8 SEPTEMBER 2023Corporate organizations face increasing headwinds as challenges like intense market competition, increasing consumer demands, significant deferred maintenance backlogs, war for talent, and spiraling expenses that impact margin attainment. Desperate times may call for desperate measures however; the creation of a transformational real estate team is one pragmatic step towards extracting greater value from existing real estate portfolios. Transformational real estate teams can provide synergistic expertise which creates greater value across a spectrum of real estate functions to include capital program delivery, operations and maintenance, real estate portfolio management, sustainability, strategic sourcing (to include supplier diversity). The march to transformation begins with establishment of foundational elements of a center of excellence (COE). Although COE can be defined in myriad of ways, there are foundational elements that should be incorporated into any high performing team. In creating transformational, high performance teams six key attributes are core;· Governance· Process Standardization· Workforce Development· Digital Transformation· Strategic Sourcing· CultureAs an example, high performing military units are typically defined as having strong governance. Governance relates to how a unit is structured, organized, and aligned to execute strategic objectives in accordance with plans, policy, regulations, and overall commander's intent. Roles and responsibilities are well defined both within and external to the core organization. Strong governance enables agility in operations and timely decision making, balanced against established well defined priorities of work which lead to highly efficient deployment of resources. Similarly, high performing real estate teams benefit from strong governance and are fueled by well thought, well planned initiatives that are captured in authoritative capital programs executed with discipline. Governance is the foundation upon which transformational real estate teams are established. Organizations with well establish capital program approval governance can achieve exponentially greater cost reduction and value creation than alternatives such as value engineering and scope reductions.Standardized processes are to real estate and facilities management services as sheet music is to an orchestra. They enable effective coordination of effort across all functional areas of real estate as well as interplay with key stakeholders such as finance, strategy, and operations. Key performance indicators, performance and design standards, and other business and operations metrics are essential in understanding CREATING A TRANSFORMATIONAL REAL ESTATE TEAMBy Clayton Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Real Estate and Facilities, Thomas Jefferson University HospitalsClayton MitchellIN MY OPINION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >