While I was at the gym today I was listening to a podcast interview with John Maxwell, the Leadership Guru. He was talking about how he got started in Leadership. First off, I am a huge John Maxwell fan and would recommend that anyone interested in leadership read anything that he has ever written. However, that is not the primary point of this post.
Listening to John recount the beginnings of his leadership journey almost 50 years ago got me thinking about my career and journey as it relates to facility asset management. Many of you may know that I actually have an environmental background not an engineering one. I was working doing Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments nearly 30 years ago when we started to be asked to do these things called Property Condition Assessments (PCAs) by the big commercial real estate lenders. This was my first introduction to condition assessments.
Fast forward to 2002 and I was asked to be the manager on a project wherein our team assessed nearly 5,000 elementary and secondary schools over the course of 16-months. This was my first introduction to institutional capital planning. Seeing the condition of many of these schools, that kids were going to everyday to learn opened my eyes to the true challenge of what at the time we called “Deferred Maintenance” (see my other posts, presentations, webinars, posters, etc. where we are trying to replace that term!!!)
Since that time, where I gained an understanding of the issues and risks associated with Deferred Capital Renewal and Maintenance (DCRM – that feels better!!!), almost all of my efforts shifted away from environmental assessments and remediation to focus on facility asset management.
As I look back over the past 22 years since the “School Board Project”, a lot has changed, but unfortunately a lot has also stayed the same. There are still millions of kids going to school, millions of people living in buildings, millions of people going for treatment or to heal in hospitals, millions of workers going to the office everyday, in buildings that have been neglected and underinvested in.
When I think about what has changed in the last 22 years, the first thought that comes to my mind is that our runway has gotten 22 years shorter. You might ask what am I talking about. Let me explain. Back in 2002 I remember talking to a colleague and using the analogy of a runway that I saw on a Caribbean Island that I travelled to. The runway was one of the shortest in the world and ended essentially at a cliff.
In trying to explain the issue of underfunded capital renewal, I said that we have a runway and at the end is a cliff. If we go over the cliff bad things are going to happen. Buildings are going to close. Kids will get sent home. God forbid, but someone could get killed (unfortunately we see that happen every year related to unaddressed DCRM). As each year passes I explained we get a little closer to the end of the runway. If we take action and build up enough momentum we can take off at the end of the runway. If we carry on with business as usual we will fall off the runway and into the sea.
I hate to sound so cynical as I am naturally a positive person. However, I can’t help but be disappointed that as a sector we have not been able to get a better handle on the DCRM backlog.
The good news is despite the disappointment I am more determined than ever keep fighting the fight, and I have been very encouraged by the focus that DCRM seems to be getting in recent years. Even through the runway is getting shorter, we seem to be picking up speed!
The thought that I will leave you with is this….Do you know how long your runway is? If not, maybe it is time to start figuring it out!!!