Steven Ee’s Blog for FM Practitioners

For the next few writings, I will respond to some of the concerns raised by participants during the recent workshop on “Managing Service Level Agreement in Facilities during Tough Times”.

My opinion why companies would want to outsource the FM and support services is as follow:

• Too much time spent on reactive maintenance
• HIgh employees turnover
• Low customer service
• Budget out of control
• Lack of skills in managing and executing the FM activities
• Lack of tasks priorities
• No way to measure performance
• Unable to project manage change implementations
• Unable to register asset (monitor & track)

Why outsourcing fail?

Organisations outsourced because of:

• cost savings alone
• getting rid of jobs the staff don’t understand or don’t want to take responsibility for
• believing that major changes will happen right away
• Poorly defined goals and measurement means
• lack of communication between service provider and client

There are so much that we can discuss on concerning outsourcing. Keep the questions coming so that we can share on this blog.

To your FM success!

Steven Ee

Making a difference in FM…..

www.fms-1.com

www.fmsolutions.biz

THANK YOU so much for those who expressed concern about my blog. Yes, it’s been a long silence……Some of you may know that I have been spending much time in promoting Facility Management profession and its practices and in creating awareness to raise the recognition for FM.

I like to update about the awareness of Facility Management and its awareness in Singapore, and probably South-East Asia.

22^nd & 23rd April, 2010, marked a breakthrough for the Facility Management Profession through the organised BCAA-IFMA Regional Conference 2010, entitled “Sustainable Facility Management – A Business Advantage to Organisations” held at Grand Hyatt, Singapore. The events include, on Day One, one full day Seminar and evening Networking Dinner and Day Two, a half-day Workshop and a half-day Site Visits.

The most significant event was the signing of Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, between Building Construction Authority, BCA, and the International Facility Management Association, IFMA. The MOU was signed by Dr John Keung, CEO, BCA and Mr Tony Keane, CEO and President, IFMA. The event was published in The Straits Times, dated 23rd April, 2010.

At the evening Networking Dinner, presentation of certifications for the Facility Management Professional, FMP,and the Certified Facility Manager, CFM, has demonstrated the existence of Facility Management knowledge and competencies that are recognised globally and adopted by associations such as the Facility Management Australia ( FMA), British Institute of Facilities Management ( BIFM), Facility Management Japan ( FMJ) and etc. The credentials marked the proficiencies and competencies of Facility Management practitioners, having achieved the awards. The FMPs and CFMs are well seek after by Multi-National Companies, especially the Americans, British, Europeans, Japanese, etc, that recognised the values that these Facility Management professionals will bring to their organisations.

Ultimately, the events were organised to create the value of Facility Management, as the Conference put it, as a business advantage to organisations. How well will the profession and its practitioners will be recognised and raised to a higher level lies on each and every facility management practitioners. Together, let us take pride and continually contribute to raise the recognition of our profession.

To Your FM Success!

Steven Ee

…making a difference in facility management!

Hello to ALL!

This blog is still live. Thanks to those who concern and feedback…..

I’m back and I will catch up with where I’ve stop. Yes, it’s been a long while and I’m excited to share the experiences and learnings that I’ve been through over the last months.

A good friend of mine, David Cassavant, from the USA, shared with me his recent teleseminar on ”The Swine Flu Pandemic: Urban Myths and Real Solutions for Preparing Your Business”. He has sent me the recorded teleseminar and its power-point slides. Here is the link: www.wpsac.org/swine 

Enjoy! I will catch up soon.

To Your FM Success!

Steven@stevenee.com

“Making a Difference in Facility Management….”

We believe it to be the latter - but only if done correctly. If you benchmark, remember these rules:

• Understand how and why a partner organization uses the established benchmark
• Not all benchmarks are applicable for your organization
• If you benchmark, full disclosure is the rule.
• When benchmarking, compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges.
• Don’t benchmark dollars, benchmark processes (the dollars will follow)

• Operating costs
• Utility costs
• Percentage of workorders closed on time
• Planned maintenance versus reactive maintenance
• Janitorial costs
• Cubicle size per employee (title / function)
• Utilization rates
• Occupancy cost / square foot (or by employee)

One of the great advantageous of benchmarking is its ability to challenge traditional approaches and structures in an organization. As a consulting firm, we often devise new processes that are met with resistance from the client. To erase the resistance (or fear?) we use examples of best in class organizations that have implemented the process we are discussing. It amazing how quickly the resistance fades once a client realizes that others are using this process with success and may even have a competitive edge because of it!

One way resistance manifest’s itself is through excuses. Sometimes these excuses are legitimate. For instance, most people (and as a result, organizations) attempt to justify poor performance through variables that deviate from the benchmark case study. For instance, if a gap analysis identifies a potential 27% cost savings in janitorial, but the client resists the data because they have correctly identified a variable. Their facility is comprised of 12,000 square feet more vinyl flooring than the subject facility. Of course, vinyl flooring is more expensive to maintain and a legitimate variable has been discovered. This variable caused a “false positive” that should have been accounted for and removed so the objection can be minimized.

