Culture Changes Necessary for Developing High-Tech Skills
Peter Crabtree, Laney College
This roundtable discussion will explore systemic factors that affect the building operator's capacity to optimally operate a high-technology building. The roundtable will solicit participants' perspectives on the many challenges and opportunities associated with operating a high-technology building more sustainably. These challenges can include structural and organizational issues, fragmentation of building stakeholders, disconnect between the design/build and operations phases, management structures, and conflicting assignments, simultaneously trying to satisfy occupant comfort, building policies, and management directives. Participant feedback will be recorded and utilized for future planning, including at the Facilities Fusion conference.
Following are some key questions to be addressed and discussed at each table during the morning session:
- What are the biggest organizational challenges that affect the ability of building operators to do their work?
- What kind of communication gaps exist and where?
- What are the typical financial constraints?
- What types of conflicting interests, policies, occupant needs, and instructions from building management do building operators deal with on a daily basis?
- Is there a disconnect between the design/build and operations phases, and if so, how does that affect the building operators' ability to optimize building performance?
- How do these factors impact the building operators' capacity to focus on energy efficiency and energy management in high-tech facilities?
- What types of changes in the organizational culture of a facility would be needed for building operators to do their work more effectively?
- How could the Labs21 network assist in this effort?