It may feel like you have now gotten yourself to a point where your program feels real. Unfortunately, now is when the real work begins to ensure you have what you need for your program to be successful. Your draft business case has been reviewed and at least partially vetted by some key business leaders. Welcome to the long, frustrating phase of going back and forth and back again, refining assumptions and the final program business case. Get ready, also, for the communications and stakeholder management component of creating your real estate program. There is going to be a lot of conversation and opinion vetting about to start happening.
Yes, real estate programs are ultimately financial and operational events. But to get to that point you must first convince the people who control the money to trust you to do the right things with it. They are going to ask you a million questions (only some of which will be pertinent, but you must treat them all as brilliant). They are going to want all of the detail that you do not have yet (and then they are going to want details that are not possible to provide). They are going to want you to increase your benefits while cutting your costs. They are going to question every misspoken word or typo on a page. They will remember things you said in passing (maybe even in jest) at the most inopportune moments.
For the programs I have been part of, I would estimate the time from contemplation of a program to approval to begin delivery averages somewhere between 6 and 9 months. You are asking for a lot of money to make significant changes to the way things have always been done. Change is often met with resistance, even when it is for the better. Most of that time is spent in this iteration phase where you are working with any and all stakeholders to nail down the appetite the business is going to have to your program. This phase will take the longest and will likely show the least visible forward progress in your journey. But it is absolutely crucial to take it slow and steady.
There is no easy three step process for the iteration phase. There are no handy bullet lists summarizing what to do. You simply have a lot of conversations and adjustments to make as you push forward. My favorite program had the final business case document go from four pages to 80 pages and then back to 5 pages throughout the course of this process. The final version number on the document was in the high 60s, and that was after I stopped reversioning for smaller changes because I did not want to hit triple figures. It really will feel like you are not moving forward, but trust the process.
It is important to note that you are working specifically with a draft of your program at this point. There should be no indication that you are looking for approvals yet. Another common cause of early program death is business leaders who think you are moving too quickly without their input. They are just as likely to get offended by you taking it too fast as to give constructive feedback if they even think you are moving faster than their comfort level. Rushing kills real estate decisions. In the back of most leaders’ minds, they know they can kick the can down the road by a year if they want. The goal is to keep them invested in the process.
Out of every single review, your business case summary should change to reflect the feedback given. At this point, you will probably have a multi-page overview of your program to help answer as many questions in a pre-read as possible. This shows that you have been listening and taking input while adjusting and revising as you go.
It may seem frustrating and slow going through this process, but it is a necessary step, if not the most necessary one. Every conversation you have now will make the approval process easier and shorter. Challenges during a draft stage are non-fatal to the program and can be taken into account. Take your shots while they cannot knock you out.
This process has a secondary goal. You should also be feeling out each business leader about some of the projects that will be most important to them later on. Get their take on what some of your possible projects may mean to them. Are they going to support a project after the program kicks off or do they think they are going to get a free pass to say no? These conversations will give you more foundation to work from if you use them strategically.
With all of that said, this iteration phase is a political process. You know your company and its leadership culture best. Adapt all the above if the politics of your organization demand it. This is going to be your program, but it is a reflection of the company and what it wants to be. Use this as your chance to design something you and the company’s employees can be proud of that will make everyone more productive and effective. Your conversations with leaders have the chance to progress the change agenda for the better every single time. Not to mention, this entire process has the ability to increase your own standing with the leaders of your company.
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