The key: Compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. When you have established a baseline (your costs) and you find a best in class target, find out what they do, how they do it and who helps them do it. You now have a means to copy the best in the business and reap the rewards without all the hard work.

Why is benchmarking so important?
It’s been said that if you can’t measure it you can’t improve it. If you don’t know where you’re at, you won’t know if you’re going in the right direction. If you don’t know where you’re headed, any destination looks as good as the other. A benchmarking analysis will provide you with a baseline of where you are at and a goal for achieving best in class performance. Without benchmarking you cannot truly move towards a culture of continuous improvement.

How do you Benchmark
A lot of work goes into a benchmarking study, but to summarize the sequence of events, follow these seven steps:

To Your Success!

steven@stevenee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management………..

For information.

As you read, you may want to relate to Singapore and South-East Asia regions on how relevant facility management is to these regions….

Press Releases

For Immediate Release
Andrea Sanchez
IFMA
1-713-623-4362

Date Posted: April 17, 2007

CHINESE GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES IFMA AND FACILITY MANAGEMENT

IFMA Partners with Yingbiao Human Resources Development to Deliver Education

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) today announced formal recognition from the Occupational Skills Testing Authority (OSTA) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, People’s Republic of China (PRC), to provide facility management education in China. OSTA awarded IFMA the certifying document bearing the PRC’s official seal, a prerequisite for providing certifiable education. The OSTA document also signifies that the Chinese government recognizes facility management as a distinct discipline and career pursuit.

Yingbiao Human Resources Ltd., a company recognized by OSTA, will be IFMA’s contract bureau and education partner in the PRC. IFMA and Yingbiao signed a partnering agreement in Beijing in July 2006.

Preparing to enter the Chinese market was a four-year process, including several visits between North American and Chinese delegations, educators and subject-matter experts.

Initially IFMA and Yingbiao will provide a series of courses in China based on the nine core facility management competencies IFMA has identified and developed since introducing the competency-based Certified Facility Manager credential in 1993. All facility management competency courses and supporting materials have been translated from English into Chinese and adapted and customized to fit Chinese culture and business practices. Those successfully completing a course will receive a special certificate for that competency. Certificates will be written in both English and Chinese. The nine facility management competencies are: planning and project management; real estate; leadership and management; finance; operations and maintenance; quality assessment and innovation; human and environmental factors; communication; and technology.

Yingbiao also will present IFMA’s comprehensive Business of FM course at selected times and locations throughout China. The course covers all aspects of facility management and demonstrates how good facility management practices enhance the value of the organization’s physical, human and intellectual assets. It also covers how the facility function can become more visible and achieve greater recognition by all stakeholders in the enterprise—from owners, to co-workers, to customers. The Business of FM course has been tremendously successful in North America, Europe and in other parts of Asia.

“Recognition from the PRC government in Beijing is a significant milestone for IFMA and the facility management profession,” said David J. Brady, IFMA’s president and chief executive officer. “China has the world’s largest population and a robust expanding economy. There is new construction everywhere—factories, office buildings, airports, hospitals, schools and other facilities are coming online in staggering numbers. The need for facility management knowledge, training and benchmarking is commensurate with this rapid expansion. IFMA’s partnership with Yingbiao is an effective way to provide educational content and to connect facility management professionals in China with their counterparts around the world. Certified courses addressing specific needs are the best way to begin and build the relationship.”

Additionally, among other China-related responsibilities outlined in the IFMA – Yingbiao agreement, Yingbiao will administer IFMA’s Certified Facility Manager and Facility Management Professional credentials; recruit individual and corporate members for IFMA; promote the importance of facility management education and its contributions to performance; and help safeguard IFMA’s intellectual property. IFMA is the largest and most widely recognized professional association for facility management, supporting more than 18,500 members. The Association’s members are represented in 125 chapters and 15 councils in 65 countries worldwide. Globally, IFMA certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides educational programs, recognizes facility management degree and certificate programs, and produces World Workplace, the largest facility management-related conference and exposition. For more information, visit www.ifma.org.

Yingbiao, an independent legal entity in the field of education and training, is committed to the introduction and promotion of various international professional qualifications and is entrusted by the Occupational Skill Testing Authority of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, People’s Republic of China. Yingbiao is the official examination office for Sino-British vocational qualifications and has experience with other international vocational certificates in China.

Isn’t it time that Singapore and South-East Asia region also recognise facility management?

To Your FM Success!

steven@stevenee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management….

Some of you may have noticed, when attending my training, that I mentioned at the start that “I tend to agree with your disagree”. That was intended to preframe that my comments and solutions are suggestions for consideration. No one FM practitioner is expert in all things. That is why I encourage networking among FM practitioners and emphasise the need and tremendious benefits of helping & sharing (pushing & pulling) one another, together everyone achieves more ( 1 + 1 = > 3).

As to disagreeing without being disagreement is something which I thought as FMers we need to learn. Especially, how we present our views will determine how we are perceived by our fellow colleagues, the internal customers and the management.

