WorldWorkplace 2010

I will be blogging from Atlanta this week while attending IFMA's annual WorldWorkplace event.  Look here in the coming days for updates on educational sessions, interesting products and maybe even interesting people.    The IFMA Foundation Gala, opening reception and Friday night's Awards of Excellence are just a few of the events on tap this week, not to mention the product and services exposition.

My personal search for tools and information this year is focused on project management, learning more about sustainability strategies and systems, and investigating smart business continuity solutions from FM practitioners.

Hope to see you there.  Atlanta may never be the same.

Global Population Shifts and Growth

Global population changes over the next fifty years are projected to shift billions of people from the "developing countries" to the "developed countries" category. Think of what that means for the businesses we support, increased homogenization of economies and the demands that will be placed upon FM. Take a look at Hans Rosling's presentation. Known for his use of technology to illustrate statistical data, Hans has outdone himself this time. Informative, illuminating, challenging and dare I say it, entertaining.  Hans Rosling on global population growth | Video on TED.com

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Overview

GRI is an organic response to the sustainability dialogue in that it began as an informal network, is allied with other international programs, and is a continually evolving framework. Over time it has matured until it is now the pre-eminent guideline for reporting sustainability performance across a wide array of dimensions. It seeks to standardize reporting to enable accurate assessment of any participating organization. That said, it does not mandate performance, only a standard way of reporting. It recognizes that sustainability leadership must come from the top and that different types of organizations have different needs, interests, priorities and constraints.

This Reporting Guidelines Reference Sheet provides an excellent overview of profile and performance information which organizations submit, and can be used as a support tool to guide engagement discussion. If you do elect to report your sustainability performance using GRI guidelines you have the option to provide a copy of the report to GRI, register the report with GRI thereby allowing data to be included in the global database, and to ask GRI to check the self-rating score you have applied.

Allowing data to be shared via the global database increases the knowledge base of all practitioners and informs the continued development of sustainability.

In addition to overall reporting standards, GRI is on course to develop industry specific supplements. This will allow meaningful analysis and definition of best practices within an industry segment and offer particular value to those participants. Industry segment supplements are currently available for the Electric Utilities, Financial Services, Food Processing, Mining & Metals, and NGO segments. Supplements are currently under development for the Airport Operator, Construction and Real Estate, Event Organizer, Media, and Oil & Gas segments. Other segments are currently in the pilot stage.

In many ways GRI mimics the model used by the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE), drawing from operators around the globe to share openly. In OSCRE’s case the effort is to standardize information sharing and process flow within the real estate sector. In GRI’s case the goal is to provide a standardized rigor to reporting and ranking sustainability performance, thereby increasing the quality of information available and elevating performance. In both cases the model is voluntary, participatory and beneficial on a wide basis.

What Does Sustainability Really Mean?

Sustainability is moving along the maturity curve, becoming a mainstream and sometimes core issue for FM’s The problem with “sustainability,” however, is understanding what it really means and where it applies. Too many times the definition provided is limited, possibly in unintentional ways. For example, those who think in terms of development understand sustainability as an element of design and construction processes but seldom envision it past initial occupancy when the project team is largely gone. Operators think in terms of maintaining and optimizing the physical attributes and systems of a facility over its entire life cycle. Service providers and vendors consider the quality of products and services and their carbon footprint, as an example.

All these sustainability perspectives can be confusing and one needs to find a unifying element. And there is one, Facility Management.

FM has always been about people, place and process. These are our core concerns, virtually everything FM is about is encompassed in them. One can effectively argue that sustainability also falls neatly into these classic elements of FM.

People: Providing the people of the organization with good Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is just the beginning. Amenities that support staff and the community also fall into this category.

Place: The site and building development process are obvious, as is the outfitting and maintaining of the facility over its life cycle. Workplace strategies, standards and policies can also enhance sustainability by lessening the amount of space needed and therefore minimizing the built environment’s impact.

Process: Every FM process from procurement of property and space, mail and food services, maintenance, work order management, conference support, office supplies, transportation and the host of others that FM’s lead have a direct bearing on not only the organization but also the environment. “Quality service” is no longer just about the business of the business, the business of sustainability is also a part of the quality dimension.

FM is where the intersection of the outside world and the inside world occurs. When we deliver quality processes that support the business of the organization we have an impact. When those same processes are optimized in how they affect the world around us then we have much greater impact.

Requiring Landlords to implement good sustainable practices in property management and renovations, requiring suppliers to be ISO 14001 certified, optimizing building operations to minimize energy consumption, implementing workplace strategies that allow work at a distance and reduce car trips are all sound practices. They support the business and lower the business’ impact on natural resources while enhancing the quality of life of employees and the community.

Sustainability. What does it mean? To a large degree it means “FM.”

You May Be Ready, Are Your Employees?

I am sure you’ve heard that September is Preparedness Month. If you are engaged in your company’s business continuity planning effort then you know the story. Be it storms, quakes, floods or man made incidents your viability coming out the other side of the experience depends in large part on the quality of your planning beforehand. That said it really is like the old saying, “the battle plan is good until the first shot is fired…” Still, proper preparation provides a foundation that provides resources and allows you to adapt intelligently.


An important but sometimes overlooked item in contingency planning is the personal preparation of employees. Think about these two numbers:

• 93% of your employees and unprepared. They have taken no steps to provide and care for themselves in the event of a major disaster or event. For example, they do not have alternate communication plans or designated rally points for their family.

• 75% of company business continuity plans do not support employee resiliency. We assume (and your Business Continuity Plan probably does as well) that employees will be on site, unconcerned with anything but work, fully functional and motivated.

If it were only so, but it’s not. Here is a basic list of things planning and exercises should anticipate.

• During weather and quake events especially you should assume that not all employees will be able to get to the office. Some because they have to take care of the home front, some because they physically can’t get there.

• Those who are “at the office” will be under stress and may react differently than expected. Some may be emotionally or mentally paralyzed by events. Others will automatically go into “fix it” mode while yet others are focused on taking care of co-workers. Some might be traumatized by their inability to contact, secure and comfort their loved ones.

Here is the point of this discussion: Organizational and personal preparedness are linked. Understanding this it is important to next decide what your organization will do about it. Among the obvious are encouraging all employees to audit their personal preparedness, including providing suggested templates, and to develop their personal continuity plans.


You’ve put a lot of effort and resource into preparing your corporate business continuity plan, and it depends on employee availability and participation. Helping employees prepare themselves is the right thing to do.