SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/442256
www.stma.org January 2015 | SportsTurf 39 pected emergencies. You must know how to prioritize. This is often a conflict for new facilities managers because their pas- sion for pleasing everyone gets in the way. Keep the big picture in mind; know what is best for the organization. Never say no, always give options even if it is about money to get the project or work done. A life or death emergency will always take priority regardless of the project's prior- ity. The word "no" should only be in your vocabulary if what you are being asked is unethical, immoral or illegal. Know what is critical for your organization. So what do you need to become to be a successful facilities manager? A collabora- tive, juggling psychologist who can handle many different items in the air at the same time while keeping an eye on the objec- tive. Happy juggling! Mike Andresen, CsFM Manager of Facilities & Grounds Iowa State University Mike Tarantino is a brilliant manager and a good friend to many of us; his wisdom on leadership is rock solid. Because of this I'll try to offer tidbits of advice differ- ent than his. When my position shifted to include facilities management I was apprehensive due to the fact I knew little about mechanical systems. But it became obvious very quickly that successfully making this shift depended on people management skills more than mechanical skills or mechanical systems knowledge. I concur wholeheartedly with Mike's point on developing your team. Facilities management means you now lead crews in differing disciplines, each of which has a culture and a collective vision. Your role now is to identify and leverage strengths of each unit you supervise and find a way to blend them into a team that has clear understanding of your chief administra- tor's vision. We're all motivated to produce. We also have a need to feel appreciated. Your role now is to package the vision so it challenges each staff person. Great employ- ees will rise to the top and become leaders in defining your workplace culture. The better we lead the less we need to supervise. Mike writes of being a juggler. The analogy I use here is "keep the plates spinning." Those familiar with the old "Ed Sullivan Show" may remember an act where someone frantically worked to keep dinner plates spinning on dozens of long sticks. In the end, plates would crash to the floor as the entertainer was unable to keep them all simultaneously spinning. As we attempt to keep event management, custodial services, construction, renova- tion, field or facility management plates (or priorities) spinning, one of those enti- ties inevitably falls or get trumped by one or more of the other entities. A common example is having an external event on our soccer field or in our coliseum. Hosting this may be critical to enhancing our department's public image but it will at the very least cause our field crew or facilities crews to work extra hours, probably doing tasks that have nothing to do with our intercollegiate teams. We've all watched non-sporting events come in and compromise work we've done on playing surfaces. Be transparent as a facilities man- ager and illustrate to your team how the department benefits from events like these. Also realize there will be instances when you're left scratching your head, question- ing the true value of some events you host. Your challenge is to be a team player and continue striving to become important in scheduling and programming, rather than being the grumpy turf manager saying "no" to every idea. Every workplace has a culture. Our jobs depend on the public spending discretionary income enjoying themselves in our venues so make yours an embracing culture. Minor league baseball team owner Mike Veeck wrote a wonderful book titled "Fun is Good." I highly encour- age you to read it. It's also a fact that as hard as you work to get each person on your team to buy in to a vision, you'll have employees who resist. This is a fact of life for facilities man- agers. Every employee has motivations that drive them at work, and to succeed Continued on page 47