by Shane Henson — November 7, 2012—The daily demands of running a building leave many facilities managers unable to spend enough time planning for the future needs of their buildings, as most FMs have experienced. This is confirmed in a new report from the U.K.-based international surveyors association, RICS, called Raising the Bar: Enhancing the Strategic Role of Facilities Management. The report found that the average facilities manager spends less than one day a week dedicated to planning and strategy, despite the clear importance of strategic facilities management (FM) to business.
The report draws on a survey of almost 400 professionals across six continents and 40 countries. In addition, direct interviews were conducted with FM and corporate real estate executives to provide detailed insights into the management of FM.
According to the report, FM can and should be seen as a strategic business and management discipline; more than 75% of respondents believe FM is strategic. However, there was a discrepancy between this perception and current practice, with the majority of organizations reporting a primary focus on day-to-day operational activity rather than strategy, the report notes.
The report highlights key areas of concern and makes recommendations to ensure an enhanced strategic approach. Feedback suggests many businesses focus on driving down the cost of facilities rather than positioning it as an integrated professional division, with 80% of facilities groups being measured on performance against budget in the first instance. However, integrating facilities with overall business development strategy can help an organization be competitive in the marketplace, reminds RICS. FM leaders must therefore work with senior executives to outline the benefits of an integrated, strategic FM plan, the organization advises.
The study also highlights the importance of FM leaders having multidisciplinary relationships with other key functional areas of the business including corporate strategy, business unit leadership, corporate real estate, finance, human resources and information technology. By working collaboratively with their peers, FM professionals can understand and deliver against the strategic imperatives of their organization as a whole.
To enable this, recommendations are made for some day-to-day responsibilities of FM leaders to be outsourced to external service providers to open up time for strategic planning, says RICS. These and recommendations are outlined in full within the report.
