Dave Lubach: Maintenance Managers Add Marketer to List of Important Responsibilitiestest

By Dave Lubach, Associate Editor

October 2014

Setting budgets. Recruiting and motivating qualified front-line technicians. Planning projects to improve energy efficiency.

These are essential parts of the job for maintenance and engineering managers in institutional and commercial buildings.

Darin Hargraves, director of maintenance and operations in the Anchorage School District in Alaska, adds another responsibility.

"As a department head, I feel that promoting the department is part of my job description," Hargraves says.

If managers do not already promote the contributions of their departments to building occupants and top executives, now is a good time to start.

Wondering where to begin? See our Roundtable. Hargraves and the other managers provide some good starting points. Local media, social media, public forums, and on-campus energy competitions are among the options for getting your message out there.

The managers saw tangible benefits from their efforts. One department earns more favorable consideration from top facility executives come budget time. Another receives additional grant money for projects. A third manager gets more projects green-lighted because of the positive attention his department brings to the facility.

Managers might also want to think about the impact positive attention can have on their staff. Knowing a manager acknowledges their hard work can boost staff morale and go along way toward keeping productive and hard-working employees more satisfied and motivated.

Dave Lubach offers insights gleaned from conversations with managers who make key maintenance and engineering decisions in commercial and institutional facilities.

Agree? Disagree? Have something to say? We want to hear from you. Visit myfacilitiesnet.com/davelubach, and start a conversation.

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