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Contact | Apr 12 News

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

CIOB promotes new standards in partnerships

The CIOB, in conjunction with Partnership Sourcing Limited (PSL), is holding a seminar to promote the new British Standard in Collaborative Business Relationship Management systems (BS11000) in relation to facilities management, and to demonstrate examples of its implementation. BS11000 represents a landmark for business as

the first national standard in the world to address business collaboration. PSL is a driving force in promoting collaboration between organisations and has played a key part in the development of BS11000. “Unfortunately partnership has in recent years

tended to become an overused word in facilities management with very little objective measurement of the success or otherwise of the collaboration,” says Chris Odam, associate director at PSL. “The facilities management sector is large and

complex, expanding and evolving continuously to include the management of an increasingly broad range of tangible assets, support services and people skills. Many organisations have sought to develop partnerships as a way of delivering service excellence in the complex borderless organisational structures that have developed to meet current business agendas and customer expectations.”

New paradigms required Odam says a shift in thinking is required from traditional supply chain management and price towards collaboration and value. “Partnerships are now being used as a method of

moving away from the adversarial role of contracting to higher trust and obligation relationships built on a ‘win-win’ basis for all parties. They involve a level of trust that expects all those involved in the collaboration to do what they have said they will do. Communication and co-operation are key elements to the success of a collaborative working arrangement. The new standard does not represent a “one size fits all” solution, but rather provides a framework which can be scaled and adapted to meet particular business needs.

The CIOB Facilities Management Group is keen

to promote excellence in the management of facilities. The introduction of a British Standard on relationship management would appear to be

a unique opportunity for organisations and facilities managers to adopt a standard that has credibility to demonstrate and communicate to all stakeholders the effectiveness and success of the business relationship and provide a development path for the future.

PSL has been working with a number of organisations to pilot this approach. Early in 2010 five organisations – EMCOR UK, Lockheed Martin, NATS, Raytheon Systems and VT Group – were awarded the PAS 11000, a staging post to full BS certification. All have now progressed to full BS11000 certification with more than 150 other organisations currently working towards assessment. Collaborative business

relationships in the context of BS11000 can be individual one-to-one relationships, but more frequently they will involve multiple parties, including external alliance partners, suppliers, various internal divisions and often customers.

Phase by phase BS11000 maps the key areas that all organisations should address. The first phase focuses on how to link collaborative approaches with the overall business strategy and operation; the second phase is about engagement; and the third phase is about managing the relationship. The standard provides a common life-cycle

route map which takes account of existing good practice, but also gives guidance where improvement or new ways of working are required. It also provides a methodology to monitor progress across the organisation.

Facilities managment is moving towards a partnership basis with BS11000 guiding best practice in collaborative relationships

“There is real momentum building with

organisations who can see the benefit of attaining BS11000,” says Steve Harrup, chair of the CIOB Facilities Management Group. “Many of these talk of enhancing competitiveness and performance, improving cost management and use of resources, working on joint risk and opportunities and going the extra mile to find additional value and innovation from collaborative working,” he adds. Work is already underway to transition BS11000

to an ISO standard, creating a framework for organisations to collaborate on a global basis.

The seminar on BS11000 is on 29 May at CIOB headquarters, Englemere, Ascot. For full details see www.ciob.org.uk/faculty/facilities-management/ faculties-events or contact Adam Hollis on 01344 630734.