Spread the word

5 July, 2010

Many organisations pride themselves on being the best in their field, and delivering excellence in everything they do. FM suppliers have the extra challenge of not only delivering their own corporate aspirations and values, but aligning them to those of their customers – no easy task.

Organisations are fond of describing how this vision of excellence will be achieved through the customer experience. Sadly, staff working on the front line are often unaware of or uninterested in these claims, believing they are irrelevant to the routine jobs they are required to do on a daily basis.

There is no getting away from the fact that roles in cleaning, maintenance, security, catering, grounds maintenance and so on frequently involve dirty and monotonous work. Customer-facing roles on reception and the helpdesk can also be stressful and frustrating as customers become more demanding or critical of FM performance.

Those FM teams who can demonstrate true excellence all have at their heart a culture of supporting each other at every level to be the very best that they can be, individually and collectively. Typically this will involve an in-house FM client role or team with either a total outsourced delivery model, or a range of bundled and single FM contracts working together. Inevitably there will also be subcontractors delivering specialist services such as pest control and access control maintenance. But what differentiates these successful teams from the others?

First, the only hierarchy of importance that exists within the team is the individual’s contribution to the customer. If we put the customer at the heart of what we do in FM, both individually and collectively, those providing the service and establishing relationships are those who work on the front line. The customer is not interested in who employs someone. They want to know how to get the help they need when they need it, and have confidence that the basic service is consistent, reliable and flexible when it is required to be so.

Next, they have the basics right in terms of delivery against clear measures across the FM function. There are sensible guidance notes and FM processes to establish consistency. And finally, the FM team actively promote themselves and their service to their customers, sharing their successes and acknowledging any failures with an account of what is being done to improve performance in the future.

This may seem a simplistic analysis, but successfully achieving any one of these four elements requires a great deal of effort and dedication. The fundamental challenge is always creating the culture within the team which supports the first element. Essentially it starts with the senior FM believing that it can be done, and that it is worth doing. Every FM contract needs to set out the requirement for collaboration and teamwork with other suppliers.

On the front line
In order to convince the frontline workforce that they are important, they have to be treated as such. This requires involving them in cross-functional workshops and training sessions on areas such as understanding the business they serve and their contribution, customer service and health and safety awareness.

The way they are treated by their managers will be the way they treat their customers – the right attitude and behaviour has to be consistent.

When frontline staff are empowered, involved and rewarded for their contribution, individuals flourish. When the team has an identity, created together in terms of values and even the uniform they wear, the customer experience improves and so does their perception of the FM service.

Frontline staff who believe they are part of a winning team are more than willing to understand organisational strategy and suggest new ways to improve the service they provide. Above all, they can have fun at work, and gain job satisfaction, self-esteem and confidence.