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Conference - third day round-up

30-03-06 0:0 FM World

To be responsive to their organisation, an FM needs to measure the function's performance. However, this is something that FMs have traditionally not done well, according to Rakesh Kishan (pictured), senior vice president for strategic markets at Emcor group who opened the third and final day of the BIFM conference.

In his presentation The Leadership Challenge, Kishan said that a good FM is adaptive to his organisations needs. But a leader will know the business strategy and the macro trends in the economy that will affect his or her organisation. To understand these trends FMs need the best possible relationships with the supply base. They should know how their suppliers are growing their businesses and what competitive pressures are driving mergers and acquisitions among the suppliers. The internal trends are also important such as how much the organisation is changing through flexible working and infrastructure needs.

But he also said FMs need to be persuasive among their colleagues at work, many of whom may not fully understand what the role of an FM is or can be given closer co-operation with the function. He advised FMs to not despair if they find that they have to educate other people in their organisations about what an FM does.

It is only a matter of time before the government sets standards for in-house security personnel so FMs should think of training programmes now. That was the message from Mike Bluestone, director of training at Initial Security in his presentation Coping with Crime and Terrorism.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA), a government agency set up to monitor the sector's services, set out rules that came into force last month making it illegal to operate a private security firm without a licence. Since 20 March proper training has been needed to get the licence, said Bluestone. But many private firms waited until the last minute to do their training and SIA has a backlog of applications for the licence.

Bluestone cautioned FMs that SIA has not made any so-called special arrangements for firms to operate without a licence. He said FMs should be wary of any firm that says they have such a special arrangement because there simply are no such deals. He expects SIA to make an announcement by the end of the year about when in-house operations will need specific training such as the proper use and operation of video camera systems.

Bluestone, who is also a trained corporate lawyer and who has spoken widely on general terrorism issues, urged FMs to read widely about security especially in security sector trade magazines. He also suggested talking to local police and to check the MI5 website.

A fierce debate erupted in one of the parallel sessions later that morning. The majority of purchasers and FMs remain locked in a pas-de-deux over each other's place in their organisation's hierarchy according to Stephen Howell, senior manager global procurement at American Express Services Europe. Each holds stereotypical images of the other and these images often get in the way of improving their co-operation. Nonetheless, in many cases the two groups can work well together, said Howell.

Howell said there remains a belief among purchasers that FMs are “engineers in suits”.
He has found that many FMs believe purchasers are policemen - if purchasers move into an FM arena then the facilities people have been spending too much. The stereotype is that puchasers are too nosey and also buy solely on lowest price, neither of which is true, Howell told the audience to his presentation, Procurement - Partners or Competititors?.

Howell is responsible for FM procurement and has moved his own office to co-locate with the FM team and he now sits only 30 feet from them. He believes that in this way FM and procurement can show a united front to their internal clients. Also, it improves avenues for working more closely on projects to the point within Amex that there are even joint budgets.

The goal has to be a real partnership where both professions bring their skills to the project. FMs often have a specialist technical knowledge that is essential for work to be laid out suitably for a contract. Purchasers should have a business acumen for putting the contract together using the FM's knowledge, he added. He recommends that both sides pursue an openness agenda to break down those stereotypes. He said that his policy for the past three years is to not meet a supplier without a member of the FM team with him.

The last day of a three-day conference can easily dwindle away into nothing, but the keynote speaker on the third day – Kirsty Hayes, founder of the Performance Attitude, made sure that the BIFM conference ended on a high note. In an inspiring presentation, Hayes, who used magic tricks to emphasise certain points, defined leadership as "the ability to engage people in creating a legacy of excelence through environmental and socially responsible practices."

The session had plenty of audience participation including Hayes and FM fellow Anne Lennox Martin dancing around the stage together as Hayes demonstrated that encouraing and supporting your team towards a target was much more fruitful than pushing them against their will. "Attitudes are contagious," she concluded. "Is yours worth catching?"

In his closing address BIFM chairman Mick Dalton summed up the conference with some soundbites from delegates, one of whom said: "The BIFM has hit the spot on the theme of this year's conference." In his last conference as chairman, before Peter Cordy takes over in October, Dalton thanked speakers, delegates, sponsors, exhibitors and the BIFM team for an excellent, thought-provoking event.