Facilities Managers should constantly strive to improve their effectiveness in maintaining an organization. This involves considerably more than checking up on the janitor – the role of a Facility Manager is to provide necessary operational and maintenance functions to maintain the function of integrating people, place and process with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of core business.
FM operates best when it is optimized and streamlined as much as possible. Because Facility Management impacts every level of an organization’s operations; the better the facility management, the easier it is for the business itself. It requires a thorough analysis of the facility’s operations and proper implementation of plans. The ideal organization is both effective and efficient hence we’ve put together 4 ways to improve your FM operations;
- Setting the right KPI’s
As a facility manager, your primary Key Performance Indicators need to help you answer key, actionable questions related to your goals so that you can improve performance. KPI’s give facilities managers a clear view of the targets they need to meet to help their organization succeed. They compile data from multiple sources and make it transparent so facilities managers can see what’s going well and where there is opportunity for improvement. For instance, if your company’s goal is to close out a certain number of requests each month, your KPI’s will show how close or far the FM is in reaching the targets.
When the FM is able to measure goals this way, it gives them the opportunity to see where they’re going wrong and what decisions to make to help them reach their goals faster.
- Understanding Cost Savings
Being a facilities manager requires maintaining a delicate balance between staying on budget and keeping the building safe and maintained. This is why well-planned preventive maintenance is most important for a cost-effective facilities management program.
Deferred maintenance makes an organization loose more than they gain when things break down than when they are prevented. Some FMs see deferring maintenance as a way to save cost but they will just be postponing the inevitable, this also drains the business bottom line as the cost of repair is always more than the cost of preventive maintenance.
- Linking Facility Management Operations to Employee Performance
The role of the Facilities Manager in the workplace is one of the most important in terms of impact on organizational performance and Facilities Management has a huge influence of the condition of the workplace and the productivity of the people.
A Facilities Management team that will succeed needs to treat the Real Estate Facilities beyond the building and what makes them function, but as an environment that improve the quality of life of people and the business operations. Being able to link these two helps to improve the activities of the Facility Manager and also helps the FM target their policies to better solve employee problem.
- Never Stop Learning
Facilities managers are increasingly required to have a broad knowledge and a range of skills. It is vital that FMs have an active interest and knowledge of field of work or industry and the facilities management industry. And with the influx of tech-driven global brands gradually finding their way into Africa, Facilities Managers must rise to the occasion with improved skills and must be able to apply relevant technology applications that can contribute to increase asset life-cycle, improved occupier experience and better business performance.
