Information Technology has freed us from our desks. Fact. As a workplace, the humble office is losing market share to the kitchen, the coffee shop, the train and the pub. The question is; what are we going to do about it?
The great unasked question
The extent to which agile working practices will reduce the need for offices in the future is one of the hottest topics of debate in the FM industry at the moment. The subtext of that debate is clear; "what will become of us in a world without offices”?
The debate so far seems to have mostly focused around two key questions; Can Information Technology really deliver all that it promises? Will our employers and employees actually buy-in to it?
The answers to these two questions are pretty straightforward; Yes, it probably can and no, they probably won't. Well, not all of them, but of course some of them will.
The Facilities industry seems to be taking quite a passive approach to this issue, with FMs roughly falling into two camps, those who think it will be as bad as we imagine and those who don’t. I’m raising the flag for a third camp – it’s time for FM to fight back.
The good, the bad and the untapped potential
There are plenty of good reasons to work from an office and plenty of things that the home can’t do for you. Over a period of time, many employees will start to realise this for themselves.
However relying on negative factors to dissuade employees from home working is a poor strategy. Negative factors are obstacles, but obstacles can be overcome - you might not have an ergonomic chair at home, but you could get one. A better strategy is to focus on the positives, what the office can do for you that the kitchen table, the coffee shop or the pub can't.
An even better strategy is to focus on what the office could do for you. Forget the pros and cons for a minute, and think about potential? What new things could you offer to your customers and how are you going to market them? Think big.
iBuildings (if Apple made workplaces)
I’ve always thought that FM's can learn a lot from the wider world of business. Let’s view the problem in a business context: We provide a service (a place from which to work) and some of our customers are choosing to use a different service. So how do we win them back? Let's draw some inspiration from technology and marketing giants, Apple.
Years ago, Apple was in the home computing business. Ok, they still have a toe-hold in it, but these days they are mostly known for mobile devices. At one time Apple and Microsoft were evenly placed competitors in the home PC market, but Microsoft eventually won the market share and dominated for decades. Apple's response to this loss of market share is one of technology’s greatest success stories. They took their product and they changed it.
Apple took the computer made it into a fashion item and marketed it aggressively. It was cool. It was sexy. It came in different colours and it appealed to people who had never wanted a PC before.
They took that lesson and they made their computing devices smaller, portable. They innovated, bringing new technologies to their products; colour screens, touch screen, voice control, etc, until eventually they became the technology powerhouse we all know.
Imagine what Apple might do if they were in the FM industry: how would they respond to agile working?
Counting our blessings
Compared to the situation Apple found themselves in, we in Facilities actually have things easy. Apple had serious, organised, competitors. We don't.
In fact, in the task of turning the office workspace into a must have product, we can apply quite a lot of resources. We can use our knowledge, skills and experience to find out what our customers need and give it to them. We can use our industry knowledge and networks to create dynamic, exciting and inviting environments within which to work: the kind of environments that drive collaboration and innovation and foster a sense of community culture. And to top it all off, we can devise a strategy to market this must have product to our customers and make them want to be a part of it.
Against all of that, John Smith's kitchen table doesn't have any resources at all. In fact, it's got nothing. It can’t compete.
Information Technology may have started off the game, but the ball is well and truly in FM's court now. It's time for the Facilities industry to step up to the line and show them how we play the game.
15 December 2011
17 November 2011
TwitterComm’s for Facilities Managers.
If something’s worth saying, then it’s worth saying in 140 characters or less............... Welcome to TwitterComm’s for Facilities Managers.
TwitterComm’s is a communications technique based around the popular micro-blogging website. I have been using this technique for a few months now as part of my wider communications strategy and have found it to be not only very effective at delivering information, but also popular with my customers.
In a nutshell; TwitterComm’s is about making sure that the information you communicate is properly targeted, relevant and delivered in palatable and bite-sized chunks.
The aim of TwitterComm’s is to improve the chances of the message you send being read and assimilated, rather than ignored or deleted.
Despite the name, I’m not suggesting you use Twitter as a corporate communications tool (even I’m not that much of a maverick), but I am suggesting you treat your emails as if they were tweets.
