Tom Mitchell presents Vision 2020 at Ideaction09

1. VISION 20/20
INVENTING THE FUTURE

2. Thomas L. Mitchell, Jr., CFM, CFMJ
IFMA First Vice Chair
Director, Facilities Management Consulting
Booz | Allen | Hamilton

3. IFMA’s balanced scorecard and strategy
map follow classic formats from Robert S.
Kaplan and David P. Norton of the
Harvard Business School

6. “The best way to
predict the
future is to invent it.”
Immanuel Kant
Prussian Philosopher
1724 - 1804

11. Vision 20/20 pulled together all of its
critical resources and relationships to
create a story of what the world and
workplace might look like in the year
2020—and the facility professional’s
elevated role there.

12. Facility management must reinvent
itself from a perception of “business
support,” to a reality of “business
critical.”

13. The Strategy: Looking Back
from the Year 2020
Focusing on the lifecycle optimization of
building portfolios, IFMA successfully linked
the financial, social, environmental and
workplace diversity bottom lines—the new
“quadruple bottom line.”

14. The Result
 Facility professionals want to join IFMA and other FM
organizations to be a part of a rapidly-expanding network.
 New and experienced industry professionals seek FM
credentials as validation of their skills.
 Public and private businesses demand that workplaces be
managed by “certified” FMs.
 There is a broader understanding of how high-performance
built environments play a critical role and deliver
competitive advantage.
 IFMA and allied organizations provide comprehensive
support for their members and other stakeholders.

15. Sustainability
 Create a full-time staff position to direct sustainability-related initiatives.
 Define sustainability from the facility management perspective.
 Identify and connect with organizations promoting sustainable
initiatives that have a bearing on the profession.
 Support LEED® Operations and Maintenance certification for existing
buildings.
 Develop business-based frameworks covering ROI analysis and
execution.
 Research and bridge gap between design/construction and FM.
 Build best practice case studies.
 Promote FM-based sustainability programs to U.S. governmental
agencies and departments.

16. Membership
 The anticipated membership growth in IFMA and other FM-related
organizations will exceed 100,000.
 The real strength will be the interconnectivity (global, national, regional,
industry/interest) of this network.
 Community-based networks will provide highly-specific, in-depth
information.
 IFMA will create and maintain comprehensive data base of FM
practitioners worldwide.
 Enhanced data mining capabilities will enable new member
classifications and individualized programming.
 It will be easier to combine members into groups based on who
employs them and whether in-house or contracted.

17. Career Management
 In cooperation with other FM organizations, IFMA will identify, define
and fortify a framework to enhance visibility of FMs in the workplace.
 The framework will be taught in order to build best-in-class FM
organizational structures.
 Restructuring will occur on a massive scale and elevate entire
profession.
 IFMA will document and map route for senior professionals to obtain
recognition and invitations into the C-suite.
 Career plan will identify desired training, education and experiences for
progression from entry-level, to middle management and to senior
leadership.
 Through these efforts and extensive marketing targeting board rooms,
chief facility management officers will achieve C-suite stature.

18. Education
 Bring new comprehensive programs on all facets of FM and deliver
them year round in multiple formats.
 Include face-to-face learning, distance learning and chapter and
approved provider deliveries.
 Develop a lifecycle approach to workplace-career management.
 Introduce FM and related workplace avocations earlier in the process
by working with secondary schools and guidance counselors.
 Work more closely with junior colleges, universities and technical
schools to support accredited programs.
 Expand curricula from principles of FM to include workplace strategy
and core competencies needed in the C-suite.
 Work more closely with related organizations in architecture,
engineering and design to promote careers in the built environment.

19. Credentials
 Expand from IFMA’s current knowledge-based Facility Management
Professional (FMP) and competency-based Certified Facility Manager
(CFM) credentials.
 Partner with other organizations to develop an FM technical
designation.
 Develop a capstone credential for those working in the highest and
most strategic levels as senior facility executives.

20. Mentoring
 Establish a sustainable mentor program with distinct guidelines and
practices.
 The program will cover all formal educational stages—from secondary
school through undergraduate and graduate study.
 Keep lines of communication open between IFMA and future
graduates.
 IFMA emerging leaders and young professional programs will be
cornerstones of this effort.

21. Research
 Increase research significantly in breadth, capacity and strategic
importance in order to maximize impact of FM.
 Benchmarking and standards-oriented research will continue with more
research supporting program development.
 External research will be conducted to support the business community
and partners.
 Despite expansion, research will continue to be an unbiased source of
workplace-related information.
 Prove the positive effects of good FM operations on the strategic
direction and financial success of organizations that embrace it.

22. Knowledge Management
 As FM continues to evolve strategically, importance of managing body
of knowledge will be accentuated.
 IFMA may create—on its own or in collaboration—one or more dynamic
portals.
 The portal(s) will continuously segment, organize and make information
available in an intuitive manner.
 “Wikipedia-like” project will provide much-need platform to attract best
of what subject matter experts, researchers, academicians and others
have to contribute.
 IFMA may create “living laboratory” to showcase best practices and
align academic research with real-world scenarios.
 Corporate partners will play integral roles in making such in-depth
workplace examination possible.

23. World Workplace Conference & Expo
 World Workplace Conference & Expo will evolve in scope and
experience to maintain its premiere position in North America.
 Look for more organizations, publications, participants and exhibitors in
2020.
 No longer limit conference to physical space and three-day timeframe.
 Leverage technologies to enable virtual participation from all over the
globe.
 Participants will be able to revisit the experience throughout the year.

24. Worldwide FM Community Participation
 The world will be more interlinked than ever before.
 IFMA will continuously look for and pursue strategic alliances and
partnerships that support the association’s vision, mission and
objectives.
 IFMA leads but does not exclusively own the advancement of FM
globally.
 Becoming more international is part of each IFMA functional area
balanced scorecard.
 The association will continue to support establishment of global FM
standards.
 FM credentials will evolve to allow a single global standard in
professional recognition.
 Support joint meetings at global congresses to enhance collaborative
relationships with a focus on gaining increased governmental
recognition of FM as a career field.

25. Government
 IFMA will expand its contacts in influence with governments worldwide
to be regarded as an “honest broker of FM and workplace-related
information.”
 This will be achieved through a careful and methodic expansion of
IFMA’s successful efforts conducted in Washington, D.C., during these
past 10 years.
 In the United States, facility function touches more stimulus package
components than any other function.
 IFMA members will participate in a growing number of strategic global,
national, regional and local committees.

26. Technology
 Leveraging technology will enable IFMA to maximize capabilities and
reach FM professionals 24/7—well beyond current core members in
North America.
 There will be complete integration of all internally-facing and externally-
facing information systems.
 Stakeholders can expect enhanced portals and some kind of
comprehensive knowledge management capability.
 IFMA’s already strong presence in social media will be even more
pervasive.
 Web conferencing and online learning will be significantly more robust.
 The net effect of this technological leap will be a disproportionately
larger impact on the FM profession for the amount of resources
expended.

27. Summary
 Rapid change and the global economic downturn are
providing the facility management profession with an
opportunity to step to the forefront.
 Initiatives in IFMA’s vision 20/20 are designed to help
shape the future—not just react to it.
 Facility management will be a sought-after profession with
a clear path to executive levels of leadership as new
generations enter the workforce.

28. Thank You!
www.ifma.org