Achieving strategic facilities management through strong relationships

Abstract

Facilities management tends to be technically orientated and reactive. However, the information revolution is having massive impacts in terms of where, when and how people work. As a consequence “facilities” are being propelled to centre stage as a strategic issue, even if they were not perceived as such before. To grasp this opportunity facilities managers need to engage in a balanced, coherent set of operational and strategic interactions and this paper sets out a generic model that identifies these. In addition, to address the strategic issues strong relationships with key players need to be progressively established so that tacit knowledge can flow creatively. This has profound implications for the required mindset, knowledge and skills of facilities managers.