Keeping Alliances Aligned

Over the years business alliances have become much more prevalent in our industry. Design-Build and Joint Ventures are both examples of what is a lengthening list of solution alliances, and that’s just on the development side of our equation. When you think about outsourcing and increased alliances on the services side it can be mind-numbing. So, if alliances are this important to us, how do we assure they remain healthy and beneficial? They are, after all, supposed to be win-win, or in some cases win-win-win-win. This is really interesting since companies may be part of an alliance on one project and in direct competition on others. Strategies which prove helpful in maintaining alignment of partners major in emphasizing common needs and benefits while taking advantage of strengths one partner may offer that others don’t.

The business plan is less important than how you work together. Stated another way, an alliance who’s success or failure is tied to meeting an elaborate set of goals is more likely to experience loss of focus and failure than one which is structured primarily around key performance outcomes and how the groups will work together to achieve them. Knowing how you will work together requires knowing how each works internally so you can craft guidelines for working together that are not doomed by the landmines of corporate process and culture. Ideally alliance partners should act and feel as if they are working for the same company when engaged in the alliance. In other words, it’s a relationship thing.

What gets measured gets done. Ever hear that one before? It’s true, you know. So, while you are busy developing metrics that measure process, quality and cost, don’t forget to measure progress toward alliance goals. Also, be wary of pressure to show immediate positive performance on details at the outset. Alliances take a while to find their sea legs and develop “normalcy.” Expecting them to deliver on target the first month can be unrealistic. In the early days focus on the attributes of success and report those. If you’re doing well there you are building in the right direction. Think of these as start-up metrics that will be replaced once the operation is geared up.

Conflict can be a good thing. When different companies team up it is natural that they will not always be in synch, especially at the beginning. And, there may be a tendency to interpret “compromise” as “do it our way.” Alliances are formed because no one company has all the attributes required to meet the need, and because the potential benefit of teaming up outweighs the risk of not participating. Often, however, once the alliance is made the differences that motivated its creation become roadblocks. A key to overcoming this obstacle is to make the conflicts visible. Very visible. Instead of hiding them in the name of being a “good team member” you will serve everyone, including the client, better by identifying them and helping the alliance deal with them openly and fairly. Escalate when you have to, talk candidly but fairly, and pose the conflict as a lost opportunity that represents lost goodwill and/or revenue. My favorite governance model for alliances is a group of key executives representing all partners but essentially sitting as the “Board” of the alliance. When issues get escalated they come to this group which presumably has the best interests of the alliance at heart, not to individual corporate domains where the alliance has little standing and no voice.

Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. It seems silly to say that, like I am overstating the obvious. But it is true, collaboration is the key to alliance success. Yes, there will be a governance system and all the other trappings of business, but at the heart of it it’s about people working together. Spend more time and effort on unbiased investigation and analysis of issues and joint discovery, and less time and effort on assigning blame for problems and failures, and you will be a lot better off. One way to encourage collaboration is to establish collaboration rules of the road that describe how conflict will be communicated, how objectivity will be maintained, and how communication will be both consistent and constructive.

FM Leadership Development

As the importance of FM as a strategic lever is recognized by more organizations the expectations of FM leaders are ratcheting up accordingly. More and more, strong business and entrepreneurial skills are as important as strong FM-specific knowledge. Good advice to younger FM’s who are now maturing in the profession includes encouragement to develop these elements of their personal portfolio along with more traditional FM areas of interest.

Analysis of current FM executive hiring indicates that companies expect more value from their FM groups, expect them to think and act strategically, expect them to understand and support the business of the business, and expect them to drive large scale change quickly and dramatically instead of incrementally. Strategy, business acumen, and change leadership are key skillsets which a lot of non-FM executives have, helping to explain why more and more we see non-FM’s assuming leadership of FM organizations.

FM’s who aspire to executive leadership positions should take a balanced and business-centric approach to their personal development. Specifically, they should…

Know the business of business. Be able to think, talk, and act with strong business knowledge.

Know the business of your business. Know and understand the key business drivers in your specific industry and company. Know how things get done and how decisions get made. Understand and use the financial language, standards, and protocols of your company.

Cultivate important relationships. Know who the influencers and decision makers are in your company and be intentional about spending time with them on a consistent basis. Become an asset to them, a problem solver they can depend upon.

Share the wealth. As you develop yourself and move through the ranks take pride bringing others with you. Make staff development and succession planning a part of your personal development strategy. In other words, prepare others to lead as well as yourself.

In this age of increasing specialization it is tempting to pick those specialties you have the most affinity for and drill deep. That’s fine, if you want to be a technician or recognized knowledge content expert. Being given the reigns to a large complex organization with substantial financial responsibility, however, requires that you know how to think and act in the larger context. Preparing yourself by doing things like those listed above to develop your non-FM skills is just as important to your future.