140 Characters or less
Ok, so getting across all you need to say in 140 characters or less might be a bit of a stretch, but there is a principle here: time is money.
Each email you drop into a customer’s inbox is a demand for their time. Their time is as precious to them as yours is to you. If you can’t keep the salient points to a few sentences, they’ll soon stop reading. Remember you can only lead a horse to water............ you can’t make it drink.
There is some good practice to be learned from Twitter about how to keep things concise. Twitter provides you the opportunity to expand your message by adding a link. If you are communicating a new policy, ask yourself if you have to send the whole thing or can you post it on your intranet and send a synopsis and a link instead? People will know the policy has changed and they can “click through” at a time which is convenient to them.
Here’s a top tip from me: Clicking through provides what Sales people call an up-selling opportunity. Can the link take people to a directory page where they can also browse other policies, news, etc, rather than straight to the policy itself.
Need to know, want to know, nice to know
Relevance, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. People will not thank you for taking up some of their precious time to communicate something which they feel does not affect them. They will forgive you an occasional transgression, but do it too often and they’ll start to treat your emails like spam.
You should think about who your information is relevant too. It might be easier to send out an email to the ALL_STAFF distribution list, but do people on the top floor really need to know about the broken toilet on the first floor? Can you send a targeted email to just the first floor?
Personally, I want my customers to know that when I send something to them, it’s relevant and/or, important to them. I try to apply the need to know, want to know, nice to know test.
If it’s something they need to know or have said they want to know, I send it to them direct. If it’s something that is nice to know, I try to put it where they can easily find it, i.e. on the intranet, notice board, next to the lunch menu, etc.
The power of positive thinking
It’s the nature of what we do, that most of the need to know information we communicate has a negative implication; failed air condition, car-park restrictions and out of service facilities are our bread and butter. But do we really have to be the harbingers of doom?
Your choice of words and language can drastically affect how your message comes across: are things broken or are they being repaired; are rooms out of use or are they being refurbished. Are improvement works taking place?
If you have been properly targeting your communications, you’ve already fought half the battle. Remember that broken toilet on the first floor? If that email went out to ALL_STAFF, then people on the top floor will have a perception that “the toilets are always broken in this place” even though problems with their facilities might be few and far between.
Strategic thinking
Whilst TwitterComm’s is a good way of delivering your message, It’s not without its drawbacks; some people will feel that you are not providing enough information or that they are not getting the level of interaction they would like. As an FM you have to play these things by ear and be prepared to be flexible to your customer’s needs.
However, used properly, I believe that TwitterComm’s can form a very effective part of your wider communications strategy. It enables you to engage quickly and easily with your customers in a way which lets them know that you understand that their time is valuable.
TwitterComm’s is a communications technique based around the popular micro-blogging website. I have been using this technique for a few months now as part of my wider communications strategy and have found it to be not only very effective at delivering information, but also popular with my customers.
What is TwitterComm’s?
In a nutshell; TwitterComm’s is about making sure that the information you communicate is properly targeted, relevant and delivered in palatable and bite-sized chunks.
The aim of TwitterComm’s is to improve the chances of the message you send being read and assimilated, rather than ignored or deleted.
Despite the name, I’m not suggesting you use Twitter as a corporate communications tool (even I’m not that much of a maverick), but I am suggesting you treat your emails as if they were tweets.
140 Characters or less
Ok, so getting across all you need to say in 140 characters or less might be a bit of a stretch, but there is a principle here: time is money.
Each email you drop into a customer’s inbox is a demand for their time. Their time is as precious to them as yours is to you. If you can’t keep the salient points to a few sentences, they’ll soon stop reading. Remember you can only lead a horse to water............ you can’t make it drink.
There is some good practice to be learned from Twitter about how to keep things concise. Twitter provides you the opportunity to expand your message by adding a link. If you are communicating a new policy, ask yourself if you have to send the whole thing or can you post it on your intranet and send a synopsis and a link instead? People will know the policy has changed and they can “click through” at a time which is convenient to them.
Here’s a top tip from me: Clicking through provides what Sales people call an up-selling opportunity. Can the link take people to a directory page where they can also browse other policies, news, etc, rather than straight to the policy itself.
