FMCC President’s BLOG – April 2020

Monday, April 13th, 2020

A refreshing feature this month, and looking beyond corona

In a previous Newsletter, FMCC member Stephen Brown (Belize) took up business continuity planning. When the onset of COVID-19 was still a few weeks off in North America, growing fast in southern Europe, and intense in the region around Wuhan in China, FMCC mailed an updated challenge, “With Novel Corona Virus and COVID-19 now affecting us all, what do you wish that you could have given to your organization, your client, your colleagues, that would now make a difference?

Stephen replied that all such incidences teach, but the lessons are forgotten if not documented when recall is fresh. These accounts can be valuable to present FM as resourceful when demand organization executives and business unit leaders update preparedness later. Yes, FM may be pressed into heavy service, as in healthcare facilities, but what if demand for FM services drops sharply? Having a list of work for just such an opportunity gives FM an immediate, substantial answer when Operations and Finance ask for reason to not lay off staff. Another valuable use of a low activity interval would be to stop, get organized, review FM performance and look for opportunities to improve. Update succession planning too.

A recent experience illustrating Stephen’s first recommendation came from Dale Schuss (Canada) who noted that his real estate services company had been diligent in forming a business continuity plan to work from home in an event like the present, though they had not rehearsed the plan in actual conditions. It turned out that some important communication needs were not fully understood, especially by newer staff, resulting in problems that delayed output to clients of needlessly consumed staff time.

The complete responses of Stephen and Dale, along with several more, will appear in May-June FMJ, Electronic Edition.

This month’s feature by Daniel Goldsmith is a break from the corona virus tsunami. Daniel, an independent consultant and faculty member in the Washington DC USA area, treats the core of consultant/client communication: forming and fulfilling expectations. His article proceeds through perceptions, expectations, and engagements at just the right level to be at situational and individual, but universally applicable.  His nod to Corona virus is a nuanced and strongly consequential FM problem among several parties with different stakes where a confident course of FM consultant action is elusive in the time available. The situation could play out in several different ways. Communication is the lynch pin.

***

FMCC Elected office succession – Every year beginning in May, FMCC and the other IFMA Components elect officers, each following its succession plan. If you think that you would like to serve as an elected officer in FMCC, please contact any of the present Board members or send a note to Board Secretary Dale Schuss at secretary-fmcc@fmcc-ifma.org. In addition to administrative functions, serving on the Board of FMCC involves interesting collateral duties and brings extensive networking opportunities. Then there is, as we say in Louisiana, lagniappe, meaning something extra without cost. For Board members, that would be the satisfaction of serving your colleagues and your profession.

Board Meeting – Invitation  If you would like to join-in an FMCC Board meeting, please contact president-fmcc@fmcc-ifma.org for the link. There are usually about 15 guest spots available. Meetings take place at 2:00 PM CDT on the third Wednesday of each month except the month of World Workplace (September in 2020.)

***

New Member opportunity – If you are relatively new as a member of FMCC and would like to give an interview, please contact secretary-fmcc@fmcc-ifma.org  or president-fmcc@fmcc-ifma.org , or any FMCC Board member. Outside of the U.S., FMCC Regional Directors are available and may better appreciate your circumstances and styles of communication.

The FMCC Board welcomes comments, suggestions, and reports of error or malfunction. We keep a to-do list and rework it often. Contact webmaster-fmcc@fmcc-ifma.org or editor-newsletter@fmcc-ifma.org.

The Newsletter editors gratefully accept commentary, blogs, news, and anecdotes about your own work, projects, problems, needs, opportunities… The newsletter derives directly from the web site, so your material will appear there, in news, blog, or events.

FMCC BLOG, April 2020
David Reynolds
president-fmcc@fmcc-ifma.org
c: +1 504 481 2627