ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY: “My advice is to find a frustrated operator, listen to them, and engage them in what you’re doing. I promise, your work will change for the better,” stated Gracelyn Shannon, Asset Management Manager with the City of Abbotsford (Fall 2023 issue of Asset Management BC Newsletter)
NOTE TO READER:
The Fall 2023 edition of the Asset Management BC Newsletter includes an article by Gracelyn Shannon, Asset Management Manager with the City of Abbotsford. Her article is titled “Why Frustrated Operators Do Asset Management Best (and How to Help)”.
Why Frustrated Operators Do Asset Management Best
“I did a presentation at an operations conference in 2021 titled “Why Frustrated Operators do the Best Asset Management”. It was my love letter from Asset Management to Operations, to the operators who were brave enough to resist the lure of cynicism and apathy,” writes Gracelyn Shannon.
“Now I get to address my fellow Asset Managers on the topic. My advice to you is to find a frustrated operator, listen to them, and engage them in what you’re doing. I promise, your work will change for the better.”
“When we see a discrepancy between what is happening and what we know should be happening, we experience the emotion of frustration. This frustration which lives in the gap between our reality and our expectations is what Peter Senge calls Creative Tension.”
Choices in dealing with creative tension
“When we experience creative tension, and the corresponding uncomfortable feelings, we have two choices: change reality or change expectations.”
“I am personally fascinated by the space where the world of Asset Management meets the world of Operations. Both have their own unique history, development, and raison d’être. I’ve heard plenty of complaints from operations about asset management and vice versa. But then, we’re all trying to achieve the same thing in the end.”
“As local government staff, we want to deliver services to the public for a long, long time. In asset management, we call that Sustainable Service Delivery. When I was an operations manager, I called it “keeping sh*t running”. The tension between asset management and operations departments is surmountable and you can choose to be the bridge.”
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete article, download the Fall 2023 edition of the Asset Management BC Newsletter.
