FM Leaders Take Care Of Their Own Facility Management Department With Efficient, Effective Space

Leadership, Management & Leadership, Space Management1 Comment

Facility Managers often give themselves and their departments the worst space in their facility. It’s sort of like the shoe maker’s children not having shoes. We give good, productive space to other departments, including other support groups like HR, IT, finance and others. Yet we often neglect the needs of our own staff. In one…

Managing To Advance Your Career In Fm – Michel Theriault Interviewed by the Editor of CFM&D Magazine

Career & HR, Management, Management & LeadershipLeave a comment

In the December 2010 issue of Canadian Facility Management & Design magazine, the magazine’s editor Pamela Young interviewed me about Facility Management and about my new book “Managing Facilities & Real Estate” Here’s how she began the article: “Managing Facilities & Real Estate, by FM consultant and Strategic Advisor principal Michel Theriault, is hot off…

Building Tours: Make them about more than just architecture and construction

Management & LeadershipLeave a comment

I’ve been on many building tours held through FM associations and while they are popular events for Facility Managers, often out-drawing the learning seminars, I think we often miss the most important thing about Facility tours and visits. Usually, the focus is on the architect’s vision, construction, materials, flexible furniture layouts, energy efficient elements and…

Organizational Design for Facility Departments – Functional or Integrated

Management, Management & Leadership1 Comment

I’ve been doing quite a few operational reviews and benchmarking exercises for facility clients recently. Something that keeps coming up is the optimal design of the facility management department’s organization structure. Through my career I’ve worked  in functional,  integrated and even matrix organizations. My facility clients are also a mix. In each approach, I saw…

Now Available: “Managing Facilities & Real Estate” Book by Michel Theriault

Career & HR, Leadership, Management, Management & Leadership, Performance ManagementLeave a comment

My Facility Management book is now available. It’s written for both new and experienced facility professionals, regardless of  level, function or the type of facility managed, who want to leverage existing skills and advance their career with leading business practices, strategy, management and leadership in FM. $39.95  US Soft Cover  7″x10″  532 pages ISBN 978-0-9813374-1-8…

When the Lights Go Out – Is your organization prepared with a Business Continuity Plan?

Management, Management & Leadership, Performance ManagementLeave a comment

It can happen  – a power failure that blacks out your building or your offices. What would you do? First Canadian Place, shown here, went black for an entire day from about 7:30am to 4:30pm on October 14th, 2010. It’s a  44 story, 2.7 million sq.ft. building in the heart of Toronto’s financial district.