SDBEA

For those of you that were unable to make it to our May Training Seminar, here's a summary of what you missed. Make sure to sign up early and don't miss out on these free educational events!

Creating Value in the Workplace
Tracie Hager, Senior Director West Coast Operations at BioMed Realty Trust
May 22, 2012

Understanding Owners

• Listening & observing to see what they’re looking for
• Important to understand the hold period
• Know company’s focus & why it’s crucial to high performance
  • Curb Appeal
  • Customer Service
  • Low Operating Cost
  • Occupancy
  • Short Term Hold
• Understand executives “hot buttons” & staying ahead of them
• Listening is the most important thing à “Generous Listening”
• Personal goals laid out for you
  • You can understand through these what is most important to manager/executive
• Keep an open mind to new concepts to know what you do what you do
  • Learn from vendors, do your research
• Know your building systems so you can know when you can apply new things, ideas, concepts
• Know your team and individual strengths
• Know your industry & become involved (as long as employer supports it)
• Identify a mentor
• Know company’s educational program & utilize it
• Share knowledge and be comfortable to speak up

Linchpin - a person/thing vital to an enterprise organization

• Be the vital person - others will turn to you for help and advice
• Being positive, someone the organization can’t imagine life without
• Embrace change - look to it as an opportunity
• Accept what you can’t change and move forward

Present Solutions

• Look at every challenge as an opportunity to shine
• Questions/concerns your audience is going to ask about
  • Do you have the answers? Look at alternatives, Weigh pros & cons
• Avoid the Blame Game during a challenge
• How can YOU improve the process?

Be a Positive Influence

• Be passionate
• Build relationships
• Use all interactions as opportunities
• Do “Emotional Labor”
• Help people, smile, lend an ear

Implementation

• Identify challenges to you being a linchpin
  • What are obstacles to overcome?
  • Identify Solutions for Succes
  • Sit down and actually write it all down
• Poking holes in the process
  • Success stories

Always remember to Recognize what your manager sees as Valuable.

Answer – You are reading the San Diego Building Engineers Association blog right now.  By definition, the word "blog" literally means web log. We use the blog as a “News Outlet” for the chapter. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A business soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Thoughts on where business is going. Memos to the world.

It is a simple way to post stories regarding chapter events and other facilities & building engineering related information.  Our blog is whatever you guys want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. You can comment on it or link to it or email it to all your friends. You can also share the posts through the world of social media.

Since blogs have been around since the late 90s, blogs have reshaped the web, impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others.

If you have facilities or engineering related stories, please email them to Karen Wujek at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for consideration. We will review all of the stories submitted and let you know if they have been approved for posting.

Before an emergency strikes, you, as the Building Engineer, need to be ready and willing to consider even the most horrific scenarios and face some potentially worrying truths when preparing for an emergency. Whether the disaster is natural or man-made, unexpected or anticipated for days, being able to protect the building and its occupants requires you and the rest of the facility staff to have a plan and be able to execute it.

Each plan will be different, of course, based on the type of building, the location, the type of disaster and even the time of day. Some Building Engineers who have been through disasters say that the keys to a good plan are paying attention to details, taking advantage of advance notice if you have it and not being afraid to assume the worst in training scenarios.

Details Demand Close Attention

The first step to figuring out a response plan is to think through the myriad details of the impact of the disaster. That could include everything from fine details such as moving the elevator cabs off the first floor in case of flooding to more broad strategies, such as determining where building occupants will evacuate to if necessary. Once those details are determined, they can be tweaked as necessary to account for differences in disasters. For example, an elementary school in Hawaii could have completely different evacuation areas for a fire as opposed to a tsunami.

To try to identify every imaginable way a disaster might play out, an idea is to have regular small group meetings to walk through emergency scenarios, with staff and the building team. You could have someone throw out a scenario — with no restraints on severity — and the participants will walk through possible responses while looking for holes in the plan. This can be utilized as a learning process for staff to learn what to do and how when the worst happens. You could also involve tenants on a volunteer bases to give them scenarios in which something happens that isn't anticipated in the plan. Realistic training can be the key to your department's response.

After a Disaster, Vendors are Important

The best-laid plans can't prevent damage to buildings. Nor can they account for damage to surrounding buildings or infrastructure. The importance of good relationships with vendors can sometimes be overlooked when you're planning how to recover from a disaster. But they're often a critical part of the recovery process. Make sure they know that you're counting on them in case of an emergency and have their contact information on-hand with several copies - in your care, at home, your office, and let those around you have copies as well.

When it comes to preparation, you can never have enough training and evaluation. You never know what unforeseen events are going to come up, so if you continuously inspect your facilities, your grounds, your equipment and your personnel, then you'll know how they'll perform in times of greatest need.

What Have You Utilized?

We want to hear from you! Use the comment area below with what you've learned, things you've done, things you'd like to implement, etc. Use this area as a forum to help each other!