There are plenty of things not to like about the short-term focus of many money managers. Companies that don’t make their quarterly numbers often find their stock values plunging, so internal investments with a longer-term payoff can get short shrift. That short-term outlook may bring cheers for reductions in the amount of space used, while most energy efficiency proposals are met with polite silence and the idea of replacing systems before they fail has no chance at all.
Strange as it may sound, one way for facility executives to deal with a situation like that is to think like a money manager. Look at your company to figure out why anyone would want to own a piece of it.
An investor will examine a company’s financials, of course — profit margin, cash flow, key ratios and the like. Those metrics are useful for facility executives as well. Experienced facility executives use them to shape project justifications in ways that will be relevant to senior executives.
But the numbers are only a starting point. Investors who do the best over the long term delve into companies, looking at things like quality of management, corporate culture and innovation. And it is those kinds of factors that can have the most value for facilities. By helping management to respond quickly to changes, to ensure business continuity or to encourage the communication that is essential to innovation, facility executives can show the value of facilities and improve the odds of getting a fair hearing on proposed projects.
What if, after taking a look at your company, you conclude that necessary facility investments will never get serious consideration? Maybe it’s an indication you should look at other organizations to invest your time in.
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