Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • News
  • Comment
Topics

Getting the message right

Open-access content Thursday 31st October 2013 — updated 3.30pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020

 

31 October 2013

Andrew Hulbert, associate director at Bilfinger HSG Facility Management, is on quest to get more young, driven and educated people in to the FM sector.


After presenting my 'journey' alongside Gareth Tancred and Marilyn Standley at the Rising FMs BIFM 20th Anniversary event, I was approached by Kingston University to deliver a lecture to some of their building surveying and real estate management students.

The brief was to deliver a lecture titled 'Facilities Management: The Professional Service Provider', focusing on what FM actually is, how it can aid building surveyors/real estate professionals and work in partnership with service providers.


Too high, yet too low
The previous week the students had been given a lecture on FM that was predominantly based on the RICS FM Guidance Note (2009). I read through the slides and found myself disturbed by the view of facilities management being taught to these future clients of the FM industry.

FM was simultaneously being pitched too high ("FM optimises people, process, asset and the work environment") and too low ("FM is essentially a backroom function to ensure businesses can operate"). Furthermore, and perhaps most disturbingly of all, there was a complete absence of any mention of people and their importance.

When I read those two words, "backroom function", my heart sank. I began to think to myself, if building surveying/real estate courses are being taught this version of FM across the UK, then the client/contractor relationship is not going to improve in the next 50 years. All the efforts the industry is making to get FM recognised as an important and strategic concern to organisations is being undone by the educational system.

But it was not all bad. There was reference to FM's importance in terms of sustainability, legislation and optimising spend, but the key "people deliver" message was missing.

I'm glad I'd read this information as it helped to shape the lecture I was due to write. My focus was about what FM is in reality, not from a textbook. This means the people on the ground, delivering the service, adding value to the lives of millions every day. My slides covered the various service lines within FM and the depth of activity that sits beneath the headlines of TFM, M&E, cleaning and security. It covered the various service providers in our industry, what they focus on, what they say in their marketing, how they tender for work, what the organisational chart may look like, the challenges they face in delivering to clients. The slides went on to cover the challenges

in the industry, from our workforce profile (the age timebomb, the low-wage sector), to mergers and acquisitions strategy and professionalisation and training levels.

My overall key message was that operational FM is of strategic concern to your business, you must take it seriously, give it adequate resources and consider service providers as strategic partners to your future organisations. Writing this lecture made me re-appreciate just how hard it is to define FM as a professional within the industry, let alone trying to teach it to people outside of it.


Good feedback
Delivering the lecture itself was inspirational: having an engaged audience, wanting and willing to learn, actually listening to what you are saying, taking part in the activities they are set and challenging your ideas. I would highly recommend it to any FM professional that is given such an opportunity.

My lecture, at two-and-a-half hours, included the activity "real FM scenarios - what would you do?" and ended on a genuinely interesting debate around sustainability, in terms of: is it real, is it our problem, and can we solve it?

The feedback from the lecturer and the students was unexpectedly positive. I was approached by a few of them afterwards and the general message was that they did not realise how vast the FM industry was and were not aware of the importance it plays in their future careers. A couple even said they would consider a career in FM now that they had a greater understanding of it.


Our challenge
While it was a challenging and worthwhile experience, it did leave me with two stark warnings. Firstly, to professionalise the industry properly we need FM in the lecture hall. I found myself in front of students who'd all taken the positive step to study their subject and were aiming for careers within that industry. We do not have this within FM and it shows just how far behind we are in terms of education.

But more concerning is the view of FM being taught to our future clients. FM needs to be pitched at the right level for people outside of the immediate industry to understand what we do and the benefits of working with a strategic outsourced partner. These future professionals need to understand the role that FM can play within their organisation and for the prosperity of their own businesses. I only saw one lecture, on one course, in one university and was disappointed by how our industry was being portrayed; who knows what message is being delivered across the rest of the UK and what the future impact of this will be. 
Also filed in:
Comment
Content
Topics

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Project Leader (Maternity Cover One Year Contract)

Cambridge
Circa £50,000 Pro Rata + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56378

Maintenance Supervisor

Surrey
Up to £43,000 + Excellent Package & Opportunities
Reference
56376

Regional Facilities Manager

South West England
Circa £40,000 + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56375
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2022 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