COMMENT
TODAY AIN’T RIGHT...
Julian Fris, Director at Neller Davies with some indispensable advice for
getting client-supplier relationships right
I recently decided to do something di erent. I
wanted to break the mould and ‘do good’.
So, I decided to record a rock n’ roll album evoking
memories of the fi• ies, sixties and seventies - when
life was seemingly simpler.
Why? Firstly, I have been playing piano longer than
I’ve been in facilities management. Secondly, the
project was largely about collaboration and proving
how, by working together with lots of di– erent
parties, we can produce a product that we are all
really proud of and pleased with.
One song, ‘Today ain’t right’, started as a threeminute
blues ri– then developed into a great little
tune about the Faustian e– ect of social media. With
the help of musicians Kevin Hall & Gayle Fraser, we
helped to raise a tidy sum for the Royal Marsden
Cancer Charity.
Why is this relevant to FM? Well very much
so. Typically, my career has been influenced by
hierarchical corporate entities who regularly overuse
the term ‘partnering’, ‘partnership’ or ‘joint
venture’.
In the purest sense, it suggests that a cleaning
company is working shoulder to shoulder with, say, a
leading accountancy firm. But is that reality?
Or where various companies come together to
provide a generic FM service, all starts well until
various partners move in di– erent directions
because of changes in risk profile or a particular
company’s fortunes. Over the years, we have seen
many of these partnerships dissolve – because they
have achieved their aim, have moved into a merger
14 AUGUST 2019
& acquisition mode as a dominant partner buys up
shares, or the service delivery has broken down due
to fundamental disagreements. Or even liquidation.
The principle of collaboration, team working
and shared values are essential. However, in FM &
catering we see companies buy in to too much of
the hubris around working for a brand, end up overpromising
and under-delivering.
In reality, the ‘brand’ company just wants its
buildings serviced on a consistent and valuedriven
basis. What they want is a trusted supplier
who delivers time and time again, is honest about
their intentions and has motivated sta– who are
interested in doing a good job, and have great career
opportunities backed up by proper succession
planning.
However, many contracts I see are more
like treaties and ‘partnerships’ are really just
euphemisms for economic abuse. FM can be a
so• cost target and is driven by goodwill. We are
partners, right? “Well give us back 20 per cent
because we’re struggling here, oh, but services
have to be to the same standard or better.” The
rest is a downward spiral or ‘race to the bottom’.
As everybody is now realising the industry cannot
survive on 2 per cent margins in the long term and
some more savvy clients are starting to realise this.
Meanwhile, the core organisation fails to deal with
its own cost issues, it falters and everyone loses out.
There are plenty of examples of that in the papers,
especially on the High Street.
Many of my colleagues have said, and I agree with
them, that FM & catering techniques could add so
much to a client organisation. The real question is
how to achieve that in a meaningful way.
We read more and more about ‘Vested’
outsourcing. The argument is that FM is invariably
a grudge purchase and is task & process driven and
despite the term output driven, it is actually quite
the reverse.
Specifications, contracts & performance
management systems are all peppered with
limiting ‘you will do this, or else’ type statements.
Consequently, innovation is viewed with suspicion
and is only available once it becomes a– ordable, and
by that time it is mainstream and everybody’s got it!
So what’s the point?
Vested moves towards a more collaborative space,
but seemingly works best when hierarchies are
flattened. It assumes that FM companies are already
successful because they know what they are doing.
Interfering inputs get in the way. Short-term decision
making is a big issue.
A really good example from our world is the
catering concession for a sports stadium where
the team and the caterer inextricably linked to the
success on the pitch. The profit model is linked to
a team doing well and getting into cup matches –
getting to the final of a particular cup is the crowning
glory. So, this is about payment on results, but the
hospitality company has to work really hard not only
to meet the match commitments but also maximise
the benefits within the stadium on non-match days
to help the team invest in facilities, the team and
its brand. It’s a circle of fulfilment. It’s how this is
translated into the military, hospitals, banks and so
on and changing attitudes.
Vested will only work if there is trust and respect
between the client and service providers so maybe
we should talk more about them as ‘Trusted’
solutions. My own company has been built on those
principles; it’s not all about facilitating another
tender, although an essential part, it’s about sharing
the highs and lows of a client organisation through
the complete business cycle from strategy to
delivery.
This enables us to take a longer-term view which
both parties can build on. Where we have clients
and providers we act as ‘mediator’ or ‘catalyst’ to
facilitate discussions, change and opinion shi• .
Partnership evokes the sense of sharing on
an equitable basis. It is a word which is heavily
bandied about, but is it really achieved? There are
many forms such as a legal partnership or a group
of GPs, but the definition for that is interesting
as partners (depending on the jurisdiction)
have limited liabilities. In an LLP, each partner
is not responsible or liable for another partner’s
misconduct or negligence – so it’s not really vested
in that sense. A marriage, however, is a partnership
where everything is equally shared through thick
and thin. So, we can already see that there might
be confusion. Trusted relationships, where both
parties have to work at and respect each other,
delivers results which our recent musical/social
responsibility project showed.
So, maybe today ain’t right, but tomorrow can be.
TIPS FOR GETTING THE
RELATIONSHIP RIGHT
Build trust with each other
Collaborate on all sorts of things
Learn from each other’s experience
Use mediation as a catalyst
Engage, communicate & be honest
Be altruistic
ADVICE & OPINION