Facilities Management in Any Economy

Posted on 03 November 2009
Tags: Facilities Management, FM Notes

Today we have a guest post of Jim Turner who continues with the FM Notes from the field. Today he addresses FM in any Economy.

It’s rare to encounter a real estate or facilities management professional that hasn’t experienced a hard time due to the poor economic conditions over the last year. There is plenty of discussion of how we’ve finally gotten to a place in the business cycle where we can forecast growth – what has the impact of federal stimulus and recovery funding, for example – but a consensus does seem to be forming that we can expect a moderate recovery.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in a report I saw recently on CNN, predicts that the economy started growing again earlier this summer, but the effects won’t be felt for a couple of years. “Even if the economy returns to positive growth this year, the loss in output, income and employment during the recession and the next few years will be huge,” said Douglas Elmendorf, director of the CBO, in testimony before the House Budget Committee.

Facilities Professional Leadership Series

So while the turnaround appears to be under way, I thought I might refer to a talk I heard recently as part of the Facilities Professional Leadership Series, entitled “FM in Any Economy.” This session was presented by Marc Fisher at Transwestern, and moderated by Stormy Friday of The Friday Group consultancy. During the talk, Fisher outlined four broad, straightforward strategies to impact the value of the facilities portfolio.

The four strategies are useful for facilities managers in their daily approach to management: they can seek ways to decrease expenses; through benchmarking or best practices research they can seek out and adopt solid FM practices; they can look for direct links in their business decisions that will help improve overall company performance; and finally, they can invest in training or process updates that will improve team member performance. Fisher shared great insight from his experience at Transwestern, but it was a short reference to the economic downturn that really caught my attention.

Fisher reminded the listeners that the trough, or downturn, portion of the business cycle is just as important as the peak because it helps to reset the economy. There is a focus on eliminating waste during these periods that prepares organizations for the next growth phase – even provides a growth “springboard” when the turnaround finally arrives. With the emphasis on efficiency, managers are also attuned to opportunities for growing the business or investing in further improvements.

So what does the turnaround mean for FMs? If the department is emerging from the downturn with a strongly aligned portfolio of facilities – this is part of the short-term and long-term planning competencies in the FM maturity model we’ve referenced in previous posts – this is an opportune time to revisit those deferred maintenance issues or capital investment decisions. A timely request for additional funds, with a solid business case, might just be approved as part of strategic positioning.

Likewise, if the scope of FM responsibilities is such that an integrated workspace or computerized maintenance management tool is needed, this is a good time to complete the market research and make the purchase request. After all the work that has gone into streamlining and creating efficiencies, these tools can be a useful element of embedding them in the operation, contributing to the bottom line as revenues grow during the upturn.

Final Thought

A final thought on things that FMs can do now to prepare for growth is to review standing contracts and supply requirements. It is a good time to be proactive and initiate discussions about service levels and pricing, especially if there are support contracts that are coming up for renewal. Similarly, on the supplies side of the coin, taking the time for a review of purchasing histories might yield opportunities for strategic purchasing decisions based on the quantities of goods used, the timing of the orders, or a need to improve the quality of the items in use.

I’ll close with a word about the Facilities Professional Leadership Series that I attended this summer. The web site is http://www.fplseries.com, and the program is jointly presented by Building Operating Management magazine and BOMI International. The program is designed to educate on a wide range of issues and skills, from finance to leadership, from negotiating to the economy.

Thanks for reading this FM Notes from the Field post. We’d love to hear how your facilities organization is preparing for the coming growth cycle, so please drop a note to me atjim.turner@iwmsnews.com if you would like to offer some insight from personal experience or if you would like more information on the material in these blog posts.

Bookmark this article