Exploring FM in Trinidad & Tobago

Summary

This week, host Shawn Black is joined by Randy Olson, the leading design and distribution implementer of the ProFM Credential Program, for another special episode of FM Evolution. Shawn and Randy sat down with Kristed Herbert and Keith Spencer from Cerebrii Solutions Global to discuss FM in Trinidad and Tobago. Cerebrii is a training and consultancy firm based in Trinidad and Tobago specializing in facilities management, project management, and real estate and property management. Throughout the episode, Shawn, Randy, Kristed, and Keith considered the importance of cross-functional competencies in FM, Cerebrii and ProFM’s partnership, and international interest in FM.

Show Notes

(1:03) Introducing Kristed and Keith

(5:35) Introducing Cerebrii Solutions Global

(9:02) FM in Trinidad and Tobago

(12:06) ProFM in Trinidad and Tobago

(12:56) The Importance of Cross-Functional Competencies

(19:32) What Are You Reading?

(26:26) Drawing International Interest in FM through Leadership

(31:15) Impact on Students

(33:42) Cerebrii’s December Course

(38:04) Closing Thoughts

Links

Shawn Black

CGP Maintenance and Construction

Randy Olson

ProFM

Kristed Herbert

Keith Spencer

Cerebrii Solutions Global

Quotes

“There is this understanding that people need to be better equipped in order to help organizations meet their demands, their expectations, their strategic goals, but most importantly, to seek the welfare and interest of their people.” - Kristed Herbert, (10:46)

“I would add that Trinidad and Tobago is at the cusp of moving from focusing on workplace optimization and operational efficiency to more at the strategic and tactical level. And this is where ProFM comes in because it bridges the gap between the operations—the tactical and the strategic level—particularly when we look at the asset management model.” - Keith Spencer, (11:01)

“When we touched on the cross-functional competencies and showed as far as we’ve reached into business management and seeing it all the while coming from asset management, coming from strategic management, coming into business management—Those cross-functional areas are needed, are necessary, and are key tools to effectively be facility managers in the workplace.” - Kristed Herbert, (15:28)

“[ProFM] is so practical. You can literally take an example that is being presented in any module and adapt it and use it in your facility. It’s so comprehensive. It’s so all-inclusive that you literally have at your disposal a textbook that could guide you along your implementation of your facility management or improve upon what you already have.” - Kristed Herbert, (17:35)

“We’re in the people business. And we have to put ourselves in the user’s experience to be able to bring delivery on key things. And there’s no better way to appreciate FM unless you have that value for people. Everything we do...[is] going to affect your users. And you want to ensure that you are affecting a system that is safe, is reliable, is compliant, and at the end of the day, is adding to the organization’s bottom line.” - Kristed Herbert, (30:08)