Top tips from people in your industry who have been there and done it!

Part Five - Improving your FM knowledge

It's difficult to give a precise top tip, because of the breadth of Facilities management. Know your facility down to every last nook and cranny would be one, make sure your H&S maintenance is as impeccable as can be would be another.

It is better to know a lot of phone numbers of experts in many subjects rather than trying to know everything by yourself.

Always be aware of the bigger picture and where Facilities Management fits into it... Facilities Management is a support function which is there to enable the continuous function of the customer's core business. Continuous review of service should be undertaken to ensure that support function is maintained and that Facilities Management is not disrupting or detracting from the core business delivery.

This can only be achieved by fully understanding what the customer's core business function actually is and the most effective way of doing this is work shadowing or FM / Customer forums. FM isn't all about running round putting out fires, it's more about understanding why fires start in the first place and putting planned measures in place to prevent them happening.

For cross-border FM: use the EN 15221 standards defining FM, its quality, processes, taxonomy, service level agreement. This standard includes the official European Space Measurement standard!

Practice makes permanent not perfect.

FMs MUST feel & know that they are being supported by their management.
FMs must know the business requirements of the occupants of the facilities that they manage and focus upon partnering with those occupants in improving the function of their business.

FMs must be provided with the capability to support their contractors and this means payment of invoices without delay.

FMs must have the availability to select and source from multiple contractors for the provision of services and have a method of establishing that value for money and services is provided.

FMs should not be lazy and expect the contractors to fund their deficiencies in management (a good/poor example is the requirement of some FMs for contractors to pay a fee to be on their selection database - this is fraudulent as well as lazy).
FMs must own the problems given to them until it is resolved to the reasonable and responsible satisfaction of all parties.

FMs must provide feedback to those who initialised a call.

Why not share your top tips? Send them to Liz Kentish the FM Coach coach@lizkentishcoaching.co.uk or call us on 01778 561326