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Custodial Delivering Exceptional Space Performance at IK Barber
When we talk about our EAOS program and transitioning from reactive to proactive, we talk about how this will help the reliability of our campus and ultimately how we help spaces perform their best which creates exceptional teaching and research outcomes.
This week we received an amazing letter from Julie, the Asst Director at IK Barber, which confirms just that.
“Just a note to let you know that for the past two mornings, the IKB Space has looked fabulous. The staircases were spotless as were the carpets and other areas of the building. I even noticed yesterday that the fire exit stairwells had been swept, which is amazing.
Please pass my thanks to your teams for their attention to the space—their efforts are very much noticed and appreciated.
Also, I’ve been working on a research paper on how space can impact student success and I thought it might be interesting for you to know how often it comes up in the literature that cleanliness of library space can impact student study experiences–which ultimately, contributes to their overall academic success. I can imagine the work your teams do can be grueling at times, but perhaps it’s helpful to know that they are contributing to the success of UBC students by providing a clean and pleasant environment for them to study and research.”
Often when we provide examples for EAOS we use core building systems to describe how our work keeps spaces functioning but Julie’s research identifies that how a space looks and feels also contributes to student success. Think about that next time you see a freshly painted wall, a well-tended landscape bed or a clean building. This is EAOS, too. Thanks for reaffirming this for us Julie!!
Research Noise Window at Pharmacy and LSC Jan 16 – 29
Noise and vibration impact many kinds of research on campus and our work can cause a lot of noise and vibration. And that is why we must take advantage of breaks in research. Pharmaceutical Sciences and Life Sciences will “shut down” sensitive research between January 16 – 29, and crews will be able to do work that creates noise and vibration.
Please plan any noisy maintenance for this time. Reach out to FM Deb Capps if you need support scheduling this work.
LSC Generator Installation closes east entrance Jan 16 – 20
The construction for the new backup generator for the Life Sciences Centre is scheduled to begin January 16. As a precaution, the entrance on the east side of the building will be closed from January 16 to 20.
Reminder: Policies and Processes that just don’t make sense? Let your head know by Friday
Back in the spring staff who participated in the Leadership Development workshops identified that one point of frustration in Building Ops is unclear or inconsistently applied policies and procedures. We would like to help address that, and you can help.
The next session in the Leadership Development training will be on supervising in a unionized environment. This course will help us look at the challenging role of unionized supervisor and develop some clear approaches to finding the right balance to ensure our crew leader are supported by management to get the work of the University done.
We need your help to identify the top 5 most problematic policies or procedures so that we can clarify and/or modify and develop better training for consistent application. This will be incorporated in the January sessions.
Please add your thoughts to the comments sheet up at USB across from the tools crib or talk your head, April Wong or Kishani Gibbons by Friday, January 13th.
Leadership Development – Let’s practice what we learned
Last year we kicked off our leadership development sessions with sessions on communicating effectively and being an emotionally intelligent leader. One of the learnings from these courses is the importance of giving constructive feedback.
When someone asks you for feedback, here’s a simple model to remember:
Action – what’s the specific action you are giving feedback on?
Impact – what was the impact of that action?
Input – ask for their input
Desired outcome – together, come up with a desired outcome; what does the future look like when the feedback is acted on?
So if you’re asked for feedback try and remember this approach in giving it. It may feel uncomfortable to ask for or deliver feedback, but we’re all learning and growing and it’s important for our development as an organization!
UBC’s “What are you working on?” features Project Managers Ryan Huffman & Kyle Reese
The UBC series “What are you working on” aims to get to know some of the exceptional UBC staff and faculty and feature them on the main UBC website. Project Managers Ryan Huffman & Kyle Reese were interviewed together—read the article here.
http://www.ubc.ca/about/what-are-you-working-on/ryan-kyle.html