10 QUESTIONS WITH... 10 QUESTIONS WITH...
In each issue we ask an FM professional the Tomorrow’s FM 10 Questions. This month we spoke to Toby Reeve, Account Manager at Anabas, to fi nd out how he challenges the status quo in his professional life.
Q1 Q2
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
When I left higher education, I moved back home for a while and worked in a bookshop which I loved.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY?
I started working for the locksmith department at the BBC and got on well with the FM team. They asked me to work on the helpdesk, starting with a six-month contract and from there I moved into a permanent role. After that, I worked as an assistant to the facilities manager. He promoted me to team leader, so I ended up overseeing operational delivery of studios, green rooms, restaurants etc. I was there for four and a half years and it was a great training ground for FM.
Q3
HOW DO YOU CHALLENGE THE
STATUS QUO?
In the last few years, I have been more active in making sure everyone pays real attention to detail. Don’t just do things the way they’ve always been done; you’ll always get the same result. Think outside the box. I try to encourage that in everyone I work with.
I don’t hold with management styles shaped 10 or 15 years ago – it’s just not me. I make sure I’m approachable and have a good relationship with my team. We need freshness and willingness to question how things are done.
Q4
SINCE YOU STARTED IN FM WHAT HAS
BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE THE INDUSTRY HAS SEEN/
YOU HAVE OBSERVED? The last three to four years has been much more about building
64 | TOMORROW’S FM
partnerships and allowing FMs to act as experts rather than just responding to a pre-defi ned brief. Clients are embracing FM colleagues into their ethos which helps to build these strong working partnerships. That gives us an opportunity to bring our values and culture to our clients, as well as expertise.
Q5
WHO, IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRY,
DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
That’s a tough question, there is some amazing work out there, but I’d say the John Lewis Partnership. I really respect its business model. It’s a successful enterprise with joint ownership, joint and collective governance and real benefi ts for all the staff – economic as well as the real sense of belonging and being part of a family. That all resonates with me.
Q6
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM?
Sunset Boulevard. It’s a 1950s fi lm that was considered to be one of the last fi lm noirs at the time. There is a slight undercurrent of peril. The acting is great, and the story is clever.
Q7
IF YOU COULD HOST A DINNER PARTY
WITH THREE GUESTS, DEAD OR ALIVE, WHO WOULD
THEY BE AND WHY? Jack Kirby, co-creator of many of the comic heroes that are so popular at the moment. Those comics defi ned the era I grew up in and I still love the characters and the comics.
Billy Wilder, the director of Sunset boulevard. He was a director, screenwriter, and producer and wrote a lot of big fi lms in the 40-50s.
Douglas Adams, the author of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He was
funny and clever with quite a Python- esque sense of humour.
Q8
ANY ADVICE TO SOMEONE
JUST STARTING OUT IN
THE INDUSTRY? Don’t be afraid to try everything and anything. It’s important to fi nd out what you don’t enjoy as well as what you do. I’ve done a whole range of things prior to FM and that’s been a help, not a hinderance. Don’t paint yourself into corners. Maybe even more importantly, don’t be afraid to fail and own up to your failures; it’s how we grow and learn.
Q9
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE FUTURE
OF THE FM INDUSTRY?
I think that partnerships between FMs and their clients will be almost like an intellectual joint venture. They will be on the same journey over the years that they work together. They’ll need common interests and complementary skills. Joint values are so important because they set priorities and defi ne bottom lines.
Q10
WHICH AREA OF FM DO YOU
THINK COULD BE BEST TRANSFORMED THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY? There has been a lot of innovation in the workplace occupation fi eld recently. What’s missing at the moment is what we do with that data. We have to use the data in a meaningful way to drive value and improve how we work. These new technologies will need to be linked with either tech or process development (or both) in visitor and staff management.
www.anabas.co.uk/ twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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