Need to know, want to know, nice to know
Relevance, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. People will not thank you for taking up some of their precious time to communicate something which they feel does not affect them. They will forgive you an occasional transgression, but do it too often and they’ll start to treat your emails like spam.
You should think about who your information is relevant too. It might be easier to send out an email to the ALL_STAFF distribution list, but do people on the top floor really need to know about the broken toilet on the first floor? Can you send a targeted email to just the first floor?
Personally, I want my customers to know that when I send something to them, it’s relevant and/or, important to them. I try to apply the need to know, want to know, nice to know test.
If it’s something they need to know or have said they want to know, I send it to them direct. If it’s something that is nice to know, I try to put it where they can easily find it, i.e. on the intranet, notice board, next to the lunch menu, etc.
The power of positive thinking
It’s the nature of what we do, that most of the need to know information we communicate has a negative implication; failed air condition, car-park restrictions and out of service facilities are our bread and butter. But do we really have to be the harbingers of doom?
Your choice of words and language can drastically affect how your message comes across: are things broken or are they being repaired; are rooms out of use or are they being refurbished. Are improvement works taking place?
If you have been properly targeting your communications, you’ve already fought half the battle. Remember that broken toilet on the first floor? If that email went out to ALL_STAFF, then people on the top floor will have a perception that “the toilets are always broken in this place” even though problems with their facilities might be few and far between.
Strategic thinking
Whilst TwitterComm’s is a good way of delivering your message, It’s not without its drawbacks; some people will feel that you are not providing enough information or that they are not getting the level of interaction they would like. As an FM you have to play these things by ear and be prepared to be flexible to your customer’s needs.
However, used properly, I believe that TwitterComm’s can form a very effective part of your wider communications strategy. It enables you to engage quickly and easily with your customers in a way which lets them know that you understand that their time is valuable.
12 October 2011
Lies, damn lies & metrics.
I'm told that if you measure it, you can manage it. I'm not sure that’s entirely true, but I have been a big fan of collecting data for quite some time. Recently I've been wondering if I can make those numbers work harder for me.
I suppose the moment of truth came a few months ago during a business update presentation. I work for a huge business, which has interests in all sorts of different markets in different areas of the globe. The update could have taken hours to run through, but the information had been condensed down onto just two PowerPoint slides. Admittedly the slides were busy, but even so it was an impressive example of getting to the point. Vast sums of money and hours of activity boiled down to a few simple numbers which indicated how the performance of different areas compared both to the forecast and the previous period.
This set me thinking; what is the real value of my metrics? What do actually they mean to others?
I first started collecting data on my departmental activities to get a sense of the scale of the work being carried out. Being new into the job, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the volume of transactions, requests and complaints. The data has been very useful and has helped to inform and educate our customers as well as provide evidence that can be used to support our claims and refute misconceptions.
It's was all very useful stuff and I was generally quite happy with how my numbers were performing until one day I noticed that they had started to turn on me.
It all started out, as it so often does in this line of work, with a sunny morning and a tripped out air handling unit. A few days later it happened again.
For several months I'd been very pleased to report a gradual decrease in the volume of issues logged about the comfort cooling as my engineers and I had gradually learned more about how to best squeeze performance out of the systems. Suddenly, two unexpected events had thrown that out of the window.
On paper, August looked dreadful; an architectural monstrosity that blemished the otherwise tranquil skyline of my bar chart. I felt cheated. Yes it had happened, but it was a freak event, the data wasn't really reflective of the real story. It was then that I realised I needed a new metric.
That was the day I stopped focusing on the volume of issues logged and started focusing on the volume of satisfaction instead. It sounds like much the same thing, but it's not. Rather than reporting the number of people that said they were unhappy in a given month, I started looking at more positive metrics instead. One of my current favorite metrics, is the percentage of working days where no one logs a complaint. It doesn't matter too much if the chiller breaks down one day a month causing a spike of calls, the positive message is that for the other 19 days of the month, nobody called. You can choose to report that as 10 complaints or 95% compliance.
