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For Facility, Property & Asset Management Professionals
| In This Issue |
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| Articles |
Other |
» Benchmarking
» Procuring FM Services
» Cost Reductions |
» IFMA World Workplace
» New FM Systems White Paper
» Updated list of Associations |
"A man who does not think and plan long ahead will find trouble right at his door" - Confucius , Chinese Philosopher
Article #1 : Benchmarking
Benchmarking isn't a new concept, but to benefit from it, you need to move beyond comparing numbers and averages to comparing specific, directly comparable information about not only costs and other metrics but also with the adoption of leading practices by your competition and your peers.
You can get numbers from associations and other sources. Use them only as a quick initial exercise to focus on key areas. Look closely at the methodology, sample size, comparative facilities, geography, age, etc. before using them and adjust as necessary to make them relevant. Compare from several sources or types of information to validate.
Next, focus on specific areas. Get benchmarking info directly from other comparable organizations, along with background and information you need to adjust the results. Get this directly or go through a third party if confidentiality is required. You need information on their practices, processes, staffing, resources, systems, training and other key operational information, not just metrics. Assess whether you can emulate what leading organizations do and implement. Even if you think you have everything covered, there will always be something else you can learn from.
It should be a continuous basis. Either re-look at the same areas every few years or look at different areas of your operations each year to slowly move your organization towards leading practices. Even if you can't adopt all leading practices for budget or organizational reasons, at least you will know where you should be.
Use these 10 steps to implement your Benchmarking initiative:
- Identify and Rank Critical Success Areas - know what is important to your organization.
- Select Areas to Improve - Once you have identified the critical success areas, select the ones you can improve.
- Compare Results using Benchmarks - Use general benchmarking information to compare results in the area you have selected.
- Choose Results that are not Superior - Assess and choose the results where your performance is either equal or below the benchmarks.
- Isolate supporting processes, resources and systems - For each area, dig to identify the processes, resources and systems required to get results.
- Analyze each process, resource and system for impacts - One by one, analyze each one to see where there are bottlenecks, performance problems and other issues that prevent results.
- Focus on problems - The problem areas will become evident. Focus on those areas, gathering information and more details as required.
- Test your practices against leading practices - Collect information, understand what is happening and seek out other direct benchmarking information to compare your practices with.
- Adopt leading practices and change existing practices - Develop a plan to adopt them and create an implementation strategy.
- Repeat for other Areas - Start again and improve the next critical success area you identified in Step 1
Email for an expanded 10-step process.
Article #2 : Procuring FM Services - Are you asking the right questions?
There is a simple mistake many Facility Managers (or their procurement departments) make when writing the Request For Proposal (RFP) questions for FM services. I've seen it time and time again, having written my share of proposal responses for past employers and consulting clients, assessed procurement practices, procured FM services and helped FM clients with their evaluation process for their own procurement initiatives. I've seen a lot of RFP questions, both good and bad. The biggest mistake is not asking the right questions..... Click to read the full article
Article #3: Add to the Bottom Line with Cost Reductions
Facility Managers can take a leadership role in reducing costs for their organizations by examining areas that may not have received much attention before. Here are key things you can do. ..... Click to read the full article
Seminars & Workshops: IFMA World Workplace
I will be delivering the "Intelligent Benchmarking" seminar at IFMA's World Workplace in Orlando in October. This is the same seminar I presented at the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM) annual conference in Phoenix Arizona. See the article on Benchmarking above or download the White Paper.
Also, two full day workshops are coming up in October and November. I am delivering these as part of the Corporate Training program for Conestoga College, based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. I'll send more information when it becomes available.
Recently Published Articles
Since the last newsletter, we've had more articles published in leading Facility and Property Management magazines around the world:
» "Getting Beyond Benchmarking 101" - May 2009 in Canadian Facility Management & Design
» "Groundwork Converts Potential Into Performance - FM systems" - March 2009 in Canadian Property Management & Design
» "The Lifecycle Approach - Reducing your total cost of ownership" - Feb 2009, RFP Magazine, (Hong Kong)
For the text of any published articles not on our website, please email us. To see a complete listing of previously published articles and our speaking credits, click here
We have almost 30 full length on-line articles for you to read. They cover Customer Service, Performance Management, Facility & Property Management and Outsourcing. Click here for access to all our articles.
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If you have a question, comment or suggestion, please email.
Sincerely,
Michel Theriault
Principal,
Strategic Advisor |
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