Workshop October 2015

Stage 3 Acquire (acquire best practices)

9. Obtain approval to start the next stage of TRADE 1. Establish criteria for selecting benchmarking partners 2. Select potential benchmarking partners 3. Invite and acquire benchmarking partners 4. Prepare for data collection 5. Collect and store data 6. Analyse data 7. Formulate recommendations 8. Review project progress and TOR

Step 1 – Establish criteria for selecting benchmarking partners  What processes/best practices does the partner need to have?  What level of performance does the partner need to have achieved?  How will we know the partner has good to best practices? How reliable is the evidence?  Is the location of the partner important?  Which organisations are more likely to participate?  What should the partner’s organisation profile be? Is it important?  Are we including competitors? If so, what data/information is publically available? For projects where you are focussing on a number of sub-processes you may wish to have different criteria and therefore different partners for each sub-process

Example of a Partner Selection Table – Simple Version

Example of a Partner Selection Table – Detailed Version

Pre-screening Criteria can be useful as an initial funnel to identify potential benchmarking partners  The partner must have at least a performance level of X for the benchmarking area of focus  The partner must be certified to ISO XXXXX standard  The partner must be within X country  The partner must have at least X employees

Enter company information Partner Selection Table Revise company information Step 2 – Select potential benchmarking partners

If you are good at Networking (Informal Benchmarking) this will help you to identify potential partners People share information with people – not companies: apply effort and build relationships use that half open door Develop rich external networks Invest in “connections” over content Be an “active” member - Networks only flourish through contact and contribution

 Brainstorming  Benchmarking websites  Internet searches  Benchmarking clubs  Literature review  Customers and suppliers  Experts / Consultants –  Universities / trade associations/ government sources  Questionnaires A wide range of sources can be utilised to generate a list of potential benchmarking partners

 Ask questions on the area of focus  Ask questions related to Partner Selection Criteria  Are they interested in being a benchmarking partner? Perhaps send questionnaire to potential partners and random group to collect trend data. Survey can be used as a partner selection tool

Step 3 – Invite and acquire benchmarking partners  Describe the purpose of the project  Explain why you have selected the organisation as a potential partner  Outline their level of involvement  Outline the benefits from participating  Bring to their attention the Benchmarking Code of Conduct (send them a copy)

Step 4 – Prepare for data collection Methods of data collection:  Questionnaire for completion by post, , telephone  Site visit approach to collect data and information  Audit check-list  Work-study approach  Process mapping

Preparing for a site visit – Are our questions ready? What methods will we use to obtain the information? E.g. Site visit tour, process mapping, site visit interviews, performance measure comparisons, partner presentations. What is the purpose of the site visit? Who will design the research method and questions? Have we prioritised the importance of each question? Do we know who we want to answer the questions? Are there particular follow-up questions we want to ask based on the partners responses to previous questions or information they have given? Have we made sure that our own organisation has answered the questions?

Preparing for a site visit – Structure of visit What should be included in introductions? E.g. introductions for project team and benchmarking partner staff, explanation of purpose of visit and benchmarking code of conduct. What do we want to show them? e.g. company brochure, presentation, video, flow-chart, product, our own organisation’s answers to the site visit questions. Who do we want to see? e.g. position(s), no. of people What do we want to see? e.g. process in action How will we close the site visit?

Preparing for a site visit – Time-plan considerations How long should the introduction be? How long should the interview (s) be? How long should the site tour be? How long should the closing session be? How long should the whole site visit be?

Preparing for a site visit – Project team roles How many people from our team should go? Who should be the lead person? Who will ask the questions? Who will record the responses?

Preparing for a site visit - Pre-visit correspondence with benchmarking partners Has the date of the site visit been agreed with the partner? Has an agenda for the site visit been agreed with the partner? Does the partner know the key questions you will be asking? Has the partner been asked to bring along to the meeting any supporting documentation that they are willing to share? Have you been informed of who you will be meeting and their positions? Is the length of the whole site visit acceptable to the partner? If you are planning to record the meetings have you obtained permission from the Partner? Has a copy of the benchmarking code of conduct been sent to the partner?

