Employees Are Your Ultimate Investment

Oh sure, there are those of you out there who can doodle off a thousand coherent words while on the phone listening politely to the futile pleas of an outside promoter fishing for a lopsided co-promote. Well, brother, that ain't me! So, after a week of rising panic and increasingly desperate appeals to a higher authority, I finally decided to write about that which I am passionate about in my career. Of course, the aspect of my career that I was most passionate about was determining how it had suddenly gotten to be so stressful!

Looking back, it didn't take me long to realize it was all Linda Stallone's fault. It was she, some 10 years ago, who snatched me out of the comfortable realm of Production Design & Management and plopped me down into the Director/Manager's chair of a brand new performing arts facility. When she made the offer, I imagined the stress of overseeing the project had either driven her crazy or she was incredibly desperate to fill the position. After all, I had been contracted for only a two-month gig as a production consultant in connection with the gala opening of the facility. When I www.frazettagirls.com her that I had no experience in that particular area of operations, she replied that she had witnessed my enthusiasm over the past two months and was willing to take a leap of faith by investing in my career.

Thus begin my immersion into facility management. In the succeeding months, I was enrolled in every local conference and workshop I could access in order to learn about the administrative side of this industry. To my surprise, there was never a second thought concerning whether there was enough funds for me to attend these; as a matter of fact, I was being asked what else could be done to assure my success at running the Center. The philosophic mantra Linda repeated each time I questioned her wisdom was: by investing in me she was investing in the future success of the venue. Well, I'm happy to report her faith was rewarded as I soaked up the information like a sponge and applied the knowledge gained toward building the center into one of the most successful in Eastern North Carolina.

It was in 1998 that I was introduced to the International Association of Assembly Managers organization through a colleague who had just completed his first year of Public Assembly Facility Management School at Oglebay. To hear him talk about the experience, he had gone to facility management heaven and received his wings. I knew I had to get into to PAFMS. After two years and Linda's continued support, I finally got a spot in the program. I have since had the opportunity to attend the first IAAM Leadership Institute, Graduate Institute, several IAAM annual Conferences and two IAAM Performing Arts Facility Administrators Seminars, along with countless workshops, all because someone believed in my future. On further reflection, I can see I actually owe Linda a debt of gratitude, rather than blame, for giving me an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And so it came to pass that I have circuitously arrived at the true topic of this page.

It should come as no surprise from the above synopsis of my recent history that I, in turn, developed a passion for investing in the futures of my staff. All of you have visited organizations that have fallen into a functional coma, where the day-to-day routine has become so comfortable the employees seem to have succumbed to a drowsy form of complacency. Perhaps they have simply embraced that initiative-robbing attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Whatever the cause, a facility can continue along in such a vegetative state for quite some time.

Well, I am here to advocate one sure way of maintaining the vitality of your venue is to create regular opportunities for your employees to pursue professional development and continuing education. I consider it my duty to find the means to make this happen. You will find whenever staff is able to attend a national conference in their fields of expertise or interest, they are in effect taking the pulse of that industry and they return rejuvenated and less inclined to settle for continuing the status-quo. Of course, educational opportunities need not be limited to work-related fields. Consider allowing them to take classes at the nearest college. Sometimes it can be worthwhile just to allow them time out of their routine during working hours to do research on-line in their areas, as a result, allowing them to become forward-thinking employees. And don't forget local or regional workshops.