Jeffrey Ibbitson

A building has walls, a roof, mechanical systems, electrical systems, plumbing and people who expect everything to work. On paper, facility management looks transferable. A boiler is still a boiler. A leaking roof still needs to be repaired. Preventive maintenance, capital planning, vendor management and life safety matter everywhere. After working across corporate offices, social housing, retail, hospitality and health care, I have learned that no two buildings operate the same way. The...

No Judgment- But when did you last talk to your night shift about anything other than an issue? It is an uncomfortable question. When did you last visit your building at night without responding to an emergency, investigating a complaint or following up on something that went wrong? For many facility managers, the honest answer is: not recently. That is understandable. Most meetings, projects, inspections and contractor visits happen during the day. By the time the night shift arrives, many...

When you first become a facility manager, it is easy to think that leadership means having all the answers. You want to prove yourself. You answer every call, get involved in every repair and try to solve every problem before it reaches anyone else. You become the person everyone relies on when something goes wrong. That feels like leadership, especially when you have built your career by being dependable and getting things done. However, if every problem needs your involvement, you...