Hard but valuable lessons

Open-access content Monday 17th October 2011 — updated 2.38pm, Tuesday 5th May 2020

18 October 2011

I admit my blogging contributions of late have been pretty poor, but I do have an excuse.

My time has been taken up almost exclusively with the future strategic shape of our FM service and how we can contribute to the financial challenges we are facing, both as an industry and a sector.

Working with our strategic outsourced partner, we've now restructured our FM delivery model incorporating a thin client commissioning structure, we've novated services and contracts that had remained outside of the original deal, and value engineered significant savings and margin back into the council. As a result, we now have our sourcing strategy in place, building on this security to maintain a long term partnership to 2016.

What's motivated me to write this week is that, during this past year, I've learned some valuable lessons that I thought worth sharing with those of you starting down this journey.

First, working in partnership is key and keeping that mind set will result in far greater gains that allow both to operate in a commercial context. Second, clear and open communication results in the ability to be frank, honest and constructive. It also helps with those awkward grey areas that need addressing. Third, approach your needs with a degree of pragmatism and, finally, think big - you can always scale back.

The most important lesson I've learned, however, is that "sometimes the big picture is all about the small things". As managers, we can be engaged in the big strategic conversations, building new service models to address future challenges, but we forget the business as usual in the here and now at our peril.

As facilities managers we must always remember that it's ALL about the lights and lifts, the toilets and roofs, the deli and cleaning. Forgetting to keep one eye on this while looking strategically at the long term is the hardest task of all - and sometimes the hardest lesson to learn.

Finbarr Murray is head of facilities management at London Borough of Croydon