The Facility Management Handbook

business people, and mold our modus operandi to the organization's culture. We need to articulate our success, be enthusiastic and customer-oriented, and look to align our department with organizational successes.

Define facility management.
What concepts of management are embraced by facility management?
What is the key to cost-effectiveness?
What are the characteristics of a modern day facility manager?
Why are facilities not viewed as strategic assets?
What should be the first concern of every facility manager?
What are the twelve major actions that provide the tools for facility managers to effectively lead their organization?
What are the benefits accrued when FM is practiced properly?
What is the FM life cycle of a facility?

We end this chapter with a word of caution. We are optimistic about FM, facility managers, and the professional associations that support them. We continue to be concerned that facility managers do not feel that they are respected, and that decisions affecting facilities sometimes are made without FM input; facility managers are, too often, in a reactive mode. We need to realize that we are not core business and that we are a major resource consumer. That leaves us open to intense scrutiny. For that reason, we need to be innovative, entrepreneurial, good

Not surprisingly, the responsibilities most frequently added to the FM portfolio are disaster planning/recovery (18 percent), managing more facilities (18 percent), and computer-aided FM (16 percent).

Shared services—21 percent

The existence of FM as a profession—20 percent

When facility managers are asked what they envision to be the issues of the future, we are encouraged to see that they recognize and envision the following as being challenges for themselves in the future:
Outsourcing—43 percent
Changing demographics of the workforce—38 percent
Increased globalization—30 percent
Mergers/acquisitions and their effect on facilities—30 percent
Labor shortages—25 percent
Resource scarcity (and its effect on prices)—23 percent
Distributed work arrangements (like telework) and their impact on facilities—22 percent

All other topics—under 10 percent

Those skills considered most important are:
Customer service—40 percent
Operations and maintenance—31 percent
Communications—29 percent
Project management—21 percent
General management—19 percent
Financial—17 percent
Strategic planning—15 percent

twelve major actions that every facility manager should take.