Update your Contract Management
Have you updated your contract management yet? Contract management is moving from legal terms and specifications to an important tool between you and your service provider to ensure success.
DetailsVisibility
I see a trend when talking with senior facility and property professionals about their processes and systems. The trend is a lack of visibility into crucial aspects of their costs and activities.
Focus on Management
The reality of the Facility and Property Management industry is that most managers and staff have strong technical skills but less experience and training in the management and business skills they need to fully benefit from their technical knowledge, improve their careers and benefit their employers. The need to focus on non-technical aspects of Facility…
DetailsCan You Make A Decision?
If you are like most Property and Facility Managers, you are inundated with data and information on a daily basis yet not much of it helps you make decisions.
Testing Performance Measurements
Performance Measurements (KPI’s) are one of the most useful management tools available. Getting it right, is another matter. It’s easy to develop ways to measure performance but it’s harder to assess how those measures will drive Performance.
Measuring In-House Performance
There is a growing trend to implement effective performance measurement systems and frameworks (KPI’s and SLA’s) for subcontracted and outsourced functions, but very few organizations measure their internal services with the same tools.
Sustainability Takes Courage
Courage seems to be the biggest hurdle to sustainability. That’s the conclusuion I got from an IFMA supper seminar on Sustainability by Bill Gregory, Director of Sustainable Initiatives from Milliken & Company. He presented a number of case studies. At first, they seemed impressive, with a number of initiatives and features that promoted sustainability, environmentally…
DetailsWear Your Hardhat When Benchmarking
Benchmarking can be hazardous to your health, so be sure to take all necessary precautions. Accurately comparing costs between buildings is not as easy as it seems, and using averages can sometimes result in wrong decisions. And don’t get hung up about oranges.
Top 10 Issues
These Top 10 issues come from an association that focuses on educational facilities, but as you can see, they can apply to anyone managing properties.They confirm that managing physical space is essentially the same regardless of whether you are managing corporate facilities or commercial properties. The list was put forward by APPA, the North American…
DetailsServing Up Quality
My recent magazine article on getting the right service level from your outsourced (or subcontracted) service provider has been published and already I’ve received positive feedback. This article came from a startling statistic from a recent IFMA research report that said getting the right service was an issue with 78% of the facility executives surveyed.
Leading Practices
Some recent discussions with senior facility managers at an IFMA networking event really hit home. In my latest article, which appears in the September issue of Canadian Facility Management and Design, I talk about implementing leading practices used by the largest and most successful professional FM companies.
DetailsPenalize Your Suppliers!
The search term “penalize your supplier” in a Google search recently led someone to my web site, www.StrategicAdvisor.ca They landed on our performance measurement article, which certainly has those words in the content, but then they quickly went somewhere else – probably because we don’t talk about penalizing suppliers – we focus on managing supplier…
DetailsHave you cut operating costs lately?
On a forum recently, a Facility Manager was looking for ways to save costs at his facility due to the current economic pressures. He identified a few things he was doing, mostly the common low hanging fruit items, and asked for ideas. Having been in that situation as an FM and responded to it as…
DetailsDoes Six Sigma work in Facility Management?
The answer is yes and no. First, it’s important to understand where Six Sigma came from. The term itself refers to having less than 3.4 defects per million. It’s pretty well impossible for any FM organization to have that kind of volume for anything. The concept was designed for manufacturing where if you are turning…
DetailsJustify the Status Quo with Benchmarking!
Some people simply use benchmarking results to justify the status quo. Since raw benchmarking results can be deceptive, this is easy to accomplish. Unfortunately, this is not what Benchmarking is meant to do. Really, Benchmarking is the just the first step in an important process to improve what you do.
DetailsDay Time Cleaning – Benefits, Problems and Making it Work
Day Time Cleaning is gaining ground for several very good reasons, not the least of which is energy savings, which is helping organizations meet their energy objectives for envrironmental stewardship and sustainability. There are other good reasons to implement day time janitorial service, but there are some important considerations and it takes support at the hightest…
DetailsSuccessful FM’s communicate effectively
Effective Facility Management is all about communications. Whether you are managing office space, maintaining building systems, developing strategic asset plans or all of the above, good communication skills are essential.
Are you an Ideal Facility Manager ?
(First, my apologies to the Property Managers out there – your function and role is much clearer and has a much more obvious and measurable impact to your company) The demands of the job are intense, the stakes high and the credit often elusive, but we all know how important the job is and I…
DetailsUsing Satisfaction as a proxy for Office Productivity
Some time ago, I encountered a great case study about a proxy for office productivity. A colleague had an interesting example that points to the link between the office layout, furniture, finishes and productivity. No he doesn’t have a magic formula to measuring productivity – this example uses ‘employee satisfaction’ as a proxy.
Facility Managers Don’t Have All The Answers.
FM is a complex, issues based role. I’ve learned along the way that nobody in the industry knows it all, and the best way to be successful is to leverage the knowledge and great ideas of others, including your staff, colleagues and suppliers. Recently, I delivered a 3 day workshop on Strategic Facilities Management in…
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