Building facilities (pt 4)

Customers want service delivery that meets their expectations. If the facilities manager fails, customers will be less willing to buy from the facilities department, and will seek alternatives. Meanwhile, the facilities manager suffers a loss of credibility.

In this article we take a look at both the pitfalls and the inhibitors that can prevent service delivery that meets those customers expectations — and we suggest some solutions.

The first pitfall is lack of performance measurement. Failing to follow the facilities management cycle and failing to measure and monitor the performance of both services and goods suppliers will lead to gaps in service provision that will only become apparent once complaints are made.

While gaps in service delivery can take some time to become visible, gaps that occur within capital projects show up quickly — and result in delays in completion or cost overspends.

What's more, if such a gap is not identified early on, it can be too late to effect repair.

Watch that budget
The second potential pitfall is in the area of finance. Being diligent with financial resources is of prime importance to the facilities manager. Failure to match expenditure with budget will never go down well with the board. Do record all commitments and check them against expenditure, keeping a close eye on the budget. If you don't, you're in for trouble at the end of the year. A good cost code structure is needed to identify area spends.

Another potential pitfall is fragmented facilities management delivery. A common problem, this often results in gaps developing in services. We believe that it is impossible to achieve best practice, and therefore value for money, if the responsibility for facilities management is spread across more than one department.

Believing or pretending that you know more than you do is a pitfall that can lead you into dangerous situations and damage your credibility. What if you are exposed? You cannot know everything, but you do need to know where to obtain advice and knowledge you can trust.

Yet another pitfall is being reactive rather than proactive in dealing with problems. The reactive approach leads to problems because we wait until faults occur and hope we can put them right quickly. Fewer failures will arise if managers take a proactive approach to identifying problems before they arise.

Customers are more knowledgeable than ever before. They know what they need to run their business and they expect accommodating and flexible delivery. Prescriptive facilities managers delivering fixed price inflexible services are not viewed favourably, more often they are thought of as obstructive. Flexibility is the watchword. Seek ways of providing services that customers can adapt to their own requirements. A manufacturing division, for example, may want less emphasis on daily cleaning and far more on an impressive reception service. Look for ways of flexing the budget spend to accommodate their needs.

Finally a lack of communication is probably the biggest pitfall we can encounter. Failing to keep customers or the board up-to-date with events and potential changes, or failing to understand their needs, will lead to poorly matched services and standards. Invest in communication techniques such as newsletters, create service level agreements, hold departmental customer meetings and report to the board.

Other pitfalls include poor time management, lack of dry runs with the team and the lack of a business continuity plan - all major issues for which there is too little space to tackle here.

The inhibitors
The first inhibitor is statutory regulation such as health and safety law, planning consents and employee law which all have to be adhered to even if, in a given situation, they appear to be 'over the top'. Persuading the customer of the necessity to abide by them is often difficult because the regulations are not understood by many and can appear to be stopping the customer from doing what they want with their business.

Facilities managers cannot be experts in every aspect of their job, but they should have a good basic understanding of the regulations, especially those that affect us daily, and undertake some risk analysis. They must also know where to get information to ensure that they comply.

Legal obligations constitute the second inhibitor. They range from inappropriate terms and conditions of the cleaning contract, through landlord and tenant lease obligations to discrimination against the person. We must take care in verbal and written presentations to ensure that our message is received with clarity.

Facilities managers are often unaware of lease obligations which may include items such as window cleaning and redecorations that don't fit in with budgets. They have to be met, unless they can be negotiated out.

The third inhibitor is lack of appreciation by the board. Many facilities managers feel that senior management doesn't appreciate and support them and facilities management budgets always seem to be the first to be cut. Is it because the board doesn't fully understand the role facilities managers play in assisting core staff to operate at their best?

Facilities managers have a responsibility to educate the board on the importance of their vital support role — but it is one of the most difficult tasks. Some of the following actions, have been used by facilities managers who work closely with the board and have even achieved a place on it:

• adopting a planned strategic facilities management approach which matches the corporate strategy and timescale
  
• identifying and adopting board needs and wish lists
  
• offering options highlighting financial situations that assist the board in decision making, such as obtaining best value from the property portfolio
  
• producing annual reports on major activities and successes, particularly financial successes and activities that have influenced core staff effectiveness
  
• warning of board responsibilities in the area of health and safety
  
• seeking innovative capital finance cases to reduce revenue expenditure
  
• adopting zero-based budgets showing benefits, consequences and priority ratings
  
• adopting life cycle costing and using it for budgeting and in reports
  
• identifying board members and departmental heads to act as champions
  
• improving expertise and knowledge to achieve the above.

The fourth inhibitor is courage and visibility. Facilities managers often lack the courage to offer radical approaches. It is essential to continually review the service package and be prepared to change the offering to suit customer requirements.

The fifth inhibitor is customer knowledge. Educating the customers is easier than educating the board because we should be in constant touch with them. The more we talk to them, discuss their needs and fulfil them the more we shall be appreciated. Action points include:

• the introduction of service level agreements
  
• regular newsletters
  
• pictorial, interactive exhibitions on, for example, health and safety
  
• utilising a one stop shop helpdesk
  
• keeping promises on deliveries
  
• being available.

Another inhibitor can be organisational culture. This is more prevalent in large corporations, the public sector and family firms where aversion to change and personal politics can hold back the facilities manager from adopting best practice techniques. It is almost impossible for the facilities manager to change corporate culture, but by adopting the suggestions made above it is possible to have some influence.

Poor interactive skills can be an inhibitor. They are an essential part of successful facilities management. One of the best ways to know your management powers is to attend a course on influencing skills.

Finally, IT literacy can be an inhibitor at a time when the internet, convergence, data management and security are all pressing themselves into our daily lives. Facilities managers should ensure they understand and can influence the decisions being made in their organisations around information technology.

For example, organisations that have videoconferencing facilities will have been able to communicate across their businesses following 11 September. Those relying on air travel have been and will continue to be at some disadvantage. Proactive facilities managers will have been supporting their business continuity plans with this service for some time.