FM Careers Spotlight Interview: Andrea Donaldson-Smith, Head of Soft Services, The Hurlingham Club

• How was your journey into FM and your career to date?
• What projects have you been involved in throughout your career so far?
• What different skills have you learned as you've developed?
• What do you love most about the industry?
• What advice would you give to aspiring FM professionals?

Michelle: Welcome to the latest in our FM Careers Spotlight series. I'm delighted to welcome Andie Donaldson Smith. Andie is the Head of Soft Services at the very prestigious Hurlingham Club. Welcome Andie.

Andie: Thank you very much for having me, Michelle.

Michelle: You're welcome. It's great to have you. I'd really like to start by just understanding your journey into FM and your career to date.

Andie: My journey started off years and years ago, probably when I was about 18 years old. I worked in bars and I was really good with the customers and the teams and the difficult drunks and things like that. I've worked in every single bar in Battersea pretty much.

There was a time period where I had to take some time off work for personal reasons, and I was trying to think about what I wanted to do next. I was like, well, customer service is my thing and I'm good at it.

But I want something a bit more. So I went Googling and I found an apprenticeship for Travelodge in management and it was a bold decision to make. I think I was about 20 or 21 and I’d just moved into my flat, paying adult bills and things like that. And I had to take on an apprenticeship that didn't pay very well, just to be able to get myself into a place where I could develop my skills.

In my mind, I literally thought that what is like a pub, but different? A hotel that has a bar attached to it! So I was like, okay, you know, and that's how I thought about it. That was my logic behind it. So I worked in various budget hotels and five star hotels, and as I tell anyone, I did not realise that I was in facilities management.

It was only once I moved to the corporate world that I realised that what I did was FM: dealing with complaints, dealing with maintenance, security, all of those things.

So I've actually done it twice. From taking a lower paid apprenticeship in my early twenties to get myself into FM, but then also going from a Guest Relations Manager back to a Receptionist for a company that was contracted by the client, because I needed to get into the corporate world.

So I sat there, I did the job and then I did what I usually do when I want something: I got to know the right people. I got more responsibility because I was willing to do things that other people thought were boring because I find things like health and safety quite interesting.

I worked my way up literally up the levels to Level 16, where all the execs sat and where JLL were. And the minute a job came up, they're like, “Ooh, this woman, Andrea.” And that's essentially how it happened. I just sort of weaselled my way in, but I've done it all.

I've turned down beds. I've been a carer. I think everything I've done has brought me to where I am now. I understand challenging people. I understand people that don't communicate well. I understand how buildings work and the politics and everything. And I understand helpdesk work. So I've done it all.

Michelle: Most people do say they fall into FM, don't they? You didn't start off by saying that, but in a way, you didn't quite realise what it was.

Andie: I made sure not to say that because it's the thing that we all say and it's true, but I don't think I fell into it. I think I was in it because I wanted to obviously do that management thing, but I didn't understand the term. I think that's a key problem as well. You ask people who facilities managers are, “They're like, what is that?”

Michelle: Yeah exactly. So you've talked a little bit about what you've done from where you came from initially, but I'm really interested in pulling out impactful projects or the variety of different things that you've worked on throughout your career so far.

Because people that don't know FM don't necessarily know all the different sectors that you can get involved in and the different projects you can get involved in, and the different types of roles. Anything you can add on that.

Andie: In a few of my previous roles, you could say that I've been doing facilities management in general, but also been in charge of all the health and safety evacuations, shelter in place, developing the policies, first aid kits, doing that piece.

One of the hotels I worked in, it was an 800 bedroom hotel that was being constructed on top. So, it was not just the day to day managing the weddings, I think we had horses and drummers, and then we had all the complaints that would come through to me, and then also I would do the guest experience of setting up wedding proposals and things like that, then run upstairs and deal with a difficult man, but also trying to keep the building running while you've got it being constructed on as well. That is very difficult.

Then in amongst that the fire alarm goes off and you've now got to protect everyone. So that was the variety there, but the bits that have really stayed with me are the mobilisations. So you can do so many things.

Like I said earlier, I love health and safety. I love learning about how BMS’s work. I by no means have any technical qualification, but I love to spend time with engineers and to find out how they work. More recently here, the grounds and landscapes. I did not know that grounds and landscapes was part of FM. They do a bloody hard job. All weather!

Our Head of Grounds has to give the inoculations to the black swans. He gets bitten.

Michelle: Wow. Yeah. Okay.

Andie: You know, I sit there and I go, “I didn't know this”. But for me, I seem to fall into these roles where I turn up, they say you're in FM, or I end up having to do spreadsheets and spreadsheets to put together global training sessions for directors when I'm a lonely little FM going, “Excuse me, get your team to do this”.

That's one thing. Having to completely rewrite waste procedures. That's another thing I didn't know I was capable of doing until I did it. Decommissioning buildings, which is interesting because you have to deal with the landlord, the council, the contractors, the Quantity Surveyors. That I find very interesting.

And then the legal side that comes with these things. So, I don't think I could in enough time, explain how varied it is. But those journeys when I've decommissioned or mobilised a building, those are the moments when I realised that I am actually better at this than I thought I was, because it's never been the job description to go in and mobilise a site.

It's always FM or senior FM. Then they're like, “Okay, this building's opening in six months, we need to mobilise”. And I’m like “That's not, what?” So that’s me.

Michelle: So skills-wise then, all the things you're involved with on a daily basis in the roles you've done, and at the Hurlingham Club, there's constantly something different happening.

