The Top 10 Facilities Management Goals to Implement in 2025

Effective facilities managers lead with intention. That starts with setting clear, actionable facilities management goals for their departments. 

Quality goals align with organizational priorities and drive better outcomes for employees, assets, and outside stakeholders. 

They are critical for supporting all occupants and operations in your facility. But which of these matters most, and how can your team turn them into measurable outcomes that drive long-term success?

In this guide, we’ll detail how to set facilities management goals and how your department should prioritize them in 2025 and beyond. 

Why do facilities management goals matter for enhancing efficiency? 

Clear, measurable goals are critical to any organization’s success. Without defined objectives, facilities teams can lack direction, fail to track metrics, struggle with performance, and miss improvement opportunities.

Because facilities management touches everything from safety and comfort to long-term planning and sustainability, setting targeted goals ensures that teams improve the organization. A well-tuned facilities management department drastically improves organizational efficiency, reducing spend, and improving performance. 

Top facilities management goals for 2025

Whether you’re building your first facilities strategy or updating your current one, it’s critical to set goals. We surveyed expert analysis across the facilities management industry to come up with the most common goals for leaders in 2025. Here are the 10 goals that leaders should consider in 2025. 

Increase efficiency and sustainability

Facilities leaders should strive to make facilities more efficient. More efficient operations reduce costs, improve performance, and increase facility sustainability. Sustainable buildings typically decrease operational costs by 10% in the first year. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Energy reports that efficient buildings save 25% annually in utility costs. 

By incorporating efficiency-boosting initiatives like preventative maintenance strategies and BAS integrations, facilities teams can improve performance and lower input costs. 

Efficient communication and collaboration

Strong communication is key to effective facilities management. When teams communicate clearly with employees, stakeholders, contractors, and leadership, everyone benefits.

Improving communication channels should be one of your top facilities management objectives. It helps managers and employees identify issues faster, strengthen relationships, and improve service delivery.

Creating open feedback channels like email, suggestion boxes, or software portals is critical. Staff should regularly check these suggestions and implement any that improve the department. Additionally, it’s important to train employees on customer service and communication to follow best practices. 

Meet regulatory and compliance standards

The public sector must often meet state and federal requirements in facilities. It should be top of mind of every facility leader to ensure their buildings and grounds adhere to these guidelines. It’s important to stay updated with local, state, and federal regulations. Leaders should keep detailed maintenance, safety, and training records. 

Develop a long-term strategic facilities plan 

Every facilities team should work toward a broader plan, not just putting out daily fires. A strategic plan helps align facilities operations with your organization’s goals, forecast future needs, and guide decision-making. Things like capital planning can help guide facility upgrades and ensure you’re meeting five-year goals. 

It’s important to:

• Analyze current facility usage and asset performance
• Create a three to five-year roadmap with clear, achievable goals
• Review and update the plan annually
• Implement effective facilities management software to track progress

Optimize space utilization 

Spaces are an important part of your facilities. Often, they can serve a multitude of purposes, not only to internal employees but to outside stakeholders. 

Facilities teams are charged with maintaining and monitoring their organization’s spaces. IFMA found that 60% of facility managers cite unused or inefficiently used space as a top contributor to operational waste. In an era of shrinking public budgets, it’s increasingly important to get the most out of these spaces. 

Leading facilities teams use occupancy sensors and other technologies to track usage, allowing them to identify underused areas. This data can help inform capital planning and asset allocation decisions. 

Ensure safety, security, and emergency preparedness 

Nothing is more critical than the safety of people and property. Strengthening your safety and security protocols should always be a top facilities management goal. Safe facilities help reduce liability, improve compliance, and even increase productivity. 

Facilities teams must proactively identify and mitigate hazards, reduce workplace injuries, and maintain access security. Software features like interactive mapping illustrate facilities so leaders can more easily monitor and maintain access points and equipment. 

