The Leader - May/June 2008 - (Page 74)

i nD ustr Y t r a cker by richard kadzis performance Metrics attaininG corporate real estate’s HolY Grail Performance metrics are the tie that binds corporate real estate (CRE) to the C-Suite and, increasingly, to the core businesses of the global enterprise. We hear a lot from senior people throughout CRE about getting a seat at the table, building credibility, communicating value in the language of the business and the CFO, and – ultimately – gaining the vaunted “trusted advisor” status. The ability to track, capture, analyze and communicate the many measurements that show how much value CRE is adding to the enterprise is really one of the surest ways to get there. While the results are most often related visually in “dashboard” style, it’s the specific metrics that industry executives select from a sea of data that determine their clarity to key stakeholders of the enterprise, and thus to CRE’s ability to get a seat at the table. In its highest-level but most distilled form, performance metrics are often linked to balance scorecards. They are now being increasingly treated as key performance indicators, or KPIs. Learning how to select the ones that top management really wants or needs to see is akin to attaining CRE’s Holy Grail. That level of sophistication is characterized by the clear alignment of CRE with the enterprise strategy or business plan, and the BBC is one example of it. “Defining KPIs really equates to clarity on strategic objectives,” is how one service provider executive supporting the BBC’s data reporting model termed it a couple of years ago at the Lisbon Global Summit. At whatever level they’re formulated and shared as a way to inform the business of the business, they also represent a keystone of CRE decision support. sYnerGY oF Metrics anD Decision support Performance metrics and decision support go hand-in-hand. The former enables the latter, and both are strong suits for CRE professionals. One reason is that as companies have begun treating real estate and workplace as strategic assets, industry executives on both the supply and demand sides have learned to excel in collecting the data that often validates a higher-level role for our industry in key areas like: n Globalization n Emerging markets n Mergers and acquisitions n Portfolio optimization n Integrated solutions delivery n Integrated flexible workplace practices Another facet of the CRE metrics world is the drive to measure effectiveness, not just efficiency. Workplace transformation initiatives provide one of the beach-heads for this new front. A substantial study on workplace metrics, released in October 2007 by Tririga and workplace-technology consultant Michael A. Bell, reflects a robust adoption rate of performance metrics. In fact, Bell rates 67 percent of the corporate and service provider executives whose enterprises landed in the upper half of the study’s four-tiered “Integrated Workplace Management Maturity Model.” Workplace metrics are becoming more commonplace because of big changes over the last decade, the study points out: n Technology advancing faster than expected n Higher than expected levels of mobility and networking n Business continuity, risk management, recovery and workplace resilience n Intense focus on business compliance (SOX) n Accountability for ongoing cost containment and efficiency n The ‘green revolution’ tied to workplace sustainability and energy use What is a typical measure of efficiency compared to a newer gauge of effectiveness? tHe Quest to Measure eFFectiveness Efficiency tends to track along the measurement of cost savings, but effectiveness tries to account for differences in tH e le aDe r 74 MaY / j u n e 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leader - May/June 2008

The Leader - May/June 2008 Leadership Contents Message from the CEO Real Estate in the News Green Real Estate Work Without Boundries Building Flexibility Into the Business Strategy Multi-Generational Work-Force Design Work Force Longevity Analysis Wells Fargo's David Nelson Pennsylvania's Michael Rossman Globalization 2.0 Site Selection Consultant Directory The New York Report: A Core of Traditional and State-of-the-Art Opportunities Discovery Forum Findings Industry Tracker Young Leader Career Development Effective Leadership Economic Development in the News A Look Ahead In Our Next Issue Calendar of Seminars Index of Advertisers Executive Development Spotlight

The Leader - May/June 2008

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