If FM keeps comparing itself with FM, it will never change.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

We’re very good in our industry at looking sideways.

What are other FM teams doing? How are other contracts structured? What does good look like elsewhere in workplace?

And of course, there’s value in that.

But sometimes I wonder whether we spend so much time looking at each other that we forget to look outside.

Because a lot of the things I see teams struggling with aren’t really FM problems at all.

They’re people problems.

Trust.
Poor conversations.
Unclear decisions.
Different expectations.
People protecting their own patch.
Customers not feeling heard.

And none of those belong exclusively to FM.

One of the things I love about the work we do at Kentish and Co is that we get to work in different environments and bring those lessons back with us.

Sometimes something I see in housing, logistics or another completely different organisation makes me think: why don’t we do more of that in FM?

I’ve spent most of my working life in this industry and I love it.

But loving an industry doesn’t mean we shouldn’t challenge it.

Sometimes we need to stop looking sideways and look over the fence instead.

So, where do you think FM could steal a few good ideas from?