1. Workshop
October 2015
The world today is a very competitive place. You have people competing for the best education, lifestyle and jobs they can get and they are mobile than ever before. With

2. Why is benchmarking important?

3. Without benchmarking you will not reach your potential as a person or as an organisation!
You will not know how well you or the different parts of your organisation could be performing
You will not think that you or your organisation can accomplish major improvements
You will not know how you or your organisation can bring about major improvements

4. The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from the old ones

5. loss of power or position loss of group membership
Benchmarking projects can provide the compelling vision to change and the tools and support structure to achieve change
Edgar Schein’s 8 activities required for Psychological Safety:
Compelling vision
Formal training
Involvement of the learner
Informal training of relevant surrounding support groups and teams
Practice, coaches and feedback
Positive role models
Support groups in which issues and problems can be aired and shared
Systems and structures that are consistent with the new way of working
Anxiety for change
loss of power or position
fear of incompetence
loss of group membership
loss of identity
Finally, change brings with it a high degree of anxiety. This anxiety is typically associated with four factors: fear of loss of power or position, fear of incompetence (and loss of reward associated with previous competence), fear of loss of group membership; and fear of loss of identity. Schein describes these fears as learning anxieties. Creating psychological safety is vital to achieving change and Schein identifies that the majority of major change programmes fail because they do not pay sufficient attention to creating this psychological safety. Schein cites eight activities (see Figure B.4) required to ensure psychological safety, none of which can be missed. Delivering transformational change cannot be done without all eight factors in place.282
Edgar Schein, Organisational Culture and Leadership, 2006.

6. Benchmarking will change your culture
Before benchmarking
After benchmarking
Not invented here
Let’s use that good idea
One answer to a problem
Many options
Internal focus
External focus
History-based targets
Best-performance targets
Reactive improvements
Proactive improvements
Path of least resistance
Best-value path
Managed by experience
Managed by facts
We are good
We need to do better
Following the industry
Leading the industry
So benchmarking is about changing your culture – getting people to look outwards.. Getting people to ask questions like “Is this a best practice” and “how do you know?”. It is about challenging the way things are done around here and looking for better systems and better approaches and achieving more successful results.

7. Benchmarking is learning from the experience of others
What is benchmarking?
Benchmarking is learning from the experience of others
Key message: “Benchmarking is learning from the experience of others.
Key purpose of slide: To provide an overview of benchmarking.
Benchmarking is learning from the experience of others. This is why you do benchmarking so that you can improve your people’s capabilities, products and services.
There are many different ways to learn from the experience of others and so there are many different types of benchmarking.
When the terms is applied to businesses many people think that benchmarking is all about performance comparison, it is not. Benchmarking to me is all about learning from the experience of others - it much more than performance comparisons
Additional
The word benchmarking can be traced back to the term of “benchmark” used in surveying to indicate the point above sea level of a particularly point. Surveyors use these points as reference points for construction or building plans.

8. learning by networking
Informal benchmarking is the most common type of benchmarking
learning from experts or colleagues
learning by networking
learning from
websites & reading
Key message – Benchmarking can be undertaken informally and is the most common type of benchmarking
Key purpose of slide – To introduce informal benchmarking
Informal benchmarking is the most common type of benchmarking. It is often undertaken subconsiously without thinking whereby you compare your knowledge with another persons in order to learn from them.
The three main types of informal benchmarking are
learning from experts such as Robert Camp or leaning from the experience of work colleagues
- networking with other people to obtain good ideas – and as you can see it can be quite an enjoyable experience. Conferences like this are great for picking up ideas.
on-line databases/websites that share benchmarking information and best practices such as the BPIR.com which publicise best practices from companies all around the world.
Whilst this in an informal approach to benchmarking you can actively encourage it within your organisation through developing a questioning culture whereby your people always question whether their practices or processes are the best that they can be and need to produce evidence that they are the best. Ask “Is this a best Practice”?