Mass Communication Systems Improve Emergency Response

A number of specific instances can be cited from just the last couple of years which showcase the advantages of well designed mass communication systems. Virginia Tech, Katrina and the Southern California wildfires are all examples where these systems were either used or needed.

Mass communication technology has now evolved to the point they are user friendly, reliable, and affordable. You can now communicate with your constituency, whether they are students or parents, employees, or volunteers – and you can do it in near real time. All of the major market systems allow you to cover the basics.

• Prepare pre-recorded messages for anticipated events and/or send real time information updates
• Send via multiple channels (email, text, phone, fax, desktop) with end user defined preferences
• Discreet who you send to (geographical region, individual business unit, etc.)

Most of the systems on the market today can tell you how many people actually received the message, some can provide feedback capability. For example, companies use these systems to communicate with employees who may be working or traveling in areas where disaster or political unrest strikes. The company is able to pulse the employee via the network and the employee is able to respond that they are ok or need assistance and whether they are in the office, at home, or on the move.

One large decision to be made when considering such a system is whether it will be in housed in-house in your data center or outsourced to an Application System Provider (ASP). There are pros and cons to each. Outsourcing makes the system much more affordable, provides routine software upgrades, and improves reliability since the system is not housed at a corporate location that may be the scene of the problem and therefore be off-line. On the con side, outsourcing requires putting sensitive staff information on servers that you don’t own, operate, or control. Additionally, bringing the system in-house adds ongoing staffing and training expense.

As with any technology system it’s all about understanding your requirements, technology options, operability, reliability, and cost. Do your homework well and think hard about including this type of system in your Business Continuity Plan. They work, they’re fast, and they improve your intelligence about your constituency and your ability to communicate critical information to them in times of need.

Here are just a few web links to providers.

http://3nonline.com/

http://www.useiris.com/?gclid=CNu8_OSP05ACFSKgYAodn2_oSA

http://www.massalertsystem.com/index.html

http://www.e2campus.com/

http://www.universalalert.com/

Happy Holidays!

As you can tell from the lack of recent postings, I have been enjoying the holiday season myself. The shopping is done, the tree is trimmed, and the outside decorations all work, thank you very much.

As our family gathers to celebrate its traditions we hope that yours is too. Whatever this time of year means to you, it is for all of us a time to pause and reflect. 2007 was a very good year and 2008 lies almost within reach, full of the promise of the unknown.

For now, enjoy your family and loved ones. Watch little kids' eyes grow wide and listen to their laughter, and through them become a child again yourself.

There will be time enough for business after the holidays - I'll be back after the New Year with more random thoughts about the work side of life. Now, however, is for family.

Enjoy.

VR Comes to the Real World

No doubt you know someone who is a ‘gamer,” someone who actively participates in virtual reality experiences. I have a son, for example, who is a Halo fanatic. He spends hours in the game, networked with friends around the world as they collaborate in the experience. They play the game, they network, strategize, allocate resources, and execute. Well, guess what? VR technology has matured to the point it is becoming a factor in business. Consider the following:

• People are now attending full conferences virtually, viewing presentations as they occur and simultaneously chatting with other attendees.

• The military is now using VR as a primary training tool, giving combat personnel those most critical first exposure experiences in a non-life-threatening way while enabling them to experience the emotional and mental challenges of combat.

• The same sort of VR training is being developed for paramedics and medical personnel to give them enhanced triage skills.

And now for a real application that you and I care about….Cisco and others are using VR to enhance internal business collaboration. VR environments are used for hosting meetings and to create a virtual workplace for project teams with members scattered across the globe, enabling them to act and react more naturally - as they would if they were all together. As Cisco and other early adopters develop, enhance, and debug these systems they will begin to migrate out. Think about designing, building, and operationalizing that new manufacturing site in India with a European architect, a multi-national contractor, and your process development team comprised of members from several different divisions and locations; all meeting as one group, and each having a unique and visible identity and personality.

But do not for a minute think VR allows you to avoid the dark side of doing business. With it comes, you guessed it, human nature. Virtual worlds, even virtual work worlds, are extensions of who we are. Already in game worlds there are black markets in game elements, unsavory behavior by some participants, and the predictable entry of lawyers as VR disputes boil over into the real world. If you think of any less than desirable trait or behavior in the real world you can be pretty certain you will see it in virtual environments as well. All of which makes time management, meeting management, interpersonal relationship skills, and other management systems you depend upon so much in your real world just as important in virtual world environments.

VR is an exciting and “next” development in workplace sophistication. It will take a while yet for the technologies and protocols to be normalized by the early adopter community, but you can expect to see furniture companies, workflow management systems, and teaming/collaboration support systems all moving in this direction.