The Best of Best Practices

Pssssst! Wanna fix some problems in your company?s real estate program?

Once upon a time, you might have told someone from finance or operations to come up with a plan, or hired an outside consultant, and then imposed a solution on real estate.

That was before benchmarking and best practices became a better way to boost a firm?s performance and profits. Instead of looking internally at customary company practices to solve problems, benchmarking teams seek out information on how other firms might be dealing with the same challenges. And now, so many companies are beginning to adopt ?best-in-practice? processes that a considerable body of knowledge is developing. The International Development Research Council (IDRC), corporate real estate?s leading professional association, has determined that best practices is a natural evolution of research activities it sponsors to benefit members.

?Our research started with understanding the changes that have occurred in the real estate industry,? says IDRC Vice President H. Bruce Russell. IDRC?s best practices project is ?an attempt to start building case studies that other companies can look at in terms of success stories, practical and understandable relative to how they can be applied,? he explains.

IDRC President Mike Bell said the project to identify best practices ?is an excellent example of how our research is moving from theoretical and conceptual research to pragmatic, concrete examples of strategies that have been applied and are reaping results.

?As a result of the IDRC research effort, we have learned that one of the most powerful management tools is benchmarking real estate performance indicators and best practices,? says Bell. ?I?m excited about the latest recognition program, which is targeted at best practices since it directly links ?best-in-class? programs and strategies with our critical research themes.?
What makes this project unique is that, by its nature, IDRC focuses on strategic issues, says IDRC Research Director Robert Materna. ?This may be the only systematic effort to capture and share information concerning the strategic application of corporate real estate management best practices.?

IDRC?s Research Committee sought best practice nominations in a number of areas integral to top-flight real estate operations, and selected four companies to receive Best Practice Awards. Nominations were scored by panels of three to four corporate real estate professionals on creativity and innovation, practical application, value creation for the corporation, potential magnitude of benefit, lessons learned/guidelines for others, potential use in professional education courses or seminars and clarity of presentation.
Winners were announced at IDRC?s fall conference in New Orleans, and awarded specially crafted statues. Throughout 1997, Site Selection magazine will profile winners and their best practice activities.

IDRC Foundation Best Practices Award recipients

• Bank of America — Workplace
  
• Eastman Kodak — Strategy
  
• Johnson Controls — Decision Support
  
• Bank of America — Service Delivery
  
• CLW Realty Group — Service Delivery
  

Honorable mentions to Steelcase for Workplace, Sun Microsystems for Strategy, and AT&T and Bank of America for Leadership.