Small is the new Better!

You know, it wasn’t so long ago that Big was Better; big cars, big hair, big planes, big offices, big mainframes, big…well, you get the idea.

But now, Small is the new Better! Less is More. My, my, how things have changed – everything is upside down and inside out.

Take commercial office space, for instance. Used to be that real estate executives would brag about how big their portfolio of space was…amazing to think of it! Upon meeting another real estate type, the conversation soon centered on square footage, “ I manage 50 million sq ft of office space, how about you?!” Whoa be the poor sap who had less square footage.

Then, the room would hush as another real estate executive would reveal the details of a huge new “deal” just completed. The story was about the acquisition of a new “LEED Platinum” or “trophy address” that doubled their space by signing a longer term lease for $2 less per square foot. “Look at how much I saved?”, they would shout!

But that reminds me of how much I “save” at Costco when I buy twice what I need. Ridiculous, isn’t it? Buying more than you actually use…

Is it any wonder, in this new era of Small is Better, that the deal-making real estate executives of old are scarcer than the hairs on my head, and being replaced rapidly by members of the finance and accounting professions?

Now the real estate executive bragging rights go something like this, “I’ve just implemented a new workplace strategy, reduced the size of my real estate portfolio and saved $20 million, avoided 12 thousand metric tons of C02 and cut 13 million kilowatt hours of energy consumption annually! So, what have you saved?” Small is the new cool!

The writing is on the wall. Real Estate is becoming a data and analytics driven profession. That’s the new way to compete – getting more growth out of less infrastructure. He/she who has the information has the power. Here is how you get yours:

• Measure how much real estate you actually use consistently, continuously and systematically over time. That’s the way the boys over in finance do it. (AgilQuest can show you how.)
• Use the data to determine what your workplace strategy will be. Low utilization and/or high mobility? Consider sharing ratios of greater than 1:1 people to desks to increase utilization and vacate unneeded space.
• When the business units come in to ask for more space (they always do), shut them down with hard, believable numbers – numbers they can’t refute.
• Consolidate floors and buildings, vacating unused space.
• If you can get out of the space all together, great! If not, close down what you don’t use, saving $5,000 to $8,000 per workspace in operating costs.

It’s hard to get used to Small is Better, but the sooner you do, the better it will be for your career, your company and your planet.

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