Selling to Leadership: Building Your Business Case

Facility Voices

In this episode of Facility Voices, Michael Wood, Senior Director of Facility Support Services at Parkland Health, shares his extensive expertise garnered over three decades in the industry.

As the Director of Facility Support Services, Michael orchestrates operations across a vast 7-million-square-foot campus, navigating the day-to-day challenges inherent in sustaining essential systems at one of the busiest healthcare facilities in the United States. He also calls attention to the pivotal role of effective communication, fostering transparent relationships with leadership, and crafting persuasive business proposals to drive facility initiatives forward.

Michael highlights the importance of thoroughly understanding your business and the potential impacts of facilities, distinguishing between scheduled and emergency "down" times, and conducting thorough risk assessments. Additionally, he emphasizes tailoring communication to fit the preferences of leadership, breaking down facility management jargon into understandable terms and ensuring clear expectations on presentation style and report frequency.

Overall, Michael advocates for transparency, urging facility managers to request only what's truly necessary while maintaining a keen eye on financials to bolster credibility. He stresses the significance of taking ownership of mistakes and conducting regular walkthroughs to intimately acquaint oneself with the facilities.

You won’t want to miss out on this episode and Michael's best practices when it comes to communicating your facilities’ and team’s needs with upper management.
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Mr. Wood serves as the Sr. Director, Facilities Support Services for Parkland Health. He is responsible for Engineering Service, Clinical Engineering, Sustainability, Environment of Care and Life Safety Compliance. In this role, he has direct oversight of 7.2 million square feet of occupied space including the acute care hospital, ambulatory surgery center and several outpatient facilities throughout Dallas County. In addition, he served as a bridge between the operations team and the Parkland Hospital design team to ensure operational input in an excellent design, build, and transition for the New Parkland campus replacement project.

Prior to joining the Parkland, Mr. Wood served as the Director of Engineering for University of Oklahoma (OU) Medical Center and served as a Director Consultant for various other health systems across the nation. Mr. Wood has extensive regulatory and facility operational management experience and has worked in a variety healthcare settings for the past thirty years.

Mr. Wood is a Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM), Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP) and Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP).

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The views and opinions expressed by third-party guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ARC Facilities and ARC Document Solutions. We provide a platform for diverse perspectives and discussions and ARC Facilities/ARC Document Solutions assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content provided by our third-party guests.