Here I am in Edinburgh, facilitating the Professional Facilities Manager Module 2, and once again the topic has come up about how to promote FM as a profession, and as a career. My delegates this week come from so many different organisations, and not one of their roles is the…
On Wednesday night our Women in FM group was delighted to welcome Michelle Brailsford, of Jupiter Consulting, as our guest speaker. Michelle challenged and enthralled us on the topic of politics for women in the corporate world, and described how it’s about survival of the savvy. Here are her top…
“The root cause of the economic crisis wasn`t subprime mortgages; it was subprime leadership.” I want to share with you this review, from Reuters, of Bill George’s book ‘7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis’ Harvard Business School Professor and Former CEO of Medtronic Bill George Offers leaders a Path Through…
This week I attended my first AEC Network meeting – Architects, Engineers, Constructors – at The Building Centre in London. I went along because I wanted to see ‘the other side’ of the built environment. What do I mean by that? Well, many of you working in FM tell me…
So, you’re working in FM and you just happen to be a woman – so what? Are things really any different for you than they are for any man working in the same sector? Well, you tell me. Coaching both men and women in FM has led me to believe…
Gerald R. Ford said “If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and learning to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.” Public speaking is the number one skill that’s guaranteed to position you…
If you are responsible for running meetings, and aren’t quite sure how best to go about creating an effective meeting experience, here are a few key steps to successful meeting management. 1. Meet with a purpose If you ask most people, they have been to one too many meetings that…
In the final of the World Logging Championships two loggers competed to see who could fell the most timber between 8.00a.m. and 4.00p.m. They set to with attitude and seemed to chop stroke for stroke until Peter stopped at ten to 9.00. Sensing his chance Paul redoubled his efforts. At…
I heard on the news that Oprah Winfrey’s school for girls in South Africa has an oratorium. Why? It’s because she feels that leaders and influencers need to have good speaking skills. Whether you’re speaking to 1 or 100, I couldn’t agree more. Public speaking is one of the quickest…
Success in FM is about different disciplines working together in a collaborative way. To be effective, we need conversations that work. This means, we have to engage people in our conversations. Yes, but Liz, we’re busy people and we don’t have the time! It’s precisely when we don’t have the…
