Maintenance managers are busy, and it can be hard to find time to sit back and take a closer look at your operations. But taking the time for a little reflection can have a big impact on the future of your department.
When you take the time to review your maintenance goals and workflows, you’ll probably find some things that you can do to improve, as well as identify new ways to improve your team’s productivity and efficiency.
Nine Questions to Ask Yourself
Start this process by asking yourself these nine questions…
- What’s making you nervous at work?
- What changes have you noticed and how will they impact your maintenance team?
- What resources might help you successfully navigate these changes?
- What are your organization’s plans for adding or replacing assets?
- Do you have new employees who would benefit from some training?
- Could other team members use a refresher in certain areas?
- Do you have new service requestors who need help on the best way to fill out work order requests?
- Do you need new or different reports for you or your boss?
- Is your CMMS software fully updated with any security patches or other updates from the software developer?
One More Question to Ask Your Team or Service Customers
After you’ve spent a little time working through the first nine questions, there’s one more question to ask your maintenance team and/or your service customers…
- Does anyone have questions or ideas for doing things better?
The answers you get might surprise you, and they may feel a bit overwhelming. Remember you don’t have to do everything yourself. Pick up the phone and ask for help when you need it. Brainstorm with other maintenance managers for advice on how they handle things, and involve your team members whenever possible.
Your CMMS vendor also likely has some effective and affordable services to expedite your path to improvement. Look for services like MPulse Reset, which helps our customers reconfigure workflows and benchmarks, and then determines where adjustments to your CMMS software can help.
Good maintenance managers know that plans are fluid, and they need to adapt to changes in their organization. Spend the time to reflect on these 10 questions and help your organization protect its investments and maximize maintenance productivity.
