Do you ever get so caught up in the everyday goings-on of your job description that you begin to resemble an aardvark hunting for bugs? It’s a funny picture to be sure but bear with me for a moment. I had a professor in undergrad who often talked about the way that we approach work as being, and I quote, “Bug, bug, bug.” His point was that we are sometimes tempted to look down at the minutiae of our job rather than taking a moment to lift our heads and look around or, better yet, to take a plane up to 30,000 ft and get a good look at the big picture.
How about you? When was the last time you put on your CEO hat and considered what it is that you are doing for your company? If you are the facilities manager for a midsize to large facility, my bet would be that you spend a lot of time fighting fires. Not literal ones of course (hopefully), but the kind of things that come up that you were not expecting yet that are both important and urgent… the toilets that keep backing up… the staff break room that is a constant headache… maybe even an ongoing issue with fingerprints on the doors (why is it always just at the moment the big boss arrives?).
It’s around this time of year when the smartest people are doing something called scheduling a CEO day. The basic concept here is that we rarely (if ever) take the time to think like CEOs. When we get caught up in the day to day, we aren’t looking at the big picture and that’s a problem because when we fail to look at the big picture, we are actually creating problems for our later selves.
As you think about your year as a whole, I would encourage you to perform a SWOT analysis. What were the strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? Differentiate between those internal and external challenges and then make a plan to do something to change in 2025 in order to minimize the weaknesses and threats and capitalize on your strengths and opportunities.
As you think about the kind of year you want to have in 2025, I would wager a guess that you want to also utilize the Eisenhower Matrix to schedule those important but not urgent tasks that are essential for the long-term upkeep of your facility. Those tasks may include monthly deep cleaning, external window washing, power washing, upholstery care, carpet hot water extraction or bonneting, even those less frequent tasks like stripping and waxing VCT flooring.
When you think like a CEO in your role, you are imagining your year as one big picture rather than fighting fires as they pop up. This is beneficial for many reasons but not least of all, for your health! Did you know that the majority of people who make New Year’s resolutions do so in order to prioritize their physical health in some way? I bet you didn’t think that something as simple as scheduling a deep cleaning task for next July when the building isn’t as full could have an effect on your blood pressure, but it most certainly can!
One of the benefits of working with Sonlight Cleaning services for your weekly janitorial cleaning is that we always think like CEOs about your business. Yes, we can do the day to day cleaning, day Porter servicing for 8 hours per day, etc but we also do those big picture tasks like window washing or power washing or even special event cleanup after a holiday party. Our job as a commercial cleaning company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is to make your job easier. If you are looking to make a high impact change in 2025, why not start with putting your CEO hat on and calling up your client care specialist at Sonlight Cleaning to talk about a big picture plan for the New Year.
By Laura Pulliam
