The Value of Building Relationships
Derek Chaves has collected many stories, memories, and friendships in his 12 years in the facility services industry. In fact, some of his most vivid memories go much further back. He has childhood memories of tagging along to work with his father — who worked for UNICCO Services Company.
“We’d ride the elevators of these high rise buildings and I’d see window washers dangling outside the windows, and I loved it,” he says. Even then, in observing his father’s easy connection to the people he worked with, Derek recognized that the work was about relationships. “You talk to your tenants every day and you build relationships and friendships. What better place to build relationships with people than in an office building?”
Like many members of Team UG2, Derek joined UG2 while juggling his undergraduate studies. He started as a night cleaner in 2009 and worked part time for several years before earning a promotion to project cleaner. He quickly excelled in that role, and advanced to the position of supervisor, managing the night crew.
“From there I guess I caught Armando Lezama’s eye,” Derek says. “He promoted me to assistant account manager under Rudy De Leon . Rudy really showed me the ropes and taught me that managing people is not just about managing their work. You’re managing personalities and emotions. It’s about building relationships.”
Building relationships is a topic that comes up time and again with Derek, whether he is talking about the cleaners he’s worked alongside and supervised, the managers who’ve taken a personal interest in him, or the customers he so enjoys talking with and learning about their industries.
Along the way, thanks in part to the encouragement of his managers and their support of his education, he completed his Economics degree at UMass Boston. He describes how motivating it was to have managers see potential in him and grant him increasing autonomy.
“You are pretty young with a big responsibility on your plate,” he says. “But you feel valued, and you feel like you have direction. You learn as you go, and I was eventually promoted to account manager at 500 Boylston Street – 222 Berkeley Street, which I consider the crown jewel of Boston.”
He took tremendous pride in owning that responsibility, so much so that the company moved him into his current position of operations manager.
Across the many roles Derek has filled for UG2, a constant was that early insight about relationships being at the core of the work.
“Everybody comes to work, but no one knows what’s going on in their personal lives,” he says. “They might be having an absolutely horrible day. They might have had a car accident or have a family member suffering from an illness. Some of these people work two full time jobs. You can’t just point your finger at them and tell them to do something. To put yourself in their shoes you need to have personal relationships with people. And that’s the key to building an efficient and happy workforce at the end of the day.”