A recent study line-management by the IPD Group showed that in 31 organisations, six FMs reported to CEOs, seven reported to CFOs, five reported to the property director and nine reported to an operations director. The remaining four reported to HR directors or other functions.
Are these FMs particularly disadvantaged and is the image of FM directly related to whom the person reports, such as heads of HR, procurement, finance or property? Graham Fowler, FM director at City legal firm Barlow Lyde and Gilbert, says being on the board is not always essential for top-flight FM practice. In his 20 years as an FM he has always reported directly to a board member. What is essential, he explains, is having someone on the board with whom the FM can communicate exceptionally well. This saves time and money — not to mention frustration and stress for all concerned.
The best situation for a non-board member senior FM is for him or her to report to a board member who has direct administration experience, especially of building services and, importantly, project management. “Unfortunately, in most firms senior FMs seem to report to financial and accounting people who are most concerned with costs, and are not as familiar with value for money.”
The difficulty comes when the FM has to explain longterm strategic gains versus short-term financial savings. This latter is often where the accountant comes from, he explains.
However, if the FM has a good relationship with the board member, he might be able to persuade them to go on a relevant one-day BIFM course to gain an insight into value for money. “It might cost around £1,000 a day, but this is small compared to, say, a £2.5 million fit-out job and the possible savings. It worked well here when a managing partner, a lawyer, did just that.”
Not who but how
It matters less to whom an FM reports than how they report, says Ronnie Wilkie, operations director at Ascot Race Course. The perception of the FM function will be based on the FM’s ability to articulate and put forward their wins to date. Be humble, says Wilkie, but also market your successes strongly so people understand that you are a person who gets things done in line with the organisation’s business strategies. Wilkie himself came from humble beginnings. He started as a private in the Scots Guard, leaving as a major. He then joined consultants Booz Allen as an office manager and left as an operations director for EMEA. At Ascot he reports directly to the chairman and is chairman of Ascot Racecourse Estates. He oversaw the major £210 million regeneration of Ascot in 2006. FM is obviously about buildings and equipment. But it is also about people providing excellence in the working environment, ensuring it fit and safe and that it supports organisational culture. It has contribute to the profitability through effective cost management. Nonetheless, says Wilkie, an FM must tailor the facilities jargon to the listener: “Interpret upwards in more technical jargon if needs be, and also interpret downwards in less technical detail according to the listener’s understanding.”
In the first instance, perception of the FM function will be based on this communication ability, he says. But there has to be a solid track record for the function to “gain acceptance into the inner circle”.
Bearers of bad news
Sadly, in many organisations FM gets on the board’s radar only when someone complains about a facilities issue. Or when an issue gets high-profile news coverage such as the recent outcry over potential health problems with mercury in long-life, energy-efficient light bulbs. That is why, says Lisanne Schloss, head of property services at Morgan Stanley, FMs should use every informal opportunity to get the attention board-level people.
Never miss an opportunity to beat the FM drum, be it in the lunchroom, lift, entrance hall, anywhere. “In a conversation let them know that FM has a certain problem under control and that you are right on top of the issues that matter to them.” Obstacles will always exist for an FM, not least of which could be having a superior with little understanding of the FM role and how it affects the bottom line. It will always be the luck of the draw as to whom an FM must report. And lucky is the FM whose organisation is communication-friendly where informal contacts are easily made. But importantly, don’t make it appear that you are going around your immediate boss to get the message across, says Schloss. Too often the most senior property heads, as well as procurement directors, will see only the big financial deals and not the importance of how the small issues touch the everyday lives of employees. But at Morgan Stanley senior real estate heads see the importance of FM, says Schloss who herself reports into the international head of property and is several rungs down from board level.
Valuable properties
Reporting into property can be where an FM adds greatest value, says David Urquhart, with 20 years in FM and now head of operations for Prudential’s global corporate property arm. There has been much talk within industry over the years of marrying HR, IT and FM to create great savings and for a one-stop shop for internal customers. But Urquhart is not sure that has really happened.
Several years ago facilities management within Prudential was raised from a purely functional position, he says. FM used to be decentralised, focusing on cleaning, catering, space planning at local levels, which meant it was separated from the higher-value operations such as property management and dispersal.
FM is now called service delivery. It has been globalised where possible as part of overall property strategies. This “convergence of the right disciplines” has paid off for Prudential globally. FM is now associated with property and higher-value, says Urquhart, whose boss heads up the division and reports into finance on the main board. Prudential’s businesses world-wide has been asking the service delivery team in the UK to help on their local problems and issues. These include how to set up a good logistics operation in the US based on a mail service, and in Asia how to arrange better travel management. “We’re finding we are now being pulled into these discussions,” he says.
Urquhart acknowledges that there will always be a challenge in setting up such a system as at Prudential. “A lot will rest on the vision of the property manager or director. But an FM will also have to broaden their own horizons to get the attention of directors. Don’t talk about cleaning and catering contract spend. Talk about financial liabilities.”
David Arminas is a freelance journalist
