Planning prevents stress.

That single truism should be enough motivation to make every facility manager give the development of good planning skills some serious attention. The smooth functioning of the facility operation depends on the ability of the facility manager to effectively plan, organise and coordinate the work to ensure that objectives are met and things don't go wrong. When things are running smoothly the facility manager can sleep at night.

Forward planning in business today sometimes feels like a modern form of clairvoyance but when people find that targets are not being met despite immense effort the problem invariably stems from one of these two areas. Either the operating plan is overambitious and lacking in detail or the organisation put in place to deliver the plan is inadequate or inappropriate for the task in hand.

Operating Plans

A facilities operating plan should be designed to practically translate organisational direction and strategy into functional activities. This is best achieved with what are known as