As a facility management practitioner, at times we will need to present alternative opinions and disagree with people. It comes with the job! Of course you can use the power of your position to force through an opinion through. You might win few times with these tactics (if you are in senior management position).

However, in long-term effectiveness, it depends on how you handle disagreement. In my opinion, you can do that by focusing your disagreement on the issue, not on the person with whom you are disagreeing. For example, you may make the distinction by saying something like “Kevin, I respect you and your work. However, I must disagree with this (decision, process, conclusion, etc), and this is why…..” 

In facility management, we will be far more sucessful if we do not create enemis when you disagree with people. When we create an enemy, that person may spend time, energy and perhaps using his / her influential power to retaliate.  When that happens, we will likely need to respond, zapping our time, energy, and brain cells from far more important matters.

Do not mistake being nice for being weak. As we go higher in an organisation, we will find many nice people too. Most of them got there by building relationships, not destroying them, and few would call these people weak.

Just to share this good learning as I learnt it from Bruce Hyland and Merle Yost. I thought it will be good to write on how to “Handle Challenging Facility Management Customers”, which can come in handy, with solutions / strategies in handling, so as not to be taken off guard :)

Until next time, To Your FM Success!

steven@stevenee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management………

Hi Fellow FM Practitioners,

As I relate to facility management profession, how then can we make a difference as FMers? 

Facility management cannot yet be described as a fully established discipline as compared to architecture, civil engineering, surveying, etc. However, the rate at which the discipline is developing suggests that its status will continue to rise, bring to the point where it will be on par with other professions.

In my opinion, to make an impact in FM, the three main attributes that we ought to possess are INTEGRITY, ORGANIATIONAL SKILLS and COMMUNICATION SKILLS.

FM is not just about looking after buildings & their systems & equipment. FM is the creation of built-facilities to support the core function of the organisation. Knowing how occupants within an organisation make use of the built-facilities, how those occupants / people can perform at their best - is the key to understanding facility management.

Facility management practitioners need to understand how the buildings, built-facilities behave and function to support people in their work. In today’s dynamic business environment, a fundamental charateristic of the environment is CHANGE and so one of the main competencies that facility management practitioners should have is an ABILITY TO MANAGE CHANGE. Other competencies include organisational management, financial management and customer service.

I will touch further on FM professional development which are concerned by most fellow FM practitioners.

To Your FM Success!

steven@steven.ee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management…….

IFMA-Singapore Chapter was invited by Ngee Ann Polytechnic on 20th November, 2009, to present “Career Talk” for the final year “FM” students. Myself, the Professional Development Chair, and a Past President of IFMA-Singapore Chapter presented on: Background of IFMA, FM Credential Programs, FM Career Trend & Oppotunities.

That was a mission to create awareness and promote the profession of FM that aim to provide FM graduates to be, motivation and inspiration, towards being a FM practitioner.

Should any organisations or institutions be interested to find out more about IFMA-Singapore chapter, do log on to www.ifmasingapore.org.sg

To Your FM Success!

steven@stevenee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management……..

Last week, I had the privilege to conduct a one day seminar to a group, mostly from government agencies, on how facility management can be a value added function in an organisation.

I’m glad that FM is beginning to be recognised of its importance in supporting its organisation’s core business activities and its potentials to operate toward as a profit centre (rather as a cost centre).

Like other private companies, one of FM focus is on quality management, particularly “Key Performance Indicators” (KPIs) and alike Performance Measurements. That make really sense as what that cannot be measured cannot be managed and when quality aspect is ensured, the outcome can experience tremendous benefits, such as achieving more effective and efficient results, which will add value to organisation and contributes to potential cost reduction.

On the financial aspect, ways that can add value to  organisation  are through Value Creation, Sustaining Values, and Income Generation.

Before these value-add activities can be possible, first it must begin with our mind that FM can be a value added function to organisations. Right?

To Your FM Success!

steven@stevenee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management….

I was at Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, to facilitate a workshop on Service Level Agreement for Facility Management. It was challenging as SLA is relative new to FM and to deliver in a manner simple to understand.

What about Service Level Agreement for Facility Management?

A Facility Management (FM) Service Level Agreement (SLA) is contract between the FM provider (internal or external) and the customers (organisation and its end users), where the FM provider states what they will provide for the customer. SLAs are important to support FM departments to operate as a value added function as they are as ever striving to improve their service delivery and reduce expenses.

SLA covers the types of maintenance, response times, installation support, services issues, and a host of facility-related services, so on and so forth, that will be required by the customers.

It is important to have SLAs implement for FM, for two reasons:

1. It provides clarity and certainty about the service levels expected by both the FM service provider and the customer. Whenever there is a doubt, they can refer to the SLAs to address their concerns.

2. It allows the FM provider to measure its own performance and improve itself over time.

Other areas about SLAs that we as FM professional need to be aware of are the main components in writing an SLA, the objectives, the guidelines in establishing an SLA and performance measurement.

I will update soon….

To Your FM Success!

steven@stevenee.com

Making a Difference in Facility Management……..