Core competency skills and training requirements for FM staff
by the GSA Public Buildings Service Heartland Region
The Associate Training Matrix (ATM) provides management with a tool to know at a glance where to put limited training dollars.
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Public Buildings Service’s St. Louis (St. Louis, MO) Field Office (FO) has long recognized that the key to successful asset management and proficient customer service is by having competent and highly trained associates.
The FO has associates assigned to 10 different disciplinary functional areas at varying grade levels. Assessing the organizational skill levels of all associates has been a daunting task. Being a customer service organization requires associates to possess numerous general and technical competencies. Skill levels for these competencies must be developed and maintained at high levels to ensure success.
To address this issue, the FO developed a matrix which it labeled the Associate Training Matrix (ATM). The ATM identified over 100 competencies in which each associate must be skilled. Required levels of skill were established for each area of competency.
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| Associate Training Matrix (excerpt) |
Levels varied for each different job description. For example, a facilities mechanical operations specialist would not need the same skill level in communications as a building manager who deals constantly with the customer. After the required skill levels were established, each associate self evaluated themselves as to the current skill level they possessed for each competency. The supervisor also evaluated each associate’s level of skill independently.
The supervisor and associate then mutually agreed on the current skill level possessed by each associate. The skill level was then recorded on the ATM with a color code to reflect the varying levels of training needed by each associate in each of the over 100 competency areas, e.g. a red code would reflect an urgent training need, and so on.
Associates and managers update the ATM twice annually. They use the ATM to readily identify training needs, skill levels associates possess for unique tasks, competencies needed for job applicants, targeting of limited training funds, and other information.
The FO has found the ATM to have an indirect impact on all operations. The resultant highly skilled associates have the resultant ‘positive’ direct impact.
Contact:
Charles Meyer
Director
St. Louis Field Office
Public Buildings Service
Heartland Region
U.S. General Services Administration
charlie.meyer@gsa.gov
