APPA

FACILITIES MANAGER MARCH/APRIL 2018 11 enjoy is something I refer to as "walk-around time." My walking tours can occur at any time—including nights and weekends. Showing up unannounced and seeing an employee perform their task well is fulfill- ing to me, and is a value of the organization that I lead. Saying thank you in this environment is indeed impactful to employees. Hand-written birthday cards for every member of the Facilities Team. I value the impact this prac- tice has on the members of my team. A birthday card provides an opportunity to wish a staff member an enjoyable day as well as a chance to acknowledge the significant contributions they have had on the team and institution during the past year. By doing this via an actual birthday card (not an email or virtual card), the level of appreciation becomes personalized and magnified. Life-Skills training sessions as a component of divisional meetings. Exposing facilities employees to important non-work related topics is another way that I say "thank you" to my team. In addition to budgetary updates, discussions about upcoming institutional strategic imperatives, and other impor- tant information sharing during my All-Facilities Gatherings, I also include a session on a topic that has nothing to do with being an employee within a facilities department, but, rather, will provide information and insight into a topic that could impact their personal lives. A recent example: a guest speaker who presented Retirement 101 (because I am convinced that too many facilities employees do not pay close enough at- tention to this topic). Said differently, I strive to ensure that staff members feel valued as persons who have lives and responsibilities outside of the academe. Give "Props" to the facilities team during presentations around the campus—even when they are not in at- tendance. As the chief facilities officer, I have the distinct privilege to present updates about exciting new capital proj- ects, deferred renewal initiatives, and plans for continued pursuit of carbon neutrality—to name a just a few topics —to trustees, senior leadership, and faculty, staff, and student governance groups. I feel compelled to always begin my remarks by saying something along the lines of: "I proudly stand before you representing 190 hard-working facilities employees." is is, of course another way to acknowledge and thank the folks who are truly deserving of recogni- tion within the facilities organization. Much of what I have written in this piece is not earth-shattering or cutting-edge to many readers. Furthermore, I suspect some of you have additional means to express informal thanks to team mem- bers. I am hopeful, however, that my written words provide all of us with a reminder that acknowledging your team in varied informal forums is beneficial to your department's work product, to your recruit- ment and retention efforts, and dare I say, to your bottom line. Perhaps most importantly, however, it is the absolute right thing to do. With that, I say "thank you!" Tim Carey is the associate vice president and chief facilities officer at Ithaca College in upstate New York. He can be contacted at tcarey@ithaca.edu.

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