Professionalizing the FM sector: The real deal

The call to professionalize the facility management industry continues to grow. With so many companies and individuals joining the bandwagon of FM practitioners, one begins to wonder how many of these organizations and individuals have the competence to deliver FM services.

The question, therefore, is whether it is too late to make this move? The answer depends on what we are prepared to do. The other question may be, should we give up on it? And the answer will emphatically be no. However, there will be a need for a different approach. The approach looks less than certain at the moment because it will require developing and nurturing.

Whilst there’s been a great shift in awareness in both private and public sectors on the benefits of FM services, our maintenance culture remains low. Many organizations are still struggling to create a positive and safe work environment which, no doubt, will increase productivity and, most residential estates could do with improved maintenance.

The prevailing economic conditions have not helped but what I believe is that many workers will like to see their workplaces better managed. If good FM support is a critical part of the solution, why then are these organizations not reaching out to FM practitioners for assistance? The answer is because we don’t have sufficient profile or credibility nor sufficient qualifications and professionalism to be accepted as the go-to problem solvers.

Yet, collectively, we are good at thinking differently and creatively about the issues within organizations and what it takes to fix the problematic ones. There are many solutions that FM service providers can deliver to enhance buildings

and support their occupants in being more engaged, comfortable, efficient and productive. We just need clients to re-appraise their requirements and strategies.

We also need a clearer vision and strategy for professionalizing FM. How many facilities managers have qualifications in FM or attended courses related to FM? The total figure is probably low within a sector that represents billions of Naira in value and arguably one of the biggest employers in the country.

We won’t surmount this challenge quickly as there’s no indigenous professional body in the sector to address these issues. The existing international FM bodies – IWFM and IFMA— have not achieved much despite their tangible efforts. Within the industry itself, there’s precious little history of vision sharing, effective collaboration or sustained coherent communication. The truth is FM practitioners should be equipped to be transformational leaders influencing them to think and take courageous action to help their colleagues make positive difference for FM to be a strategic resource to organisations.

There are clearly challenges on both sides of the fence because there is no incentive to learn new skills which is bad news for all organizations especially those involved in any aspect of FM. What our industry needs right now is new people (young people in particular), new skills, new insights and more creativity, all adding up to more credibility around how FM can add real value to organizations in numerous ways.

The advancement of the practice of FM is not limited by organizations; rather it is limited by FM leaders who are to be the voice of change, showing the courage to lead change that add value to their organizations’ business success.