It is a sports-crazy time right now in Europe, and especially in London with the 2012 Olympics well under way. It is truly inspirational stuff. I’m not a sportsman, but I do appreciate how much goes in to reaching the highest levels of performance. It is not just the sportsperson, but many other parties, including sports equipment manufacturers, clubs and facilities, doctors and physiotherapists, sports scientists, and the all-important coach and mentor. Even for an individual win, it needs a team performance.
This made me think of our Facilities Management (FM) industry. How can we reach the highest levels of performance? How would you coach and mentor the Key Account Directors of FM companies. And on the client-side, the in-house Directors of Property & Facilities, ultimately responsible for ensuring that the supply chain team deliver high performance. If you were building a winning team in the FM industry, what would be on your agenda right now?
This clearly depends on what you deem as success, or ‘high performance’, and will vary according to the role and responsibilities of the ‘player’. In some ways the question is simpler in sport – the goal is to win. The specific objective of coaching may therefore be to focus on mind and body; to prepare mentally, and to achieve physically (jump further; run faster; etc.).
The question of what it takes to ‘win’ may have far more complexity when the subject is not a sportsperson, but a senior manager with a team, in a multi-stakeholder industry like FM.
High Performance: what is ‘winning’ in your role?
Unlike in sport, fortunately there does not need to be a winner and a loser in FM. Competition in bidding may be about winners and losers, but once a relationship is formed between the FM client and service provider, there should be no ‘loser’. However, again, unlike in sport, unfortunately it is also possible for all parties to lose! In the short-term, this may not be immediately apparent – but in the longer term it usually is. Negotiators talk about achieving a ‘win-win’ solution. In FM, it must usually be a ‘win-win-win’; all serious decisions need to achieve an outcome that works for the service provider, the in-house FM client, and their customers (heads of business units, government departments, etc.). These three parties can all lose, and can all be responsible.
For all parties to win, then ‘high performance’ means alignment; to align the needs of the key customer(s), through the in-house client, with the delivery by the service provider.
Communication: “send three and four-pence, we’re going to a dance”
In case you are not reading this in the UK, this old phrase needs a little explanation! Communication is not about ‘telling’ – it is about structuring your thoughts, sending and receiving, interpreting messages and confirming receipt and understanding of the messages. You can win or lose on communication – but, ineffective communication can be disastrous. A famous war story claims that a British Army Commander sent the message “Send reinforcements, we’re going to advance.” When the message finally reached the end of the line, it had become “Send three and four-pence, we’re going to a dance.” The reinforcements never arrived….disaster ensued.
What does this have to do with FM? It can feel like a long chain of command in today’s structured and outsourced industry. In the largest organisations, with the most structured FM service delivery, you can also see the greatest opportunity for breakdown in communications. And the communication is not one-way (like the Army story above); key decisions need to go from a customer group, to the FM client, to the managing service provider, and then often down the supply chain. We need to find ways to simplify, and to trust service providers to work directly with customers (and operatives to talk to end-users….like they surely once did?).
So, the first performance issue is communication: reduce complexity, and improve 2-way communication. Of course, effective communication is ultimately between people – no matter how much structure we put into our outsourced relationships.
People & performance: who is going to help you win?
The FM industry likes to wax lyrical about being a ‘people business’. Of course, in many ways it is. But the industry is being pushed down the ‘commodity’ route by unrealistic cost expectations. To maintain a margin, FM service providers have been forced to recruit lower-cost staff. This is endemic, not quite from top to bottom; I would say from upper-middle to bottom perhaps. The most senior management, on the client-side or service providers, is generally well-remunerated. But, on what basis are staff recruited, from Facility/Building Manager down to the cleaner or security guard? i.e., these people who are going to help you to win – your team.
There are many points to consider here, but I will focus on just the following:
• Don’t under-estimate the usefulness of deep organisational knowledge
• Character cannot be taught; communication skills also take time
• Attitude – who is going to help you to ‘win’ with customers?
• You can delegate (or outsource) work packages, but not ultimate responsibility
Deep organisational knowledge
Firstly, a serious flaw in outsourcing – it does not need to happen, but all too often it does. I have seen the result of an FM client that does not have control over the replacement of ex-middle managers who have what I would call “deep organisational knowledge”. I.e., they understand the culture of the organisation; they know how to get things done; they know where the power bases lie, and who to talk with to get things done. In effect, they know many things that cannot be taught. But, 12-18 months (typically) after being ‘outsourced’ from client-side to service provider, they are moved to another client account, usually with more responsibility (to cover their higher staff cost) and their role is back-filled with a lower-cost manager. But, the new person does not have the same middle-managers’ knowledge of how to get things done. Customers notice, and the FM client and service providers’ Account Director both get pulled in to try to improve performance. Often, the customer weighs in, and the replacement Manager gets duly replaced….and so it goes on. If you are either the FM client, or the Account Director, this is all distracting from your aim to ‘win’ – to work together to deliver high performance….