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 As
a facility manager, one must be aware of the multiple disciplines, traits
and behaviors we aspire to and achieve. A facility manager must be one who
is a team player; one who is flexible, reliable, honest, ethical, proactive,
confident, professional, articulate, organized and creative; and one who has
a sense of humor (I’m working on that one — smile), and is results-oriented.
To that end, he or she must perform administrative functions such as
managing human resources and financial systems, box office operations,
managing media relations, and directing the sales force and marketing
strategies, along with the front and back of house operations, overseeing
the food and beverage operations, administering customer service and
participating in professional development.
When you look at all of these things you can’t help but wonder if you can
truly be all of these things. And the answer is yes — but not alone. I
believe that the one true test of a good manager is one who can recognize
talents and abilities in others and use those skills and abilities to
achieve the goals and objectives at hand.
Community Ownership
The facility manager must be all too aware that he is a part of his
community. He is not merely an operator within it, but a part of the fabric
of it. He must take ownership of the community where he works and lives.
As part of IAAM senior leadership, I meet not only with those to further
IAAM’s goals and mission but that of my community as well. Being involved
with IAAM bestows pride and honor to the citizens of my community, and they
feel proud to know we are hard at work for them.
Changing Society
The facility manager must be aware of changing times and trends in our
society. I would like to take you back and look at several of these societal
changes to see the effects some of these have had on us, and the impact they
have had on the public assembly industry. The most obvious is customer
service. As we moved from an industrialized nation to a service nation, this
paradigm produced a social change, particularly among men and their
behavior. It forced men out of their natural, rather humble elements into
the mainstream. Men were not as outgoing as they are in modern times.
 In
the service economy, where “people serving people” — which is where we are
today — men are required to be more outspoken in order to service people.
Add a quality customer care component to that, where employees are mandated
to service the customer at all costs (the-customer-is-never-wrong approach),
and it can be overwhelming. Thus two things have happened: We are forced to
smile and be on our best behavior while at work, and we must communicate
more with the customer than ever before. This service shift had a dramatic
effect on the way we service customers and will continue to service
customers in the future.
Yes, the facility manager must be a psychologist, and thus he must train his
staff to deal with these societal and psychological issues in the public
assembly industry. But he or she is also a business leader. Ensuring a
healthy and sound business is the ultimate goal of any facility manager’s
job. Applied knowledge, good human skills and/or strategy planning is not
enough if the profits are not there.
As part of the IAAM family, I encourage you to continue your professional
and personal development, and at the same time, give back to your staff,
community and family.
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Larry
Perkins, CFE, CPP, CMP
IAAM President
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