Doug Christensen is director of Brigham Young University's Capital Needs Analysis Center, Provo, Utah. He is a past APPA President and is cochair of APPA's Professional Leadership Center.

Every student is entitled to a conducive learning environment composed of safe, clean, comfortable, modern facilities. APPA firmly believes that the quality of the educational environment directly affects the quality of the educational experience.

In support of this belief, APPA has focused its efforts on two main long-range goals: 1) to raise awareness of the association and its work, and 2) to develop leadership within the facilities profession. By strengthening the educational facilities profession, APPA will increase the importance placed on the physical components of the educational environment. This, in turn, enhances the overall quality of education for all students.

Establishing the Professional Leadership Center as proposed in this article will significantly advance APPA's progress toward these goals.

History

As APPA worked to develop its vision for the association, another issue was prevalent in the members' feedback: "How do we become better leaders in our profession?" While APPA offers some leadership training in conjunction with its Institute for Facilities Management, there is no organized, focused educational effort in this direction.

During my term as APPA President, I and member Bill Daigneau (of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center) conducted an in-depth review of professional leadership development issues for the association. The results of their review were presented in a preliminary study, which also outlined the initial meetings and proposed focus for a professional development center.

From this preliminary study, the APPA Board of Directors agreed to a proposal in February 1997 to further develop the Professional Leadership Center. The following is a proposal that has evolved from discussions with members and from research relating to the issues of professional leadership development.

The Professional Leadership Center Concept

APPA's ultimate goal is to create a "center" for education, research, information dissemination, and recognition that will develop and expand facilities management strategies for education, especially as new information technologies reshape traditional forms of learning. The center will provide enhanced programs and opportunities to fulfill five major goals:

  1. Encourage broader thinking about facility issues, helping facilities managers to develop and facilitate the application of new and novel solutions.
  2. Help professionals view issues from the perspective and needs of users/stakeholders.
  3. Research "best of class" practices in and out of higher education.
  4. Identify the variables affecting higher education and their possible results on the future.
  5. To unite by inviting facilities professionals and education stakeholders throughout the world to study leadership issues together for a better aligned future.

The center will focus on the individual to develop leadership skills that will enable them to participate at a higher level and contribute meaningfully to their institution. The Professional Leadership Center will be made up of members and volunteers who are interested in further developing leadership within the facilities profession. Participation in the Professional Leadership Center is open to all who are interested.

Framework and Focus

In order to accomplish this vision, APPA foresees a need for four major components. All four collectively comprise the Professional Leadership Center. The following paragraphs describe the four components and how they provide a framework and focus for the Professional Leadership Center.

The four components are:

  1. Leadership Skills Academy
  2. Facilities Research Group
  3. Leadership Learning Resource Center
  4. "Fellow" Recognition

1. Leadership Skills Academy

The Leadership Skills Academy will focus on the need of leadership education in higher education facility professionals. The institute will emphasize the development of three core skill areas: personal effectiveness, organizational, and professional skills in leadership. These core skills were selected based on outside research which reveals that leaders from widely varying fields share a common set of skills and abilities.

The academy will have appeal and relevance beyond the facilities profession. We feel that such groups as business, personnel, housing, student centers, special events, auxiliary groups, and other similar groups on campus as well as other facilities professional organizations can benefit from learning leadership skills together as partners in this center.

The role of the Leadership Skills Academy will be to create the skills needed to deal with change. All of the activities will be designed to reinforce and provide an environment in which learning can be maximized. We hope to receive I.N.P.U.T. about the various elements that are being put together now to develop this institute. Any of your ideas or suggestions will help to add value to the creation of the institute. For more information on the Leadership Skills Academy, see the following article.

2. Facilities Research Group

To further the research and development of skills and issues, we plan to establish a research group that will give direction to those issues that are of highest priority within our profession. APPA would sponsor a core group of higher education and facilities professionals to form a Facilities Research Group. The Executive Vice President of APPA, who will serve as the host for this group, will invite the group to meet annually. The EVP will make a proposal to the board each year as to who will be part of the Facilities Research Group. It will be important for APPA to get the most influential people who can identify and deal with the issues of higher education and the facilities profession. The Facilities Research Group will accomplish the following:

  1. Identify a principal investigator as well as a sponsor who will fund the research team and its direction. Proper recognition in all APPA publications concerning the result of the research will give APPA a way to recognize the sponsor, as well as the research completed.
  2. Meet yearly to review and prioritize issues relating to higher education and facilities practices.
  3. Meet to suggest research methodology and team members that could be used to give professionalism to the solution of these issues once the issues have been prioritized.

The Facilities Research Group will be a key part of the professional leadership development. It will give us an opportunity to team together in not only the issues, but the learning of the day. This will also give APPA an opportunity to show its leadership in the profession by taking steps to further clarify and give direction to the other members of the association. This annual activity, with a number of issues being researched and reported, should add interest and new knowledge in relationship to how we deal with the future.

To research "best leadership practices" through alliances with any partner that can add value and stretch the current leadership understanding of the profession will be important for the future. This effort will focus on providing opportunities for members to learn and partner with the best. The leadership research and development focus will take a leadership problem or need, research what has been learned and published about the need, and then set up professional opportunities to be exposed to what is being learned.

3. Leadership Learning Resource Center

To develop the kind of relationships and networking that need to take place as we learn and study more about leadership, we would establish on the APPA website a way to access current information and resources that are available in the area of leadership. The purpose of this leadership center will be to provide a leadership resource to anyone at any time based on their need, in order to network the needs, experiences, and learning of all stakeholders interested in leadership and its issues. This resource will also give information about what is being researched, studied, adapted, and learned.

This will take some volunteer effort to help us research past articles or past information and evaluate its importance and value to the members. Once this network is developed, it should be a way of communicating not only leadership problems, but solutions. It will also be an opportunity to develop a directory of people who have dealt with various kinds of issues and challenges, whether in research or adaptation on campus, so that they can be an information source and resource to the membership.

The Leadership Learning Resource Center will help us to communicate, and it could become a focused library and focal point for the membership as we continue to research and develop issues relating to leadership.

4. "Fellow" Recognition

As we proceeded to complete the strategies and vision of the association, it became obvious to us that there was a need to recognize the achievements of our professionals in an appropriate way. Therefore, we propose that as part of the Professional Leadership Center, criteria be established to recognize a professional who has completed certain requirements as an "APPA Fellow." These criteria may include, among others:

  1. Completion of the Leadership Skills Institute.
  2. Successful research in a leadership area.
  3. A presentation made at an APPA educational conference or an article published in one of APPA's publications.

At the completion of these criteria, APPA would then recognize the individual as a Fellow. There would be additional requirements in order to maintain that status by doing other kinds of work related to leadership. We feel that the Fellow recognition is an effective way in which we can recognize leaders.

Conclusion

We are looking forward to developing this center in a way that will add continuous learning to the profession, to higher education, and to any who would join us on our search for quality leadership. We must find ways to be proactive in leading our institutions through the change that is consistent and extreme. We must find ways to work together with common skills and direction so to take advantage of the many who have found wonderful solutions to difficult problems.

We will need all the help we can get to have the Professional Leadership Center add value to each of you. I would ask for your help and support as we begin this journey. We need your I.N.P.U.T. as you get ideas or as the real needs of the job require new solutions. We need to know, and we are all in this together.

There will be future announcements and solicitations for your help in achieving these objectives. It would be our hope that you would get involved and accept the challenge. May we all become "Fellows" in this unique and rewarding work.