The Way We Do Things Around Here

In the search to find FM's value-add elements, Facilities Managers are often keen to talk about the extent to which FM can support the culture of an organisation. One frequently overlooked part of that discussion is the way that a skilled Facilities Manager can actually use the reach and influence of FM to drive cultural change.

For the uninitiated, the thing we refer to as “organisational culture” is a shared set of values and principles which tend to guide or influence the way in which the people within a particular organisation behave. You can think of it as being “the way we do things around here” and it varies a lot from one organisation to the next. 

 

 

Organisational culture is neither positive or negative though most organisations will have a culture that has some traits that they consider desirable and some that they do not. Some of these will be driven by the leadership style of the senior management (dynamic, hierarchical, by-the-book), others by the age, size and type of organisation (entrepreneurial, bureaucratic, risk-averse) and others still by the people within it (diverse, sociable, creative). There are numerous influencing factors and numerous possible combinations.

Aspiring to succeed

So why does everyone bang on about getting the right culture anyway? Quite simply; it's an economical way of getting more out of a finite resource. Or to put it another way; in tough economic times, it's far better to have a culture where people feel like work is a place they feel happy, a place they want to come to and something they want to do, rather than something they don't enjoy, somewhere they have to go and something they have to do.

But culture is more than just instilling a desire to work more productively: many organisations are switching on to the fact that they can achieve far greater success, by trying to develop their culture to contain more of the traits that make a positive contribution to their success and fewer of the ones with negative impact. For example, senior management might decide that the organisation might be more successful if staff felt more empowered in their work, or more connected to the success of the organisation; they might feel it is important that the organisation's customers see it as socially responsible or that potential new employees think of it as being cool. These are what we refer to as “cultural aspirations”.

The people who do things

Understanding that there is a difference between culture and cultural ambitions is key to understanding the way in which FM can influence cultural development. You see; the former is the way things are done around here, the latter is the way senior management would like things to be done. This is a really important distinction because “the way things get done around here” can be heavily influenced by the people that do those things and quite simply, FM generally does a lot of 'things'. The remit and influence of FM spans the entire organisation and it's activities touch on the working lives of every single person in the organisation: this gives a savvy Facilities Manager the opportunity to directly influence the way the culture develops through their choices and their team. Let me qualify that a little more: I'm not saying that the Facilities Manager has the power to make the organisation less bureaucratic, or more creative, but they do get to make simple choices such as shall I make more recycling facilities available, should we ask the catering team to hold some theme days or even, should I paint that wall orange instead of grey? These are little changes: they won't change the world overnight, but they will sow the seeds of an idea which has the potential to grow into a collectively shared principle or set of values. In other words: the culture.

 

 

At the heart of the matter

I’ve often argued that FM is the cultural heart of on organisation: and far more so than any other part. Organisational culture is something that develops around the water cooler. It develops in the tea-point, the break-out areas, around the reception desk and in the staff restaurant. These are the areas where the influence of FM is at its strongest.

In the organisational-family, it is the facilities people who are the matriarchs and patriarchs: they know everyone and everyone knows them. If there’s some kind of social or charitable event, you can bet they will be heavily involved.

Smart senior management, do understand the influence of FM and will try to gain the support of the Facilities Manger in propagating their cultural aspirations. Smart Facilities Managers, can use the influence of FM to gain credibility with senior management by supporting those cultural aspirations. Really smart Facilities Managers, can use the considerable influence of FM to align the direction of cultural development with their own values and vision: for example, increased sustainability, being socially responsible or providing a more service based approach.

The best things in life are free

It’s a commonly held assumption that changing an organisation’s culture is extremely difficult. In fact the reverse is true. Cultural changes are changes in attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. It costs nothing to change your beliefs, so in theory at least, cultural change is free. That's some very powerful added value.