Jeff Dewing – A Manifesto for Change in FM

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26 March 2021

An autobiographical book from Cloudfm’s CEO Jeff Dewing is set to disrupt the FM industry with an honest look at the “toxic culture” and a proposal for a manifesto for change.

In his new book, “Doing the Opposite”, Dewing sets out the facilities management industry’s “endemic problems” and described how he navigated his business through the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the story of Dewing’s life and business career, highlighting the life lessons that helped him build back from set-backs and shares essential tips for resilience in times of crisis for business and life.

Focussing on the lessons learned in his early life, Dewing’s book is a passionate attempt at shining a light on the working environment in facilities management.

Dewing’s manifesto for change addresses how to change the culture of organisations by connecting values to operations. It seeks to address the culture of poor behaviour such as over-billing and “behind closed doors activity” by creating accountability throughout the value chain.

 

“Client FM managers tend to focus on the detail, not the big picture. They might have a £20m contract, but rather than worrying if they are wasting millions of pounds, they obsess about a dishwasher that has broken down three times in a week. Even as intelligent people, we still focus on cost and not value.”

–Jeff Dewing

CEO, Cloudfm

 

“A Cycle of Self-Destruction”

Dewing co-started Cloudfm in 2012, an FM solutions provider that manages some of the UK’s leading brands’ assets and properties, including KFC, TUI, Wolseley, BPP, PizzaExpress and Guardian Media Group. His career has also seen a fair amount of highs and lows. In the 1990s, he went from owning a successful business and Clacton Town Football Club to claiming benefits to try and put food on the table.

The book contains many real-life stories highlighting issues that range from a lack of compliance to overcharging and suggests “the traditional FM relationships are stuck in a cycle of self-destruction.”

“My vision was to change the industry from the bottom up because doing things radically differently is the only chance you have of getting a different result. We are tearing up the template and doing things the right way. That cycle of self-destruction? Procure the same old way, focus on the detail, fix the same problem time and again? We simply step away from it.”

–Jeff Dewing

CEO, Cloudfm

Data detailed in the book suggests that legal compliance is a significant issue for the industry, with only 30-40 per cent of buildings having the correct documentation and processes to protect the very people that operate within those assets.

Commenting on the industry, Jeff Dewing said: It’s time to hold up a mirror to the industry, “I set out to highlight some of the fundamental problems our industry faces and suggest a positive manifesto for change. We have the technology to enable a new era of transparency and behaviour that will rebuild trust and confidence in the industry and drive huge efficiencies and cost-benefits.”

Picture: a photograph of Jeff Dewing

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 26 March 2021

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