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knowledge builders knowledge builders APPA BOK: General Administration and Management By Jack Hug, APPA Fellow "If you don't understand people, you don't understand the Facilities Management profession." I magine that you are faced with intense budget pressures and have been asked to focus on the facilities management department cost structure, which is predominately related to people costs. You consider the alternatives-layoffs, furloughs, cutbacks in travel, reduction in training and development, hiring freezes, pay cuts, reduced overtime, changes in work shifts, and so on. At the same time you think about the challenges—loss of employee morale, loss of talent, and quite possibly a snowballing effect resulting in poor service productivity and performance. With little to guide the decisionmaking process, you are unsure what to do and risk making a short-term decision that will have lasting negative impact on the organizations capabilities to perform. Is there a way to reduce costs and maintain organizational performance? So far, credible solutions to such challenges are hard to come by. Your plan must consider that change is inevitable, communication skills will be crucial, and you leadership talent will be put to the highest test yet. APPA BOK (Body of Knowledge): Leadership and Administration This section of the BOK contains chapters that are timeless and most relevant for the changing requirements faced by the facilities professional. 50 | july/august 2013 | Facilities Manager Change Management, Communication, and Leadership, all have one thing in common: people! The authors for these chapters make the case for our need to understand the human capital that we have been charged to steward and independently recognize the critical importance of the role of people in building organizational capacity and capabilities. Let me connect the dots for you. www.appa.org/bok In introducing the chapter Change Management, author John Morris writes that "failing to change with the times and new demands will doom the facilities department to mediocrity. To achieve the world-class service that many of us strive for, we must be willing to embrace change and prepare our organizations to do the same. The true challenge of organizational change lies not in the mechanics of making change, but in addressing the cultural norms that define the current organization. It is important to estimate what impact a change likely will have on employee behavior patterns, work processes, technological requirements, and motivation. Change will affect the individuals within the organization." In the chapter Communication, Bob Hascall and Karen M. Salisbury establish communication as not just a core leadership skill, but also "an essential ingredient for leadership success…Effective communication includes speaking, writing, listening, and ensuring congruency between your words and actions." Bob and Karen reminds us that "we speak multiple times each day, so it's crucial that our message, information, thoughts, and ideas are transmitted in a way that is understood by all listeners and that information is communicated in a caring and honest way. It is important to communicate with listeners in a way that achieves the desired outcome that is, to acknowledge, convince, motivate, or persuade the listeners." With the reference in this chapter to the book Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, the authors outline seven tools that can lead to profitable conversations. These tools serve as a good reminder on the importance of careful practice of communication. In the chapter Leadership, author Bill Daigneau has taken an insightful approach and has chosen from among all the broad topics typically included in discussions of leadership, to provide a