APPA

Facilities Manager | Mar/Apr 2014

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14 | march/april 2014 | Facilities Manager membership matters membership matters membership matters E very facility officer regularly has the need to reach out to peers outside your institution. You know what I am talking about. Your boss asks you for benchmark data or informa- tion about other schools in your state. How about when you were in a bind on an issue and you just need to talk to someone outside of your school (some- times that is good therapy on bad days). If you want to try something new, who do you call to see if the new product or process will work? Looking for a new job description? In this facility environment of constant change, we find ourselves having the need to talk to people we call mentors, peers, or a friend who is chal- lenged with the same things we are doing. BUILDING NETWORKS When we started in this facility profes- sion, we thought we had all the answers and that our team could solve every prob- lem. I think we did that mostly because we did not have an extensive professional net- work or lacked experience. This is a lesson learned for the emerging professionals in our industry. As senior facility officers we must get the new professionals engaged and help them built their professional networks. They need to be connected to mentors and peers at other schools. We owe it to our staff and our profession. So, do you remember how you were first connected to a mentor? How did you first meet or talk to a facility peer at an- other school? For many of us, APPA was the common denominator and the bridge to many of these connections. I don't think many of us looked in the phone book and called a stranger at another school. APPA offers many ways to make that first connection. After that, many of these connections become professional rela- tionships for many years to come. APPA HAS IT So where do I get started and what are the opportunities to start professional networking? Drive-in Workshops, Su- pervisor's Toolkit, and chapter or regional conferences are where many of us made the initial contact. That face-to-face dis- cussion, mostly at social times, meals, or break times between presentations, were the best way to meet new friends. I always try to connect with a person who asked a question or looking for information after the presentation. We have something in common and we both can share our experiences or both agree that we have a common challenge and we are not alone. APPA has the emerging professionals group where they can network on their own terms. Some like to use social media or other technology to communicate and meet new friends in our profession. APPA also has the Leadership Acad- emy, Institute for Facilities Manage- ment, annual international conference, and the certification program that brings facility professionals together from a larger geographic region. After your initial exposure to these professional op- portunities, you can expand your wings and be engaged with state, regional, and international APPA committees and leadership positions. What a great way to further expand your network. APPA offers so many venues to expand your network. Everyone in the profession has a responsibility to build your network. Each professional in our industry must take the initiative to attend events and reach out to others you have not met. It makes it easy when senior facility officers encourage you and tell you to attend an APPA event. It is also the responsibility of regular attendees to introduce themselves to first time at- tendees and make them feel welcome and connect them to others that you feel are appropriate to expand their network. APPA Regions also have formal mentor programs to connect facility veterans with emerging professionals. What a great way to sustain and move our facility profes- sion forward. Call it paying back or paying forward, it's the right thing to do! So who do you lean on for profes- sional support? I hope more than those around you in your organization. Having that broader network opens so many doors and possibilities during your professional career. It also gives you that personal satisfaction, makes your job easier, you make friends for life. Peter Strazdas is associate vice president for facilities management at Western Mich- igan University, Kalamazoo, MI and APPA's Secretary-Treasurer. He can be reached at peter.strazdas@wmich.edu. Who Do You Lean On for Professional Support? By Peter Strazdas

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