As the fiscal year winds down, facility managers begin their review of the year’s FM activities. What are the most important and telling aspects of the financial performance of the FM organization that an FM should consider when planning for the future?

From Mark Sekula, FMP, SFP, LEED-AP, CFM, IFMA Fellow

FMs know facilities are typically a company’s second most expensive asset. They understand it’s important for FMs to be intimately familiar with the cost of providing efficient and effective facilities and to continually monitor those costs.. But it’s not the most important thing.

We live and work in the age of the “Shiny Object Syndrome.” We are bombarded with so much information that it is easy to stray off onto tangents. But FMs must keep their eye on the target because the target is constantly moving. They must move from a reactionary mode to proactive focus.

There are many things FMs must be concerned with in the course of managing buildings urgent matters are usually visible. Urgent means it requires immediate attention. Urgent issues press on us: they insist on action. They are often popular with others. They are usually right in front of us and often they are pleasant, easy, fun to do. They are often are unimportant.

Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes to your mission, your values, your high priority goals.

We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent require more initiative and more proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen. If we do not have a clear idea of what is important or the desired of the results, we are diverted in responding to the urgent.

Yes, it is important that FMs be intimately aware of the cost of providing FM services. But it is far more important for FMs to first figure out what the priorities things are and then do them right. Focusing on the right things, the things that support the company’s mission, vision and strategy will have a positive impact on the organization and help build the facility manager’s influence as a strategic partner and to help the company succeed.

From Dr. Doug Aldrich, CFM, IFMA Fellow

For my lab responsibilities, I kept two sets of books: internal FM and external stakeholders.

Every year, we analyzed/documented each building (no commonalities of size, design, age and function) for costs of energy, operations, maintenance/repairs and changes. We looked for dollar opportunities (up and down) or points of diminishing returns. Our reviews by FM staff and invited support personnel (usually engineering) determined how we were really doing and what should be the efforts/expectations for the following year or two. With our statistical tracking efforts, we avoided the “squeeze costs more” syndrome. The consensus sessions helped with commitment and schedules by support staffs as well.

We also provided annual reports to R&D directors and executives as to how we were affecting their operations from three cost standpoints: technical staff time, (generally) small support projects, and error minimization. For example, our “one stop shopping” ensured lab people performed their duties while FM, engineering, procurement and safety took care of equipment installations, lab change-outs, office moves, lab automation and other similar operations. We also tracked request dates up to request completion, and how successful we were the first time with the process. Our drivers were saving time (85 percent of R&D budgets is people) and delivering services competitively. Those were the fiscals our executives wanted to hear while we were stewards of the back room.