Over the last year, I have been busy running benchmarking workshops in Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The training addresses the misconceptions surrounding benchmarking and aims to increase the professionalism of benchmarking through a certification scheme.

Through my research and experience it is evident that many organisations have misunderstood benchmarking or applied it incorrectly with poor results. In one of COER’s recent studies on behalf of the Global Benchmarking Network we identified that:

25% of respondents that used benchmarking had not been trained in benchmarking and another 30% of respondents indicated that “only a few of the employees had received training or that training was rarely given”.
30% of respondents that used benchmarking do not follow a particular benchmarking methodology when conducting benchmarking projects.
25% of respondents do not follow (or rarely follow) a benchmarking code of conduct when undertaking a benchmarking project.
30% of respondents “do not, rarely, or sometimes” develop a project brief for their benchmarking project specifying the aim, scope, sponsor, and members of the benchmarking team – thus indicating poor project planning.
35% of respondents do not (or rarely) undertake a cost and benefits analysis of the project once it is completed.

The methodology that I promote is the TRADE best practice benchmarking methodology. TRADE focuses on the exchange (or” trade”) of information and best practices to improve the performance of processes, goods and services. Use of this methodology, and its prescriptive approach, ensures that benchmarking projects:

a) are focused on key areas of importance

b) have the buy-in of key stakeholders at each and every step of the project

c) are conducted professionally using a sound research approach

d) deliver results. After each stage of TRADE, the project is reviewed to ensure it is on-track. If it is not on-track, the project can be stopped or the direction of the project changed.

TRADE significantly increases the likelihood that best practices will be found, often resulting in breakthrough improvements. On average, as identified in COER’s study, successful benchmarking projects produce a return of more than US$250,000 – therefore it is well worth investing the time in learning and adopting a proven methodology.

To help organisations learn more about benchmarking, COER has just launched a series of You Tube videos on benchmarking showing snippets from a presentation I gave at the Business Excellence Global Conference in Singapore:

1. A benchmarking example from the health sector

2. What is benchmarking?

3. TRADE best practice benchmarking and certification Part 1

4. TRADE best practice benchmarking and certification Part 2

5. Popularity of benchmarking

6. Benchmarking is becoming easier due to advances in social media

7. What is the BPIR.com? – and how it supports benchmarking

I hope that you find them useful. Good luck with your benchmarking efforts!

Best regards

Robin

Dr Robin Mann, Commercial Director and Part-Owner, BPIR.com Limited, r.s.mann@massey.ac.nz