Improve asset lifecycle management to maximize uptime, decrease maintenance cost 

An organization’s assets are critical to operations. Managing assets efficiently extends their useful life and ensures a better return on investment. According to a study from McKinsey & Co., organizations with mature asset management functions experience 30–50% fewer equipment breakdowns and reduce capital expenditures by 20%. 

Facilities should understand and control every stage of an asset’s lifecycle. Effective asset management can decrease unexpected failures, reduce costs, and help with strategies. 

To improve asset management practices: 

• Maintain asset inventories 
• Track usage, maintenance history, and deprecation to improve decision making
• Plan asset upgrades to prevent downtime
• Conduct regular condition assessments to prioritize repairs and replacements 
• Integrate asset data with financial planning tools to support capital budgeting and forecasting

Embrace digital transformation for better work order management

Leading facilities teams rely on technology to automate tasks, capture data, and improve efficiency. Leaders who invest in the right tools can streamline operations and gain actionable insights.

Digital transformation enables organizations to operate more efficiently, improve public services, increase capital planning efforts, and enhance transparency. 

How to achieve it:

• Implement a CMMS or integrated facilities management platform
• Use mobile apps for on-the-go work order updates
• Leverage data dashboards to monitor KPIs
• Digitize floor plans and asset records

Train staff and pass on working knowledge

A well-trained facilities team helps keep buildings and assets in top working order. It is essential that they preserve and pass on institutional knowledge, which can disappear with staff turnover or retirement.

To do this, start by documenting key processes and procedures so that routine tasks, emergency protocols, maintenance schedules, and system operations are clearly outlined and accessible. Cross-training team members is equally important, ensuring that multiple people are equipped to handle critical responsibilities and step in when needed.

Facilities management software can also play a key role by centralizing important information, tracking work, and improving communication within the team.

Support organizational alignment

Facilities teams help organizations support their broader goals. They play a critical role in driving toward success. To do this, facilities managers should think beyond responding to daily needs and ensure their work supports organizational strategies. Facilities management should function as a strategic partner to leadership, helping to shape the future of the organization.

What that looks like: 

• Increase transparency and collaboration with leaders outside the department
• Contribute to capital planning initiatives
• Regularly analyze facilities and asset performance
• Implement facilities management software that enables leadership to track KPIs, visualize progress, and make informed decisions based on real-time data

How to set and implement effective facilities management goals

After you’ve created your annual facilities goals, setting and implementing them is critical. Here are some ways in which you can:

Document goals 

Writing goals down is an important initial step. It helps bring ideas to life and communicate their importance to your team and broader organization. Create and set these in a visible place like an FM platform. 

Be specific 

Vague goals like “improve maintenance” leave too much to interpretation. Instead, set clear, actionable targets such as “reduce emergency work orders by 25% in the next six months.” This allows for better planning, resource allocation, and performance tracking.

Stay realistic 

Ambitious goals can inspire, but they’ll undermine morale and momentum if they’re unattainable. Evaluate your current resources, staffing levels, and organizational priorities to set goals that stretch your team without setting them up for failure.

Assign timelines and dependencies 

Every goal should include a deadline and a clear outline of what needs to happen. Break large goals into smaller milestones and identify which tasks rely on others being completed first. This approach keeps progress on track and avoids bottlenecks.

Review regularly

Facilities needs can change quickly. Schedule monthly or quarterly reviews to evaluate progress, adjust goals as needed, and celebrate wins. Regular check-ins also help identify roadblocks early and keep the team focused and accountable.

How facilities management software can help

Facilities management software improves the likelihood of achieving facilities management goals. Leading platforms help organizations centralize operations, streamline communication, and provide data. 

Effective software helps teams create, assign, and monitor work orders in a single platform. Leading platforms allow teams to keep an automated record of their work history to expedite troubleshooting and meet regulatory compliance. This reduces response time and ensures departments stay on track. 

Facilities management software supports strategic planning with data-driven insights, ensuring daily operations align with long-term organizational goals. Leading software helps teams centralize operations, improve efficiency, and ensure that facilities teams can meet their top goals for 2025.