From cost to value

QUESTION

Your client is the newly hired director of facility management and administration at a large law firm with a total of 60,400 square metres of leased space in multi-tenant buildings located in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland and Singapore. In the short time the FM director has been with the law firm, it has become clearly evident to them that FM is seen as very tactical. Senior management often refers to FM as merely a ‘cost-centre’. The FM director has asked you to help them develop a plan to transform the firm’s perception of FM to that of a strategic partner. From a leadership perspective, what advice would you give them?

RODNEY TIMM

For an internal service provider to become a strategic partner to the enterprise, this privilege needs to be earned and is seldom mandated.

The challenge of earning this properly is multi-faceted but essentially based on four key principles:

1. Understand the purpose and vision of the enterprise and how every dollar you invest (not spend) in facilities is enabling teams to deliver their contributions to