THOMPSON’S TAKE: The Importance of Continuing Education for Facility Managers
One of the most difficult jobs for a facility manager is staying up-to-date on the latest rules and regulations that guide or govern the use, operations, and maintenance of building systems. Seasoned facility managers are most likely familiar with how overwhelming the new regulations pertaining to building systems and equipment can be. Attempting to stay updated and informed on your own is a challenging task. The volume of reading required to do so would make it difficult to focus on your job and daily tasks. Most facility managers are required to hold a professional license such as Professional Engineer or Registered Architect. Beyond that, there are likely to be required certifications related to the building code, operation of high voltage or high-pressure systems, as well as environmental issues, just to name a few.
Facility managers must develop and maintain a continuing education plan to ensure that all requirements are met to retain their licenses and/or certifications. Continuing education is often a requirement in order to keep a facility management job. A plan should be developed in concert with the supervisor to ensure a proper understanding of the requirements governing the job and the costs of obtaining that knowledge. Likewise, facility managers should perform this same function with their direct reports to ensure there is a comprehensive plan for the entire Facilities Department. Facility managers can prevent equipment failures, downtime, environmental issues, and a host of other avoidable problems by simply acquiring the knowledge to stay up-to-date and properly informed.
A continuing education plan can be accomplished in many ways, such as becoming a member of a facilities organization, including but not limited to, the Association of Physical Plant Administrators, the New York Association of Physical Plant Administrators, or the State University of New York Physical Plant Administrators Association. These organizations are a tremendous resource of knowledge through seminars, targeted training classes and a group of men and women who can share their experience through formal and informal meetings. It is remarkable how you can ask a question about a problem at your facility and how many people have had the same problem, challenge, or issues, and how they dealt with it. Developing a network of personal relationships with facilities professionals allows you to connect and learn from others who are having similar experiences, successes, and challenges. Many facility management and maintenance issues can be resolved by tapping into your network of peers and through continuing education initiatives.
This blog is part of a series in which I’ll provide my take about a variety of subjects regarding facility management, maintenance and repairs to help provide insight into common challenges that facilities managers face and how to hopefully best resolve them.
