The Power of Gratitude for FMs and Suppliers

Quotes

“The focus of facility management is all around the people.”

(6:34) – Randy Olson

“What could be better than showing appreciation and providing recognition?”

(6:48) – Randy Olson

“​​The simple, ‘Thank you.’ just saying thank you on a regular basis. It’s so powerful.”

(18:30) – Alana Dunoff

“This year has shown, they call it the Great Resignation. People will get up and leave… they will follow their feet to someone who has gratitude and will appreciate them and will invest in them.”

(23:48) – Shawn Black

The Power of Gratitude for FMs and Suppliers

“We’re facilities management. We manage buildings, but we don’t just manage buildings. We manage the people inside those buildings.”
(9:08) – Alana Dunoff

This week’s episode is dedicated to the power of a grateful attitude! Our host Shawn Black was joined by Randy Olson of ProFMI and Alana Dunoff of ProFM, FMP, IFMA Fellow. Gratitude affects all of your team members, FM, and suppliers alike. When gratitude is expressed and cultivated in an organization… there is no stopping its positive ripple effect!

Alana joins us having 30 years of experience in facilities management with a master’s in facilities planning and management and considers herself mainly an FM educator due to her teaching at Temple University’s FM program she helped to build. She also lends herself to teaching with ProFMI, where Randy Olson is the leading designer, developer, marketer, and distributor. Alana was the first woman to earn her ProFm.

We dove straight into the WHY of gratitude. In our personal lives, it may seem like a given, but how can the attitude of gratefulness completely change the culture of FM? Randy and Alana both gave practicals and mindsets that not only benefit your well-being b1ut that of your company as well.

It first starts with your own core beliefs. Faking it will only get you so far, especially on your bad days. Many occupations focus on ones and zeros, black and white, where the emotions of gratitude may not ultimately affect the outcome of the business. Facility Management is shades of gray and is fundamentally a people business. Therefore emotions, feelings, and actions all get blended together.

To truly be customer-focused, you must be focused on the workers in your company, says Alana. If your company’s culture uplifts, thanks, and recognizes its employees, the ripple effect to the customer will be both genuine and sincere.

Randy queries what could be better than showing appreciation and recognizing your coworkers and employees when times are good and when times are bad.

“Great leaders show gratitude to their people.”
(7:34) – Randy Olson

Communication and leadership are the two most important areas that a grateful attitude should mark. Team meetings, updates, reviews, and casual work conversations can all be used to build one another up, recognize hard work, and extend sincere thank yous. When it is time for a critique or confrontation, the positive rapport will make the listener more attune and create an atmosphere of open communication.

When it comes to leadership, how the boss models gratefulness has a direct effect on the employees. While anyone can lead out in gratitude, the culture of how the boss speaks to clients and workers will slowly but surely be multiplied out. Randy points out that Alana shines in this category when she is teaching her ProFM classes as she has created an atmosphere where she is there to advance their careers and help them positively impact the world.

From security guard to custodial staff to the CEO, each person who chooses to interact with another in the attitude of gratefulness can completely change the directory of the other’s day. The staff members who have jobs that not everyone wants should be treated with appreciation just as much as the employee who was just promoted. And this should affect not only internal staff, Alana mentions, but also the external vendors. Alana exhorts FM to spend intentional time thanking vendors, especially this time of year. They are the ones who make FM look good, who answer the calls, and who thank us, so why don’t we flip the script this year and out thank them!

The culture of thankfulness develops by having the true north to positively impact your profession to enhance lives and careers, Randy mentioned. To continue the culture, you must hire others who are bought into that vision.

“When you hire good people and you bring good people in, it’s a pleasure to work with them and to go the extra mile, because you know that you are trusted, listened to, and you’re sort of empowered to feel good about what you’re doing.”
(13:42) – Alana Dunoff

When it comes to practicals, it is all about the long haul, not just the big party at the end of the year, Alana explains. While catering, gifts, and happy hours are staple pieces in a thriving work environment, the little acts of thankfulness year-round make the more significant impact. Recognition in company newsletters, simple thank-you’s, and notes of encouragement, anyone can start and sustain the powerful force behind a grateful culture. Then empowering your staff to do the same amongst themself will then overflow into a culture that any client, vendor, or anyone outside the organization will be inspired by.

“This year has shown, they call it the Great Resignation. People will get up and leave… they will follow their feet to someone who has gratitude and will appreciate them and will invest in them.”
(23:48) – Shawn Black

So the question is, what would happen if a culture of appreciation, recognition, and gratitude were not worked on? Resignation. If the past two years have made anything clear, it’s that people will no longer work somewhere they hate. Beyond that, many will not work somewhere where they do not feel recognized, empowered, or impacted. The tables have turned from the employee trying to win over the employer to vice versa. Sadly, the flip side of gratefulness will become disillusionment and dissent. A bonus, promotion, or party will not create a staff member’s motivation like a sincere recognition of their work.

Lastly, investment in your employees can be the most intentional and impactful way to show your gratitude to them. So now, more than ever, you can choose to dig in and invest in your employees. Classes, programs, and conferences will show your staff that you want to benefit them in the long run, not just to get today’s job done. If you would like to know more about the classes spoken of in today’s episode be sure to visit

profmi.org/evolution and learn more about the ProFM’s credential course!

Keeping Up with FM Evolution

This episode was brought to you by ProFM, and we could not be happier to have those who work with them on our show! Thank you for tuning in to this week’s FM Evolution Podcast! Continue to stay updated with the latest trends, innovations, and advancement of the facility management universe.