It’s a common misconception that Facility Managers need a seat at the C-Suite table along with the COO, CEO, CFO, CIO, and the other top executives. Quite simply you don’t. And in most organizations, you won’t. The nature of what we do as Facility Managers, while important to your organization’s success, simply won’t warrant a…
DetailsI was discussing the issues of design not working well for operations with a very experienced Facility Manager I know and he gave me a great example of how he got the Architect on-board with operational design requirements for a new Facility. You may have seen my previous posting “Architects Dream – Facility Managers…
DetailsWhether you are a facility manager, property manager or a supplier, writing RFP’s, writing responses to RFP’s and evaluating them is an important part of the supplier / client relationship. Suppliers can do their clients a favor by writing better proposals that are easier to evaluate, provide the info they need and let them differentiate…
DetailsIf you’ll be at IFMA’s World Workplace in Orlando, Florida between October 7th and 9th, lets get together for a coffee or drink. I’ll be delivering a seminar called “Intelligent Benchmarking and Beyond : Getting Results is More Than Just Comparing Numbers” at 3:30 on Thursday, October 8th. Join me in the session or see…
DetailsI had a chance to speak to a room full of facility and property management professionals about promoting their FM role within their organizations. In most of my discussions with facility managers, their profession doesn’t get as much recognition in their organizations as other departments or groups. It’s time that changed.
DetailsReal Estate costs money, and money is the bottom line for any company. Facilities Managers who recognize this fact are in a better position to raise the profile of the Facilities department and contribute to the success of the company by accurately establishing facility related costs and positioning the information for better corporate decisions. With…
DetailsCapital funding is always an issue in facilities, with Facility managers constantly fighting for replacement and renewal funding for their buildings, competing for funds needed elsewhere within the company. I’ve seen many FM’s struggle at this, yet I have seen it being done by others with great success. I worked with a charity to set…
DetailsBelonging to a professional association and even having a designation is a great way to develop more credibility, find solutions, expand your professional contacts, make yourself more marketable and generally advance the Facilities Profession. There are a large number of national associations around the world, as listed in my Facility Management book , and provided…
DetailsIt can happen – a power failure that blacks out your building or your offices. What would you do? First Canadian Place, shown here, went black for an entire day from about 7:30am to 4:30pm on October 14th, 2010. It’s a 44 story, 2.7 million sq.ft. building in the heart of Toronto’s financial district.
DetailsThe Facilities Management profession is not well understood by organizations and often even less so by your Human Resources department. They are more likely to deal with the large number of employees engaged in the core business of your organization or in the more recognizable support professions like IT, finance, sales, etc. As a result,…
DetailsOccupant surveys are an important tool that many Facility and Property Manages neglect. They are much easier and cheaper to do now with easy to use web tools and are even environmentally friendly as a result. The web tools make it easy to create and distribute surveys in a corporate environment and you can even…
DetailsBenchmarking 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.
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.
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.
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.
DetailsWhen’s the last time you got out of your office? If you don’t attend Facility Management or Property Management related trade shows and conferences, you aren’t keeping up with the industry and your colleagues and you aren’t discovering solutions and products that will benefit your company.
Here is a list of New Year’s resolutions every Facility Manager should follow over the next year. You’ll notice that the hot issues like Sustainability and Emergency Planning aren’t listed. Why? Because they are fundamentals of the job. This list reflects a new way of working for many Facility Managers who are dealing with technical…
DetailsDoes your Company know why a Professional Facilities Manager like you is essential to get the best value out of their Facilities? Facilities represent a large part of any company’s assets and expenses (usually the second highest cost behind personnel) yet Facilities Management doesn’t usually receive the same attention that other parts of organization receive.…
DetailsThese 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…
DetailsI recently held a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting for the Certificate in Facility Management at Ryerson University for which I am the Academic Coordinator. It is a continuing education program for people in the Facility Management industry to develop and upgrade their skills. The PAC was formed for a program review to identify changes…
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