Beyond Sustainability

Dr. Thomas Mitchell — IFMA Fellow, educator, and retired Air Force officer — has spent decades shaping how organizations think about facilities. His experience spans from leading Air Force infrastructure initiatives to guiding today’s facility leaders on strategy, culture, and risk.

In a recent discussion with ARC Facilities, Dr. Mitchell explored how a life cycle mindset, supported by instant access to building information, is redefining what it means to manage facilities effectively.

From the Air Force to the Facilities Frontier

When Dr. Mitchell retired from the Air Force in 2008, he thought he had seen every side of infrastructure management — until he was introduced to facility asset management.

“It was the most profound shift in 25 years,” he said. “We were finally looking at facilities holistically — from inception to divestiture, cradle to grave — and asking how to make them more economical, efficient, and effective.”

Working with Booz Allen Hamilton, Dr. Mitchell helped the Air Force adopt a transformative approach: treating facilities as living systems that evolve, adapt, and serve mission-critical goals throughout their life span.

When budget cuts reduced funding and manpower, the Air Force realized that traditional methods wouldn’t work. “It wasn’t about doing more with less,” he recalled. “It was about changing the cultural mindset — giving people the tools and data access they needed to make smarter, faster decisions.”

Having instant access to building data — drawings, manuals, and maintenance histories — helped Air Force teams make those decisions confidently and consistently, even under pressure.

Changing the Culture

Cultural change doesn’t happen in a single fiscal year. It begins when people start viewing their work through a long-term lens — recognizing that every design, construction, and operational decision ripples across decades.

As Dr. Mitchell put it, “Culture is simply how we do business here.”

For the Air Force, changing that culture meant standardizing how priorities were set and tracked. Data transparency played a key role. When teams could access reliable facility information instantly, decision-making became less about guesswork and more about impact.

“That’s when you know the culture has changed,” he said. “When a leader says, ‘My colleague in another division needs this funding more than I do.’ That’s enterprise thinking.”

Beyond Sustainability: The Life Cycle Lens

For years, the focus in facilities has been on sustainability — reducing energy use, earning green certifications, and minimizing environmental impact. Those goals still matter, but Dr. Mitchell sees the next evolution as life cycle management.

“Life cycle management goes beyond sustainability,” he explained. “It evaluates every stage of a facility’s life — design, construction, operations, maintenance, renovation, even decommissioning — and optimizes for environmental, economic, and operational performance.”

That approach depends on one essential ingredient: accessible information. When facility data can be retrieved instantly, teams make faster, better decisions. They can plan maintenance before failures occur, understand system dependencies, and ensure continuity across generations of staff.

“When you think long-term, you don’t just design for ribbon-cutting day,” Dr. Mitchell said. “You design for the decades that follow — and that’s where accurate, easily accessible data makes all the difference.”

Speaking the Language of the C-Suite

Sustainability and culture change are inspiring ideas, but leadership buy-in comes from measurable impact — dollars, risk, and strategy.

“Senior leaders focus on the bottom line,” Dr. Mitchell said. “They already see facilities as a cost center. Our job is to show them how facilities enable the organization to achieve its long-term goals.”

Facility leaders who can connect data-driven insights to revenue protection, operational resilience, and risk reduction earn a seat at the strategic table. Instant access to building and equipment information empowers that conversation.

“When you can prove that faster access to critical data shortens response times, reduces downtime, or prevents compliance issues, you’re no longer overhead,” Dr. Mitchell said. “You’re a strategic enabler.”

Documentation: The Unsung Hero

Dr. Mitchell calls documentation “the fine art of communication.” Done right, it’s not just paperwork — it’s proof, clarity, and protection.

“If it ain’t written, it ain’t real,” he said. “Without proper documentation, you’re facing regulatory violations, failed audits, inefficiencies, legal exposure, and even safety hazards.”

He identified five key risks that well-managed, instantly accessible documentation helps mitigate:

1. Regulatory noncompliance – Avoid fines and violations through accurate, up-to-date records.
2. Audit and accreditation failures – Demonstrate readiness in minutes, not days.
3. Operational inefficiency – Reduce wasted time searching for plans or maintenance logs.
4. Legal and financial liability – Maintain defensible, traceable records.
5. Safety hazards and emergencies – Access life-saving information, like shutoff maps and MSDS sheets, instantly.

As Dr. Mitchell noted, “Executives might not think about MSDS sheets, but they care deeply about what happens when someone gets hurt. You’ve got to think like them — and have the information ready.”

Risk, Responsibility, and the FM Mindset

At its heart, facility management is about risk mitigation — not only physical risk but also financial and reputational. Whether preventing incidents, avoiding downtime, or ensuring compliance, facility managers are on the front lines of organizational protection.

“If you don’t take care of it, the consequences will find you,” Dr. Mitchell said. “And they’re often avoidable.”

That accountability mindset — combined with real-time data access, communication, and strategic alignment — distinguishes great facility managers from good ones.

The Big Picture: Thinking Long-Term

Dr. Mitchell summed up the life cycle philosophy in one sentence:

“When you make an investment in your infrastructure, always include how the organization will benefit — not just today, but across the entire life cycle.”

Decisions made during design can save millions during operations. Simple choices — like materials, layouts, and maintenance accessibility — can dramatically reduce costs and improve occupant experience.

“Instead of focusing on a $20 million project cost,” he said, “think about the $120 million you’ll spend over the building’s lifetime — and how you can cut that in half through smarter design and management.”

Instant access to building and equipment information makes that vision possible. It bridges design and operations, ensuring that vital data isn’t lost in transition but remains available to every stakeholder for the life of the facility.

That’s the life cycle mindset. It’s not flashy. It’s not trendy. But it’s the difference between facilities that simply exist and facilities that truly work.

Final Thought

As Dr. Mitchell reminds facility professionals, “Facilities are among an organization’s top three expenses — but they can also be one of its top strategic assets.”

The key is to think holistically, document relentlessly, and ensure that critical building information is available anytime, anywhere.

That’s not just sustainability — that’s longevity.

And that’s the future of facility management.

Key Takeaways

• Instant access to building data empowers faster, more informed decisions across every phase of the facility life cycle.
• Life cycle management extends the impact of sustainability by focusing on performance, longevity, and total cost of ownership.
• Documentation is a strategic tool — not just for compliance, but for risk mitigation and operational continuity.
• Culture change starts with visibility — when everyone has access to the same accurate information, collaboration and accountability follow.
• The C-suite listens to results — linking facility data to financial performance and risk reduction turns FM into a strategic advantage.