As a facilities and workplace specialist/professional, I constantly get asked what is it that you do, what does that mean, what is your remit?
If you're outside of the industry, I've found that people rarely know what we do.
Even my mother, while beaming with pride, once introduced me to her friends as, "This is my baby, she's a data analyst"
I'm a what now, since when?
Then I realised that even to this day, I don't have one answer that I can declare to anyone who asks with clarity or confidence about what I do.
These are just a few of my responses to the question "what do you do?"
"I am the invisible force behind an organisation that assists it to meet its mission whilst not disturbing the progress of their teams or customers"
"I am the problem solver working in the background"
"I am a manager of properties"
"I ensure quality of various different functions, including enginneering, cleaning, security, front of house, MAC and Health and Safety"
"I'm an expert in all things soft or support service wise, but I have enough working knowledge to manage hard services"
"It's hard to explain what I do, so don't worry, just know you'll always see me flitting about in every area"
"I'm a juggler of various plates of different material, sizes and temperatures and I do this whilst walking a firey tight rope"
Just last week, I was relaying a story to two of my colleagues about an amusing situation that occurred about a year ago.
A contractor had neglected to lay down boards before going onto the bank of the River Thames to complete repair works to the foreshore.
I got a call from my then Director who was on holiday, telling me to get down there asap and help the maintenance and grounds teams as there was an issue. The signal went, I didn't get any further details.
Quick as a shot I drop what I'm doing (probably three things at once) and hot foot it to the far side of the Estate.
First obstacle "How the hell do I get down there and whereabouts is the problem"
I find the opening, slip down onto the Thames and what awaits me, excites me and was somewhat hilarious if we didn't have tough job of resolving it.
The contractor's digger was half submerged in the muddy banks of the Thames!
The sun was setting, they'd been there at least 30 minutes revving the engine trying to drive it out before they raised the alarm, so it was deeper than it would have been if we'd been alerted immediately.
To top it off, the tide was due in an hour!
There we were, seven of us, trying all manner of ways to hoist this sinking vehicle out of the Thames. Pick axes, shovels, jumping on the side above ground while others lifted the other end and at one point, I even suggested using a broken tree trunk and use it as leverage under the digger.
We couldn't drive another vehicle down to pull it out due to licences and other issues but we just about managed to get enough space under two of the tyres to get boards under them but not enough to free the thing.
Long story short, as a team of senior managers, fabric techs, electricians and grounds, we helped the contractor free his digger and all took the long, sweaty, mud covered walk back to our work spaces, cleaned up and trust me we needed it, carried on with our reports, our HR issues, our finance, team leading, reactive jobs, PPMs, whatever was on our list and nobody outside our department had any clue of the fun, frustration, dirty work we had just undertaken as a team of very different skilled individuals.
I'm a juggler of various plates of different material, sizes and temperatures and I do this whilst walking a firey tight rope
I walked through the business that night, heading home and saw everyone going about their evenings as usual, staff and clients alike, unaware of the extremely tricky situation we had just encountered. Also me being me, I hummed the A Team theme tune on the way home.
When I finshed telling my story, my colleauges laughed, were astounded and said how did I not know about this.
You didn't know because we are exceptional at what we do, you did not know because there wasn't a song and dance, it wasn't a front of house or back of house issue, it was a slightly different, run of the mill day for those in the FM world and I loved every minute of it.
I have seen and experienced my fair share of strange, scary, exhilarating, challenging and inspiring things in my 8 plus years in this industry.
I came into facilities management not understanding that I was in it and I'm not convinced I'll ever fully grasp the scope of what it is we do other than what needs to be done for our clients and customers.
I do however want to tell my story in a way that is as jargon free as possible, that isn't corporate speak or too confuddling.
I want to introduce this amazing, collaborative, two-days-never -the-same industry to those who would thrive in it but have yet to understand what the big deal is.
I'm Andie Donaldson-Smith, an eccentric, candid, bold, slightly crazy but always authentic individual and I believe I was made to be a Facilities and Workplace professional.
What do I do, as a whole, I couldn't tell you!
I will say this though, allow me to share my understanding of my story as a series, each one nothing more than a moment in time.
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