Sometimes I like to combine the compliance metric with a qualifier, to improve it further. You could argue that because people vary in their perceptibility to heat and cold, that one swallow does not a summer make. You could choose to set a threshold level to make the metric work harder; if you ignore those instances when only a single person feels too cold, you could get a better picture of just how often the system really fails to perform.
Some people might see this as "spinning the facts", but as long as you present your data with integrity and are very clear about what your metrics really mean, they will generally be well received; especially if you are prepared to explain why you have chosen to measure in that way. After all, the real value in metrics for the customer, is in comparing how you are doing, with how you were doing and how you hoped to do.
One last thought about metrics, is that there is one that set of data you should always record. In FM, thank you's can be few and far between; make sure you record every single one so that you can look back on them with pride during difficult days.
I suppose the moment of truth came a few months ago during a business update presentation. I work for a huge business, which has interests in all sorts of different markets in different areas of the globe. The update could have taken hours to run through, but the information had been condensed down onto just two PowerPoint slides. Admittedly the slides were busy, but even so it was an impressive example of getting to the point. Vast sums of money and hours of activity boiled down to a few simple numbers which indicated how the performance of different areas compared both to the forecast and the previous period.
This set me thinking; what is the real value of my metrics? What do actually they mean to others?
I first started collecting data on my departmental activities to get a sense of the scale of the work being carried out. Being new into the job, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the volume of transactions, requests and complaints. The data has been very useful and has helped to inform and educate our customers as well as provide evidence that can be used to support our claims and refute misconceptions.
It's was all very useful stuff and I was generally quite happy with how my numbers were performing until one day I noticed that they had started to turn on me.
It all started out, as it so often does in this line of work, with a sunny morning and a tripped out air handling unit. A few days later it happened again.
For several months I'd been very pleased to report a gradual decrease in the volume of issues logged about the comfort cooling as my engineers and I had gradually learned more about how to best squeeze performance out of the systems. Suddenly, two unexpected events had thrown that out of the window.
On paper, August looked dreadful; an architectural monstrosity that blemished the otherwise tranquil skyline of my bar chart. I felt cheated. Yes it had happened, but it was a freak event, the data wasn't really reflective of the real story. It was then that I realised I needed a new metric.
 |
| This graph shows the number of issues logged over the course of the year to date |
That was the day I stopped focusing on the volume of issues logged and started focusing on the volume of satisfaction instead. It sounds like much the same thing, but it's not. Rather than reporting the number of people that said they were unhappy in a given month, I started looking at more positive metrics instead. One of my current favorite metrics, is the percentage of working days where no one logs a complaint. It doesn't matter too much if the chiller breaks down one day a month causing a spike of calls, the positive message is that for the other 19 days of the month, nobody called. You can choose to report that as 10 complaints or 95% compliance.
 |
| This graph shows the same set of data, but presented as the percentage of complaint free days |
Sometimes I like to combine the compliance metric with a qualifier, to improve it further. You could argue that because people vary in their perceptibility to heat and cold, that one swallow does not a summer make. You could choose to set a threshold level to make the metric work harder; if you ignore those instances when only a single person feels too cold, you could get a better picture of just how often the system really fails to perform.
Some people might see this as "spinning the facts", but as long as you present your data with integrity and are very clear about what your metrics really mean, they will generally be well received; especially if you are prepared to explain why you have chosen to measure in that way. After all, the real value in metrics for the customer, is in comparing how you are doing, with how you were doing and how you hoped to do.
One last thought about metrics, is that there is one that set of data you should always record. In FM, thank you's can be few and far between; make sure you record every single one so that you can look back on them with pride during difficult days.
20 September 2011
So why have I started blogging?
Like all the very greatest misadventures, I got talked into this one by a lady. I think she'll know who she is, because at the moment she's my only follower on twitter, but for those who might come afterwards I'd like to make it quite clear where the blame lies.
The lady in question: Christine Jones of Tigermouth. My story starts last week at the BIFM Southwest region training day where Christine gave an inspirational presentation about how to raise your industry profile with social media.
Now I've never really been impressed by social media. I'd always thought of it as a fad. And besides, on the off-chance that one day time-travelling robot-killing machines might come back from the future to try and prevent me becoming the future leader of mankind, I decided not to make it too easy for them by putting my life on FaceBook. I appreciate of course how unlikely that is, but you know what they say; failing to prepare is the same as preparing to fail.....
