Top Leadership Tips for Facility Managers (Southern California Facilities Expo 2025)
It’s a tale as old as time—the facilities department is viewed as a cost center because decision-makers don’t understand the value of facilities professionals. That must change, explained Phyllis Meng, IFMA Fellow and a Facilities Management Program Instructor and Advisory Committee member for the UC Irvine Division of Continuing Education, during a lively presentation at the 2025 Southern California Facilities Expo.
Quickly swapping between hats, Meng explained how facilities management is often perceived.
“They only think about us when there’s an emergency. We’ve got to do something to change that perception,” Meng said. “Then they’re asking, ‘What kind of Mickey Mouse outfit are you running here?’ Then we have a three-ring circus, and that’s what facilities sometimes feels like. We need to show them we’re leaders for the organization.”
What Makes a Leader?
Leadership is both a practical skill in which you guide others and a process of social influence, in which you enlist aid from colleagues and find people to support you, Meng said. Leaders tend to share certain traits, such as:
- Intelligence
- Ability to adjust
- Extroversion
- Conscientiousness
- Being open to experience
- General self-efficacy (how you approach goals and tasks)
“Think of some of the leaders you’ve known,” Meng said. “Do you have all these skills, or do you need to build them?”
Leaders aren’t born, they’re made, Meng added. You can learn the skills needed to establish yourself as a leader at work.
The 11 Ways to Establish Leadership
These 11 skills and traits are hallmarks of how leaders behave. Are there any you should consider working on?
1. The pursuit of bettering your environment. “You need to be a sustainability champion. This is where you can be a leader,” Meng said. “This is where you can go ahead and show the world what we do, other than fixing broken pieces and parts of buildings.” Leaders need a positive attitude, which encourages team members to do the same, and they need to do what’s good for everyone even if they don’t want to. “You need to be humble, and you need to be authentic,” Meng said.”
2. Knowing your team and yourself well. Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your team members. Know what motivates your team members to do well.
3. Giving people tools to succeed. Senior management won’t always give you those tools, Meng added—but you need to find a way to marshal resources on your team’s behalf. The people on your team need training and education so they can grow in their careers. Give them praise when they do a good job and take responsibility if things don’t go well.
4. Open, authentic, and positive influence. “Leadership comes from influence,” Meng said. “Praise your team members. Be open to criticism, and don’t respond negatively, because the person who’s criticizing you might have a good idea. Be positive with your team members and be open and authentic to lift others up toward a common goal.”
5. Clarity, confidence, and courage. “Do the right thing,” Meng said. “Have confidence to know when it’s wrong, and the courage to do the right thing even when it’s hard.” Be clear when you’re working with your team and make sure no one is misunderstanding your words, she added.
6. Building consensus and common goals. Any time you do a project, your team should understand the project goals, Meng said. “Then you have to build consensus, because team members might have other ideas on how to get that project done,” she added. “A good leader will listen to them.”
7. Being the solution to problems. “If you see a problem and a solution, be the solution, not the problem,” Meng urged. “Challenge a problem and drive toward it to find the solution.”
8. Helping others achieve the impossible. Encourage your team members to take chances and support them with their ideas. Coach them with passion and inspire them through a shared vision. Create an environment where people feel valued and fulfilled.
9. Building the next generation of leaders. “We need to build the people who are following us,” Meng said. “Build your team and mentor your team. Be advocates for them and develop others to be more successful.”
10. Building followership. “Inspire others to support your larger agenda. This is where you have your direction and your vision,” Meng said. “Prioritize communications and the development of others. It’s ‘we, not me.’”
11. Active listening. Listen to people without focusing on what you want to say next. Find ways to inspire and empower them. Understand other people’s viewpoints and learn from them.
How Leaders Can Market the FM Department
Most organizations have a strategic plan that includes its vision, mission, goals, and values. That’s highly relevant to the facilities department because facilities supports the larger organization in what it wants to achieve. Marketing FM, therefore, should be inspired by the organization’s roadmap for itself.
“You develop your own strategic plan based on the organization’s plan of where they’re going, and then a tactical plan of where you’re going in the next year,” Meng advised.
For example, the strategic plan for facilities might include objectives like developing an interdependent workforce where people are cross-trained on each other’s positions, increasing asset utilization, and achieving lower operating costs. Then you can develop a tactical plan for the next year based on the strategic plan. “Demonstrate how you support the organization’s mission. That’s important,” Meng said. “Think of yourself not as a cost center, but as a revenue center. We’ve saved money and now we’re giving the money back to you.”
Marketing the FM department bolsters the department’s credibility and showcases your vital role in keeping building occupants and guests happy. Shine a light on your accomplishments and educate others about how you contribute by sharing metrics and reports that illustrate what you’re saying. Participate in IFMA’s benchmarking surveys to demonstrate how you’re doing compared to a competitor or another company, and translate your technical data into financial data for C-suite executives so your accomplishments are in a language they can understand.
“When you do a presentation to your CEO, you need to tell a story,” Meng said. “What are my risks and rewards? What’s the life of the project funding and the total cost of ownership on this?”
Sustainability initiatives are one of many ways facilities leaders can demonstrate their value, Meng added. “We can be the movers and shakers on sustainability projects,” she said. “This is where we can really shine, because it shows what we do. This is cost avoidance. We’re helping create more money for the organization to go out and do other things they need to do. Show how you can increase profit, save money, improve the environment, and contribute to being a good neighbor.”
