Getting Ready for Spring
by: Kevin Kiger
This time of year is actually pretty busy for facility managers. While it may seem months away, spring is only weeks away; 34 days to be exact.
What should you be doing now? Begin by planning the activities for landscape, pavement, painting and HVAC maintenance.
Now is the time to begin discussions with your contractors to obtain recommendations and proposals for these services.
Landscape
Review and negotiate the landscape maintenance contract. Before you negotiate or sign a contract, create landscape maintenance specifications. If you choose to obtain competitive proposals, landscape maintenance specifications will assist in providing “apples to apples” proposals.
Specifications should include pruning and trimming of trees and shrubs, spring clean up, edging and mulching of landscape beds, mulching, bed maintenance (weed control), tree and shrub fertilization and insect/disease control, lawn sprinkler start up and inspection/seasonal inspections, mowing (including weed eating and sidewalk edging), lawn fertilization and insect disease control, fall cleanup (leaf removal and cut back perennial), and winterization of the sprinkler system.
While this is only a list of services to be provided, it will be important to provide detailed specifications, including a form for the contractors to submit pricing.
Pavement
February, if the snow will stay away, late February is a great time to inspect the various pavement surfaces for cracks, pot holes and failures.
As with other materials, asphalt and concrete shrink with cold temperatures, cracks will be more prominent. Crack filling should be performed before the pavement expands and the crack become too narrow to fill. It will be important to use the appropriate crack filling material at the recommended temperatures.
While performing your pavement inspections, you may discover pot holes. Permanent repairs are not recommended at this time. “Cold patch” which can be found at the local hardware store will provide a temporary repair until warmer weather arrives.
Painting and HVAC Inspections
While these activities do not occur until later months, now is the time to prepare your specifications and request proposals. I will be back in April to discuss these topics and pavement repairs in more depth.
1. Scheduling meetings for the morning. Let everyone use their morning energy for Focus Time to make progress on the most important things. Schedule meetings for afternoon—preferably mid-to late afternoon—as they require less “brainpower” and won’t run too long.
2. Checking email during prime time, your peak “power hours.” Check for the urgent (such as an appointment change), turn off the email notification, and leave the rest until later in the afternoon. Use your power hours to do the high priority things that move you forward. Keep the email “dinger” turned off!
3. Interruptions: Keep agendas for each person you regularly talk with, and jot down topics to discuss when you meet. Ask them to do the same for you, cover topics when you meet, and cut down interruptions.
4. Keeping things in your head. Get everything out of your mind and onto paper or computer. You will free your mind for bigger and better ideas, and prevent things from “falling through the cracks.”
5. “Getting around to” projects. Schedule time to work on one part of the project on a regular basis each day or each week. You’ll procrastinate less, not having to “do it all” and it will seem like a much easier task. You’ll also benefit from time to reflect and gain perspective and new insights between sessions.
6. Not having systems and places for things. According to Fast Company magazine, the average executive wastes six weeks every year looking for lost information. Systems can give you the time you need to achieve your important goals.
7. Not building in downtime. We all need time to relax and let go of the problems of the day. We come back refreshed and with greater perspective that can make progress easier. Who says you have to “stay connected” 24/7?
8. Trying to do everything. Remember the 80-20 principle, and focus on the 20% of things that give you 80% of your most important results.
9. Being a perfectionist, a mindset that is focused on minutiae, where nothing is ever good enough. Instead, embrace excellence, which focuses on what’s important and getting results.
10. Being impatient with yourself and others. Be patient with the learning process, focus on progress, and help it expand. Being impatient with others compounds problems and increases the time it takes to resolve them. Listen more to your inner voice, the instincts which guide you to the best techniques and answers.
Co-author of Insights on Productivity, Nancy Hagan works with professionals who struggle to stay productive while dealing with interruptions, email overload and cluttered offices. She is dedicated to helping them with simple yet powerful systems that quickly impact efficiency, productivity, profitability and quality of life.
She helps them gain an hour or more a day, and leave the office with peace of mind. Her mission is “Freeing you to do what you do best.”
www.EffectiveExec.com
513-899-9949
nancy@EffectiveExec.com
Miller-Valentine Design and Renovation offers services in interior
design, space planning and construction - including recommendations
for everything from what color pallet to use and where to hang
artwork - as well as wiring, plumbing and all facets of construction.
Nancy Hagan