You must have had to really develop your skills over time. What different skills would you say that you've learned as you've developed your career?

Andie: Teamwork. That's one skill that I’ve developed. I've never been very good at delegating. I can work in a team, but I'm one of those people that sometimes likes to work alone. So that's something I've had to learn.

There are also some practical things that you learn, like IOSH and NEBOSH, if you're going to do the health and safety stuff. I think if you're going to be technical and you're going to be in maintenance, then obviously you need qualifications, whether it's CDM for projects or whatnot.

But I think, if I'm really honest, all of those skills, I think you can learn them anytime, anywhere. I think the biggest skill that you need to have to be in this industry is the correct mindset. I think you can't be a person that wants the easy life and the quick fix. That is not how it works.

It is a case of whether it's your client that you've got issues with, other contractors, third parties, all of these things. If you've not got the mindset of, “I'm going to go in there no matter what the problem is and I'm just going to figure it out”, then you've got no business being in the industry because you will not succeed.

Michelle: Yeah, so being really adaptable, agile, problem solving, all those sorts of things, which are skills that are transferable from lots of other sectors and roles that you just happen to use all the time in the role you're doing.

Andie: I would say so. And I think the other thing I would say is being able to instantly risk assess every situation. And I'm not just saying the typical health and safety stuff. I'm saying things like, you've got a massive flood in one part of your building, you've got people kicking off on another side of your building, you've got HR that need you for this, the finance department that want the spreadsheet for that, and then you've got the day to day operations of your team and everything that comes with.

It's about going, “what is important here?” Now, you would think it would be the leak, or the flood. But for me, it's like, well, hold on, if I've got the right team in place there, they're going to deal with that. They'll update me when I need to be updated. So I can go and deal with the client kicking off.

It's about having all the moving pieces and all the puzzle pieces and just understanding where they go.

Michelle: So what would you say you love most about the industry?

Andie: Even on my worst day at work, I love my job, right? My job doesn't allow for complacency. No two days are ever the same. Trust me. I've seen some things.

The flexibility of it, it is very flexible. The people you get to meet. And I will say this as well, this sounds really, really sad, but I actually love it when things go wrong because I get to fix them.

I've been with engineers, we had lights that were leaking. So obviously we had to shut off all the lights to that side of the building, but we had traders as well, and the traders computers couldn't go down, so that was a massive risk. And then I ended up going with the contractor and our engineering team to the toilets where I came out smelling very awful, but I was like, “I know how this works now”.

So for me, it's that. And the fact that it's always a learning experience. I don't think any two people's perspectives are the same when it comes to FM. That's the other thing as well. It depends on where we're at.

Michelle: Yeah, you know, I think that’s definitely what comes across and with the people that I've been speaking to so far is that constant learning.

It's meeting new people, using your network, all that sort of stuff really does come across every time we have one of these conversations. And it's nice to hear for somebody coming into the industry fresh or looking towards a potential career in FM, knowing that there's that bit of support as well from a network of people.

Andie: And you're never alone. And I didn't even say the networking, but I find as an FM blatantly, honestly, back in the day, if you're on an account that has just one FM for one building or per portfolio, sometimes being the only person in that role in the entire building or business can be extremely isolating.

And though I don't do networking very well, I find it a little bit awkward for me, if it hadn't been for the networking that I'd forced myself into doing or the people that supported me with it, I would have been a mess.

I mean, I've had plenty of times where I've walked into a role and needed a quick fix immediately and I've just reached out to someone that I either liked their comment on LinkedIn, or I met them briefly once at an event, and was like, “Gosh, can you help me?” So I don't think the people within the industry want to see you fail.

Michelle: What advice would you give to any aspiring FM professionals out there? Anyone that doesn't really know is a career in FM right for them, or someone that's looking to move roles within the industry?

Andie: Build a network, ask the right questions. There’s a colleague of mine who was in the sports department here and she was looking to move but didn't know what to move to. So I said, “Why don't you just come over, have a trial, see if you like it here, and get to learn about what it is?” And now she's absolutely loving everything to do with our industry.

But also build on the skills that we're going to need in the future. I think the biggest thing is; let's say you work in environment, sustainability, ESG, that type of thing, and you feel like you're a bit stuck in that role, it's good, but it doesn't excite you that much anymore, consider that you can then take a transfer into the world of FM because that is a hot commodity here, right? Everyone's trying to reduce their impact on the planet.

There’s a big drive on wellbeing. So if you can have an FM with wellbeing experience, that finds a way for the client and the people in the buildings to be able to work better or improve it, whether it's a green wall or a sensory room or whatever, I think that's something that would be quite interesting. Other than that, just throw yourself in.

Michelle: Have you felt like you've been able to do that? You've obviously said that you've had to stretch yourself in different directions that maybe you're not comfortable with.

Andie: 100%. Be authentic. Know that “no” is completely fair to say. Instead of trying to find problems, not just solutions, but choices. That's the best way that I appease people when I can't do something for them. I think know your audience. I think there's a lot of emotional intelligence that is required for FMs.

That's one thing I forgot. And it's not that obvious. So I know that my style is done in such a way that is so authentic. My sarcasm works for me. Be authentic, 100%. And be honest. Just say you don't know if you don't know something. I always go I don't know but I'll find out and I’ll get back to you.

Michelle: Okay, well honestly, thank you so much for talking to me about your career so far and your little tips for anyone that's aspiring to come into FM. I've loved hearing about that and I'm sure we'll talk further. So thanks very much, Andie, for your time. Really appreciate it.

Andie: Thank you, Michelle. Have a great day.