Anyway,Christine made an eloquent and compelling case which I will butcher in the most horrendous manner by paraphrasing it down to this; Get involved. Connect with people, share your views and your knowledge and in turn you will benefit from the knowledge and views of others in your network. Essentially; become known.
It's great advice; Facilities people tend to be lone wolves. Well some of us live in small packs (teams), but generally speaking we're on our own within our organisations. It's not intentional, but there are times when every FM feels like they have their backs to wall and that everyone is gunning for them. It goes with the territory - what we do is complicated. Some people don't really understand it. Some people don't want to understand it. You'll know who I mean - when you start talking about air-conditioning their eyes get that same glazed over look that mine do when my wife starts talking about shoes. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes, the only place an FM's feel understood is when they are talking with other Facilities people. For a lot of FM's, those "brothers in arms" are actually from outside of their teams, their offices or even their organisations.
For me this blog is about connecting with people. Sharing my ideas, knowledge and ignorance(!) with other professionals and maybe, just maybe, learning a little bit more in the process. But I don't want to limit my network to just Facilities people. There are people out there who are not FMs, but are open (or sympathetic) to Facilities issues they either have some understanding or experience or they're just interested in knowing more. I'd like to use my blog as a way of bringing FM to those people too. So for that reason, I'm not planning on getting too techy. There are plenty of others out there who's knowledge far exceeds mine and all I'll end up doing is highlighting my ignorance. What you will get in this blog is my enthusiasm and passion for FM, my own (sometimes unique) point of view, my thoughts about how to leverage FM to deliver real business benefits and of course my somewhat iffy sense of humour.
I hope after reading this, you'll continue to follow my blog; as those who know me can testify - I have quite a lot to say about almost any subject and it wold be a shame if no one listened.
The lady in question: Christine Jones of Tigermouth. My story starts last week at the BIFM Southwest region training day where Christine gave an inspirational presentation about how to raise your industry profile with social media.
Now I've never really been impressed by social media. I'd always thought of it as a fad. And besides, on the off-chance that one day time-travelling robot-killing machines might come back from the future to try and prevent me becoming the future leader of mankind, I decided not to make it too easy for them by putting my life on FaceBook. I appreciate of course how unlikely that is, but you know what they say; failing to prepare is the same as preparing to fail.....
Anyway,Christine made an eloquent and compelling case which I will butcher in the most horrendous manner by paraphrasing it down to this; Get involved. Connect with people, share your views and your knowledge and in turn you will benefit from the knowledge and views of others in your network. Essentially; become known.
It's great advice; Facilities people tend to be lone wolves. Well some of us live in small packs (teams), but generally speaking we're on our own within our organisations. It's not intentional, but there are times when every FM feels like they have their backs to wall and that everyone is gunning for them. It goes with the territory - what we do is complicated. Some people don't really understand it. Some people don't want to understand it. You'll know who I mean - when you start talking about air-conditioning their eyes get that same glazed over look that mine do when my wife starts talking about shoes. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes, the only place an FM's feel understood is when they are talking with other Facilities people. For a lot of FM's, those "brothers in arms" are actually from outside of their teams, their offices or even their organisations.
For me this blog is about connecting with people. Sharing my ideas, knowledge and ignorance(!) with other professionals and maybe, just maybe, learning a little bit more in the process. But I don't want to limit my network to just Facilities people. There are people out there who are not FMs, but are open (or sympathetic) to Facilities issues they either have some understanding or experience or they're just interested in knowing more. I'd like to use my blog as a way of bringing FM to those people too. So for that reason, I'm not planning on getting too techy. There are plenty of others out there who's knowledge far exceeds mine and all I'll end up doing is highlighting my ignorance. What you will get in this blog is my enthusiasm and passion for FM, my own (sometimes unique) point of view, my thoughts about how to leverage FM to deliver real business benefits and of course my somewhat iffy sense of humour.
I hope after reading this, you'll continue to follow my blog; as those who know me can testify - I have quite a lot to say about almost any subject and it wold be a shame if no one listened.
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