Attaining a sustainable built environment requires Facilities Leaders NOT Facilities Managers.
#1. Managers focus upon goals; leaders grow their people and perfect their systems.
Repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build project fail due to poor systems and rarely due to the people doing the work.
Leaders leverage systems-thinking and are process-oriented. Focus is on the daily habits, routines, cultures, and actions that lead to success. They understand that people and robust systems dictate outcomes.
Managers tend to focus upon individual details without paying as much attention to the processes, systems, and strategies needed to consistently achieve optimal outcomes.
#2. Leaders focus upon importance, managers are reactionary.
Managers are stuck on on tasks that appear urgent but are not important.
Leaders expended resources that enable them to concentrate on tasks that are important and build towards long-term success.
#3. Leaders see road maps to success, managers see paperwork.
Time, objective, current actionable information is critical to any project. Without it, production, flow, and knowing what will happen and when is impossible.
Managers complain about documentation, especially allocating the time and resources to develop a detailed, well communicated Scope of Work including local market granular material, equipment, and labor requirements. Leaders understand the need to quantify what planned and what is being built.
#4. Leaders set and enforce standards; managers work without them.
Leaders set clear methods and means for how things should be done and deploy processes to ensure everyone is on board.
Leaders are accountable are all internal and external supporting teams.
#5. Leaders listen and learn, manages enable the ‘status quo’.
Unhealthy relationships are due to difficult people, but rather misunderstanding of our differences, our inability to easily change.
Leaders make a serious effort to see things from someone else’s point of view. They respect their differences and adjust their approach accordingly.
#6. Managers focus on dates, while leaders focus all aspects of production.
Who does what by when, is irrelevant if the details of how things get done are not fully considered. Leaders fully appreciate how work happens, the “flow” of production activities, and implement the right systems to deal with variances.
#7. Leaders plans carefully and execute quickly. Managers speed through the planning process.
Rushing through the planning phase is the fastest way to errors, cost overruns, and rework. Managers tend to minimize planning are forced to engage in inefficient reactive tasks.
#8. Leaders listen to and value those doing the work. Managers do the opposite.
Amateurs undervalue trade partners. While leaders know that the value of developing strong relationships with skilled trade partners, managers tend to abuse them. Leaders provide support, express appreciation, and learn from those actually doing the work.
#9. Managers focus upon command & control, while leaders gain trust and alignment through communication.
Building the vision of a shared, mutually beneficial outcome drives creativity, passion, and commitment. It is the compelling direction and vision that connects everyone’s work to a larger purpose.
Managers tend to focus on maximizing the performance of individual’s, resulting in unanticipated conflicts with mission goals and other team players.
#10. Leaders focus upon people, while managers focus upon skills.
While technical skills certainly matter, communication, problem-solving, collaborative leadership, and critical thinking cannot be overlooked.
via 4bt.us