Preparing for a site visit – Post-visit correspondence with benchmarking partners Have you written to the benchmarking partner to thank them for the site visit? Have you sent them a copy of the key findings from the site visit or clarified the findings? Have you sent them a copy of how your own organisation performs in terms of the site visit questions? Have you returned any documentation the partner may have lent you?

Preparing for a site visit – Resources required for a visit Agenda / Time-plan Benchmarking Code of Conduct Set of interview questions Tape recorder Note paper Company brochures Documentation on project Dress code for visit

Preparing for a site visit – Cost of visit Cost of visit? Cost of transport? Cost of hotel? Cost of time lost due to visit? Cost of documentation, product prototypes, recording / video equipment? Cost of thank you gift?

Step 5 – Collect and store data

Example of questions Process Definition  What is your most successful process?  Describe it? Process Measurement  What measures do you use to track process performance?  How do you measure process output? Process Performance  What is the current level of performance for the process?  How have quantitative results changed in the past 6, 12 months? Process Strengths  Which parts of the process work the best?  How has the process been improved and refined over time? Process Opportunities for Improvement  What do you see as the current problem areas for the process?  What past problems did you have? How did you solve those problems? Process Enablers  What steps did you go through to implement the process?  What training have you provided for those staff involved in the process?  Have any business practices or methods contributed to your success?  Are there any factors that could inhibit the adaptation of the process into our company? Other questions  Who do you recognise as the best company in performing this process?  Do you have any non-confidential documents/information/press releases that could help me to understand how your processes work?

Don’t just learn about the best practice. Make sure you also learn about the journey to reaching the best practice

Site visits provide a great opportunity to compare process flow charts and understand differences

Site visit interviewing tips  Agree roles – e.g. interviewer and scribe  Be on time  Dress appropriately  The partner should be doing most of the talking!  Eye contact  Lots of note taking  Ask for evidence, e.g. “Could you please show me the HR plans that result from this action plan?”  Don’t rely on just verbal discussion to understand the flow – ask for flowcharts or process maps (if not available – draw a rough diagram with them)  Stay awake…..Yes!

Step 6 – Analyse data  How does their process performance compare with our process performance?  What is the magnitude of the performance gap?  What is the nature (root cause) and variation in this performance gap?  How much will their process continue to improve?  What characteristics distinguish their process as superior?  What is innovative about their approach?

Analysis methods  Tabulations of metric & practice data  Comparison matrix  Data normalisation  Graphs / bar charts  Gap analysis  Brainstorming  Fishbone (Cause and Effect) diagrams  Process flow charts  Meetings – reaching consensus  System for Classifying Practices

Normalisation

Classifying practices  Good idea (unproven) = it could have a positive impact on business performance, but requires further review/analysis.  Good practice = technique, methodology, procedure, or process that has been implemented and has improved business results for an organisation.  Best practice = a good practice that has been determined to be the best approach for many organisations, based on analysis of performance data – i.e. through benchmarking. Chevron

Analysis helps you to ensure the practice is a good fit for your organisation

There is usually no one golden nugget for success – it’s usually a combination and integration of many good practices

Step 7 – Formulate recommendations  How do the project findings help us to improve our process?  Should we redesign or make modifications to our current process?  How much could our performance improve if better practices are implemented?  Can results be achieved in near term or long term?  Would the best practices we identified need to be to be modified to adapt them into our business environment?  What have we learned during the project that will allow us to improve upon the best practices?  What resources are required to implement the best practices?

Recommendations can be prioritised based on their expected impact and ease of implementation High impact, easyHigh impact, hard Low impact, easyLow impact, hard

Post-it notes can be used as a way to involve the whole team in deciding where recommendations should fit on the priority matrix

Develop a preliminary Action Plan Description of Action Record performance –current (c) –benchmark (b) –target (t) Expected benefits (financial and non-financial) Steps required to implement action Resource required –labour (man days) –Expenses (travel and accommodation) –Capital (plant and equipment $)

Step 8 - Review project progress and TOR Step 9 – Obtain approval to start the next stage of TRADE