ? ? ? Read proposals

· ? ? ? ? Receive and read all suggestions/communications

?5. Committee Members At-Large?

?So now you have the who, the why, and the what, let’s look at how the committee will conduct their business.? The committee will have a set agenda. The agenda will include approximately 8-10 items that span both a backward and forward perspective on operations. A sample agenda could resemble the following:

1. ? ? ? Meeting Open

2. ? ? ? Roll -Call

3. ? ? ? Update on Program Implementation

· ? ? ? ? Issues

· ? ? ? ? Trends

· ? ? ? ? Impact to the district

· ? ? ? ? Employee/End-User feedback to implementation and application

4. ? ? ? New Items/Business

· ? ? ? ? What?

· ? ? ? ? Why?

· ? ? ? ? When?

· ? ? ? ? Where to Pilot?

· ? ? ? ? How?

· ? ? ? ? Cost to Implement

· ? ? ? ? Timeline to Implement

· ? ? ? ? Support needed to develop and implement?

· ? ? ? ? Benefit/Impact to the district

5. ? ? ? Operational Calendar

6. ? ? ? Training Calendar

7. ? ? ? Good of the Committee

8. ? ? ? Meeting Close

??During New Business, the Secretary, through the Chair, will present ideas for discussion. After the ideas are fully presented, the floor will open, and any committee member will either express support or opposition for the ideas with an explanation.

?The committee will discuss trends and review Standard Operating Procedures before implementation and rollout. Best Practices should also be shared at the committee to solicit feedback and discuss the research presented and its impact on all aspects of the school operations.

Through the Facilities Committee suggestions are received. It is unquestioned that when employees feel heard they feel even more valued. Valued employees perform better, and results improve. With an interdisciplinary facilities committee, operations will be best explained to end-users. This is not an atmosphere for “know- it-alls”. The committee operates with a Chair and Co-Chair. Work titles are invalid and have no bearing in the meeting. Every participant and their opinions are equal. The Chair and Co-Chair take consensus for voting on items to pursue.

?One example of a plan that would arise from the Facilities Committee would be the development and implementation of a Building Operations Plan (B.O.P.) format. A B.O.P. would consolidate facilities information into a document, which is easily accessible and periodically updatable for end-users. Things like pending major repairs, filter-sizes, motor and pump types as well as bell schedule, student count, and facility staffing levels etc. This information, when requested, is usually requested at the most inopportune time.

?Plan in an electronic format accessible via a web-based app, will allow district officials and facility managers to login and answer questions before they are asked. Now how would a new IFI Committee begin to approach developing the format and retrieving the needed information completely? What information would be necessary, and which building employee would be best fit to gather, along with how would this plan be best used in applications?