Top Skills & Qualities Needed to Work in Facilities Management

Facilities Management isn’t a specialized role in the sense that you can’t become an expert at one specific thing. Every facilities manager has to have a broad skill set and be adaptable to the changing environment that they work in.

Since facilities managers have to provide support to each department that works in the building or exists on the company’s network, they have to be able to solve different problems, anticipate different problems and engage with the relevant people to provide solutions.

3 key Skills & Qualities of Facilities Managers

1) Adaptability

Adaptability is a necessity but at the same time organizational skills are at the foundation of the role too.

To be effective in that balancing act role, each facilities manager must be very personable. Being able to quickly explain your reasoning and implore your fellow employees to follow the path you have set out will take away the need for question later. That creates a more efficient workspace. Ultimately, being a facilities manager is being a leader.

And being a leader means being solution oriented, respectful, respected and engaged with the matters at hand each day.

2) Tech Savvy

More specific skills will be required depending on the specific role. Being comfortable with technology has recently become a greater need for facilities managers because machines in factories are now monitored and controlled through technology. If you’re working in a hotel, with a sports organization or in an office environment, you’ll have to be comfortable with IoT technology.

While being tech-savvy, you’ll also have to manage budgets which means having comfort with numbers and an ability to be accountable with your tracking of numbers. You’ll be responsible for any legal issues that arise that fall under your remit, so you have to understand regulation and the safety requirements for your specific setting.

3) Leadership

The leadership aspects of being a facilities manager lead to meetings and consultancy roles that fit the more ‘suit and tie’ idea of the workplace. But that doesn’t mean you’ll never have any more hands-on responsibilities.

Most facilities managers began as trade workers or had roles in building security before being promoted or applying to a job elsewhere.

Having that path allows facilities managers to get a full understanding of what needs to be done for a successful company from the bottom up. Taking your experience and applying it when making proactive decisions and when reacting to situations that arise allow you to benefit your company greatly. A good facilities manager will remember what it was like in their prior roles to account for every detail when making decisions in their present position of leadership.

Facilities managers come from different backgrounds. They possess different skill sets and have different starting points. But they share that ambition for leadership.

You don’t have to already have great people skills but you have to be developing them and conscious of how you are presenting yourself in a leadership role.

Your First Steps Towards An FM Role

If you are considering taking your first step into facilities management, the IWFM 3 is an introductory course that doesn’t require prior work experience. You can read more about this course here.

If you would prefer to read more about Facilities Management, the FM section of the knowledge zone has various articles discussing Facilities Management including What Does Facilities Management Cover? To browse through the different FM courses available at Portobello, you can go directly to the Facilities Management department.

And if you’re unsure of where you fit or would prefer to talk to someone about the available courses at Portobello, you can contact Brandon McLean on 01 892 0035 or email brandon.mclean@portobelloinstitute.com.