Have Your Say in the annual Member’s FMCC Survey

Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

The membership of IFMA’s Facility Management Consultants Council (FMCC) are presented the opportunity to shape the organization activities – even more so than the recent voting and electing of Board members. The annual Membership Engagement Survey is open.

As a member, you received an email July 27th with the link to the FMCC survey which is open until August 31st. Please read the email and click to link to complete the survey and contribute to your IFMA Council.

Voting for the Board involves decision on who you will entrust to represent FMCC interests to sustain the Council, represent the Council within the parent organization (IFMA), and to broadly and wisely represent the interests of the diverse rank of members. The very makeup of the Board is structured to ensure continuity and to maintain a course that fulfills the Council goals. We elected the Board to represent our collective interests. We acted for the common good. But the survey is a chance to make it personal…

One could make a position that it is your ‘duty’ or your responsibility to complete and submit the survey responses. It is!! …because membership can be viewed to have two ‘costs’.

You pay the annual fee for the rights and privileges afforded by membership. This is fairly unremarkable. Your effort is not significant – just to authorize an additional fee to be paid when your IFMA membership is processed.

The is also a more personal aspect to being a member.

You invest a measure of your personal time, efforts, thoughts, creativity, research, and labor to FMCC. Although, this is generally not for purely altruistic motives, the investment can pay personal dividends .

Rationale for Investing…

Consider the most simple base motive. One makes investment with a goal for a positive return – for growth of the resource. You do not put money in an investment vehicle (bank savings, real estate, stocks, etc.) with a plan to lose value. No, you make the investment to realize appreciation of capital or for a dividend to be paid later.

With reference to item #2 above, your FMCC investment is made to realize dividends, such as:

Knowledge
Networking with other professionals
Developing Business Contacts and opportunities

Did you notice that the three items just happen to represent the FMCC Three Pillars of Service? The Council was established and is maintained to help meet your business self-interests.

To be clear, I am certainly not making a position that we are so selfish that our only reason to be engaged with FMCC is to increase profit. I am only pointing out that we are appropriately business- oriented and we take decisions in the best interests of our respective enterprises.

A Rationale for the Survey…

In 1972, Social Psychologist Irving Janis first referenced the phrase Groupthink to describe the phenomenon in which people strive for consensus in a group setting. As described by Janis, people set aside their own beliefs or they will adopt the shared opinion of the collective to maintain harmony and avoid disrupting the uniform position of the crowd. It is most common with cohesive units.

In a worst-case scenario, Groupthink can be a huge risk if it exists in the extreme and is not managed. But in a balanced scenario, it is beneficial that when working with a larger group, it can facilitate them to make decisions, complete tasks and be more efficient with projects.

Among the Groupthink disadvantages is the potential to suppress the individual inputs. This impacts the minority interests and serves to diminish the value of being a part of the group.

So the Board has commissioned the distribution of the Member Engagement Survey to ENSURE that all members have the opportunity to make their own observations, share opinions, and be provided the personal input to promote their agenda.

Generous Participation…

Again in reference to the items cited above in ‘costs’ of membership. There are better words for positive values in #2. These are found in the contributions or donations you can have opportunity to make as an FMCC member. These also pay dividends…

A White Paper you author can inform and enlighten less-experienced persons.
An article to which you contribute can help someone with a needed solution.
Your activities can set an example – an informal mentor to display ethics, business acumen, or selfless sharing.

Maybe these dividends are personal…to build your self-esteem, your pride, or to show thanks by ‘giving back’ to the FM Industry that has supported you. What matters is that you are the beneficiary of the dividend.

Take Action!! / Complete the Survey…

It will only take about 10 minutes to complete the Survey. Why wait?

Take the time right now and give your opinions and input. The power is in your hands…

If you didn’t receive the email or For other FMCC membership information, contact Stephen Brown SLB@FM-adviso.com