Become the Best Asset Maintainer in the Company

While you may not win plaudits specifically for maintaining equipment or ensuring other people do so (given that people tend to notice when something wasn’t maintained and subsequently went wrong), it’s still possible to excel in this area.

Develop best-in-class systems to ensure that every piece of equipment is checked on a regular basis and verified as still suitable for its task(s).

When there’s a need to use testing equipment to verify that your equipment doesn’t need servicing, adjusting or to be completely replaced, then this should be done too. For instance, when excessive sound emanations or vibrations pose a danger to workers, then using testing equipment like the VA5 Pro from ADash, which tests other equipment for potentially dangerous faults, is very useful.

Pursue Total Adherence to Current and New Laws

It’s necessary to ensure that equipment is maintained and operated in accordance with the law . Obviously, laws change too, so an asset management role includes keeping up with changes in the law that are relevant to your industry and any equipment that has some overlapping connection from the legal or risk perspective.

Excel at Staying Current with Legal Changes

Not every asset manager is brilliant at keeping current with legal changes. An effective one needs to show what specifically they’re doing to learn about new laws that affect employment, staffing and the maintenance, safety and security of equipment owners and/or operated by the business. This includes what changes have been implemented as a result of changes in the legal parameters that the company must be aware of and fully comply with.

Establish Procedures to Resolve Confusion Over Legal Language

There’s also room for you to highlight how to deal with any ambiguity. Certainly, sometimes a law is either so open-ended or unclear through a lack of specificity or applicability to the industry that it’s genuinely difficult to make changes (should they indeed be necessary) to be in adherence with the new laws. In which case, seeking legal counsel (either internally or through outside legal assistance from specialists in this area of the law) allows for greater specificity on how the company must respond and make recommendations to senior managers for approval based on this additional research.

Managing an Asset Management Team Better

Many Asset Managers have a team under them. You may have started in a junior position and have been gradually working your way up through the department into the junior management tiers and beyond.

In order to guide and mentor the people below you and, in part, prepare you for more senior positions within the Asset Management department in the future, taking one of the ILM Level 5 Coaching Courses from thebcfgroup.co.uk is a solid step forward.

The BCF Group provides not only ILM Level 5 qualifications in coaching and mentoring, but other levels of ILM training along with courses on management, leadership and interpersonal skills too. Therefore, should there be other areas that you feel could be improved upon, there’s the opportunity to address those too.

Not Losing Sight of the People

Whilst your central focus should be both on the assets that the company has, managing the team is very important too.

When the team are happy, productive and focused, then it’s possible to get the best results from the least resources. Even during low-staffed summer months when people are taking time away, it’s the effort put into relationships within the department that is the glue which holds everything together. Sure, the active mentorship helps, but the whole team needs to work together regardless of the guidance they’ve had or are currently receiving.

The same goes for business relationships with management personnel outside of the asset management department. Managers must have confidence on how assets are protected, maintained and operated, to be assured that the company’s interests about being well considered. The approach here needs to be different, perhaps somewhat deferential while not losing sight of the department’s perspective in these dealings. Only through maintaining the confidence of the senior management team can any asset manager see their career flourish.

For an asset manager, charting a successful career begins with managing less valuable equipment and ensuring important steps - like booking servicing or maintenance work to keep equipment in good working order - is completed. Beyond that, working well with others, managing more valuable equipment successfully, and developing a mindset for managing people moves you beyond the basic level. Ultimately though, to manage teams, it’s necessary to learn how to do that, otherwise you’re left guessing about the best approach when you get surprised by an unexpected business situation.