“It is the facility managers of the world that will successfully implement
environmental policies – or not.” – Sheila Sheridan

Sheila Sheridan, CFM, CPM, is retired from Harvard University as Director of Facilities and Services at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) School of Government.   She has over 25 years experience in the facilities profession.

At the JFK School, Sheridan was responsible for construction, renovations, operations and maintenance, administration, food service, telecommunications, real estate, scheduling and space planning.  Also, she was an active member of the Green Campus Council and was one of the very early sustainability proponents at the Harvard. The JFK School of Government was a leader in the nonsmoking and recycling arena in the mid 1980’s and the first at school at the University to be designated a Green Energy and Green Star facility in the 1990’s.

From 2002-2004, Sheridan served as Chair of the International Facility Management (IFMA). In her first term, she advocated awareness of environmental issues and adoption of sustainable practices as her platform for the year and as the theme for IFMA’s 2003 World Workplace conference. Through her leadership, the association also extended a hand to other associations across continents to launch a global network of cooperative partners serving the interests of facility management and related industries around the world.

Today, Sheridan is an active leader of Global FM, serves as vice-chair of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) – Existing Buildings (EB) Committee and is the principal of Sheridan Associates based in Plymouth, Mass.

About Global FM
Global FM is a worldwide alliance of member-centered facility management organizations, providing leadership in the advancement of the facilities management profession. Its purpose is to develop and promote knowledge, standards and education in the facilities management profession and, using one voice, collaborate on the development and means to share the progress of facilities management, knowledge and standards. It promotes broad collaboration between national facility management associations and supports the formation of national groups where none exist. Other key objectives of Global FM include utilizing the diverse cultures and strengths of each organization to enhance the skills of members and supporting countries that wish to form facilities management related organizations where one is not yet established.

The first board meeting of Global FM took place on 3 June 2006 in Canberra, Australia and the organization was formally established in May 2006 as an international not-for-profit group in Brussels, Belgium. The founding organizations were:

A “public square” workshop will take place on 11 October 2006 alongside the IFMA World Workplace event being held in San Diego, USA.  At this workshop Global FM will bring together its existing and prospective membership groups.

Recently, The Ashkin Group interviewed Sheridan about Global FM and her insights about facilities management at the global level today.

The Ashkin Group: What is Global FM and what led to its formation?

Sheridan: As chair of IFMA, I saw there was little synergy at the international level for members to learn from each other. We saw that there were so many out there doing it right, but often without the right tools. That led IFMA, along with the British and Australian national facility management associations, to establish a global association that could make a difference – to help national facility management associations grow and become self-sufficient within their own countries.

Global FM was formed so that national facility management associations could better collaborate and share knowledge in order to further the status, understanding and benefits of those working in facilities management, and to provide a support mechanism that will further the understanding and promote the development of facilities management across the world.

Its emergence onto the world forum this year will bridge the gap that exists in the development and influence of quality facilities management at the international level.  This in turn will support the agendas of national facility management associations and further the value of collaboration and communication among their respective members.

Our first order of business this year is sending out materials to potential members. Once established national facility management groups formally become Global FM members, we can reach out to countries that have come to us and said they want to establish a national association.  The strategy is for established members to help new and aspiring members grow their association.

The Ashkin Group: Globally, what are the most important issues facing the facilities management industry?

Sheridan: When we looked at the mega issues facing facility managers around the world today, we saw it was more than just sustainability, it was compliance complexity which involves meeting the challenge of sustainability and climate change.

The globalization of business and the increase in multi-national firms like Google, Microsoft or Shell—along with the spread of their offices across more countries—has increased the demand for establishing better global standards for facilities management. Right now, for example, when a U.S. firm goes out and purchases and maintains an office building in another country, they face the challenge of dealing with facility management standards that vary widely. Increasing the quality of facility management standards in all countries benefits everyone.

The Ashkin Group: What does this mean for facility managers and the providers of green products and services in the U.S.?

Sheridan: The biggest issue for U.S. facility managers is energy. How do you use it, when do you use it and what kind do you use? Most facility managers have that measured very well, but reducing their energy costs remains a difficult challenge. In the U.S., we are making gains at the company level, but in most other countries, governments lead energy efficiency policies. So comparatively, a U.S. green building is typically lower in sustainable practices than a green building within the European Union (EU). In the U.S. we can learn some good lessons from our European counterparts.

Another example is climate change. The facilities management professional is the person ultimately responsible for implementing company actions to address climate change. There is corporate responsibility at the executive level, of course, but that is really just words. The actions have to be taken by facility managers. They have to change processes and set benchmarks that help protect the environment. They are the ones on the frontlines implementing the policies and improving them!

The government of China just released a white paper on sustainable practices. But that’s hardly sufficient to achieve real change. There needs to be a means to communicate to the workers on the frontlines, the facility managers, that there is value to what they do and then to compliment them on making a difference.

My experience is that facilities managers around the world want to do what is right. They need the support from the top and ultimately, from their clients and building occupants. It is the facility managers of the world that will successfully implement environmental policies – or not.