The campus facilities leader is the mouthpiece for your campus’ largest asset— its facilities. Serving as the spokesperson for the physical plant and ensuring its success and health is a large burden to bear. Facilities leaders must communicate the needs of the campus powerfully and effectively. This requires gaining the attention of school leadership and preparing for strategic conversations.
Planning
To effectively communicate and speak for your facility, a facilities director must be thoroughly acquainted with campus. A facility audit will help you assess the current state of campus facilities and identify any deferred maintenance that requires attention. This information will help you then prepare a breakdown of anticipated costs of addressing the maintenance needs, detailed year-by-year, while planning for replacements of components that are not cost-effective to repair and maintain. Be sure to acknowledge any needs that have been identified by trustees and senior administrators, so you can speak to what may be on their "favorites" list in addition to the items you’ve identified through daily operations.
The facilities leader should be aware of the campus master plan and advocate for keeping it current. The school should also have a comprehensive utility master plan that addresses infrastructure needs that match up with the planned future campus development. If leadership directs changes to facilities that were not considered in the master plan to accommodate new programs, the facilities director may be the first to recognize the deviation. The facilities director should call attention to the difference and any impact the change will have.
Presenting
Collecting information isn’t enough – it’s critical to present it in a way that it will be heard. Start by scheduling regular meetings between facilities and senior leadership to understand the school’s strategic goals and priorities. It’s important to confirm that your facilities master plan aligns with the institution's broader mission. This alignment will help you focus your presentation and make it relevant to your audience.
Before meetings, prepare by anticipating challenging questions and formulating clear, well-supported responses. Provide clear and concise summaries of campus conditions and needs with visual images. Where possible, back up your recommendations with data and financial analysis. Turn to your peers for successful ideas that they might offer.
The facilities director may have the opportunity to be a voice for the physical plant, interfacing with the board of trustees or committees to the board, such as finance or facilities. If the opportunity arrives, embrace it, and remember the ideas need to be presented even more briefly to an audience that is even less acquainted with the facilities. A CFO, COO, director of advancement or others who regularly present data to the board can give you pointers and may even help by reviewing your presentation.
Speaking and advocating on behalf of your school’s largest asset is a demanding endeavor. Facilities are long-term, illiquid investments. Changes to facilities are expensive and difficult, so they should be approached with as much information and as little emotion as possible. By being an effective spokesperson for this extremely important asset, you can play an invaluable role in advancing your school’s mission.