9. Which informal benchmarking method should I use?

10. Informal Benchmarking:
Research is currently being done by COER to classify the various types of informal benchmarking and develop a roadmap for its implementation
Social: The tools or activities of informal benchmarking involve human interaction
Non-social: The tools or activities of informal benchmarking involve very little or no direct human interaction
Internal: to learn from the work practices of other units/departments within your organization
External: to learn from the work practices of other organizations
Informal Benchmarking:
Informally learning from the work practices of others to improve work practices in your own organization
Informal Benchmarking
Internal
Social
Non-Social
External
Non-social

11. Informal benchmarking work’s best when..
people know what’s in it for them and deem it is relevant
people connect with other people
people feel safe about showing what they do and do not know
There is an open culture and people are encouraged to experiment and try new practices
The time-line to solve a problem is short
Current issue or problems are shared

12. There are two types of formal benchmarking
Performance Benchmarking
Best Practice Benchmarking
Key message – Benchmarking can be undertaken formally
Other messages – Performance benchmarking is of less value than best practice benchmarking
Key purpose of slide – To introduce formal and informal benchmarking
There is also formal benchmarking of which there are two types. 1. Performance Benchmarking 2. Best Practice Benchmarking.
Performance benchmarking is focussed on measuring and comparing the performance of your organisation within another organisation for a particular process or activity. It is useful for identifying performance gaps which show that your performance is better or worse than other organisations. Therefore it helps you to decide whether you need to improve a process or not. Performance benchmarking is great for identifying performance gaps but doesn’t tell you what to do to improve.
Financial measures:Expenditure, cost of labour, cost of buildings/equipment, cost of energy use, adherence to budget, cash flow, revenue collected.
Non-financial measures: Absenteeism, staff turnover, % of admin staff to front-line staff, budget processing time, complaints, environmental impact, call centre performance.
And then there is the most powerful type of benchmarking called best practice benchmarking. Best Practice Benchmarking is focussed on learning and improving performance. Best practice benchmarking involves not only comparing performance but also learning why other organisations are performing better and then adapting those better practices to your own organisation. This is an example of a 5-step benchmarking methodology called TRADE which is focussed on trading information and knowledge rather than products and services. Other methodologies vary from 4 to 15 steps – Bob Camps is 10 steps.
Additional
Within all of these types of benchamrking are strategic, internal, external, competitive, product, etc.. These all fit under the umbrella of formal and informal.

13. What is Performance Benchmarking?
“The comparison of performance data that has been obtained from studying similar processes or activities”.
It is useful for identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement.
So now we will look at formal benchmarking.
Firstly, Performance Benchmarking is comparing the performance levels of organisations for a specific process or activity.
It is useful for identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement.

14. Performance benchmarking is used for comparing financial and non-financial performance
Financial measures: Expenditure, cost of labour, cost of buildings/equipment, cost of energy use, adherence to budget, cash flow, revenue collected. Non-financial measures: Absenteeism, staff turnover, % of admin staff to front-line staff, budget processing time, complaints, environmental impact, call centre performance.
Examples of performance benchmarks are shown. Some should be financial and non-financial.

15. What is Best Practice Benchmarking?
“the comparison of performance data that has been obtained from studying similar processes or activities
and identifying, adapting, and implementing the practices that produced the best performance results”.
It is useful for “learning from the experience of others” and achieving breakthrough improvements in performance.
Best practice benchmarking is the most powerful type of benchmarking. It is useful for “learning from the experience of others” and achieving breakthrough improvements in performance.
Best practice benchmarking is focussed on “Action” – therefore doing something with the comparison data and information you have to make a difference to the organisation.
Best Practice benchmarking projects typically take from 3 to 12 months to undertake. Therefore should only be undertaken in areas of high strategic importance.

16. Certification Levels www.coer.org.nz
Certification levels for TRADE have been introduced to raise the professionalism of benchmarking
Certification Levels
Therefore to increase the professionalism of benchmarking my Centre were the first to introduce a certification scheme for benchmarking to ensure that people knew how to apply benchmarking to achieve the best results. Thos certification and the use of TRADE is now supported by adicoe. 16

17. Best Practice Benchmarking is the most powerful type of benchmarking
Key message – This is how a best practice benchmarking project is conducted
Key purpose of slide – to introduce TRADE and provide a better understanding of how to conduct a best practice project
Best practice benchmarking projects should use a proven benchmarking methodology. The one shown here is TRADE. I advise that these projects focus on key opportunities for improvement. Usually such projects are undertaken by a project team and projects are may last 3-6 months but reap major benefits.
The diagram here explains a little more about each stage.. Firstly the foundation for a successful project is selecting an appropriate project that will deliver significant benefits to the organisation. To ensure this significant time needs to be devoted to developing an appropriate Terms of Reference for the project. The Terms of Reference will detail the aim of the project, its scope, expected benefits, project stakeholders, the project team members etc… The TOR needs to be agreed with the project sponsor/stakeholders. An example of a project could be to develop best practices in employee motivation – how do we get the best out of our people. .
When developing and finalising the TOR it is likely you will need to do some basic research. If in this case you will get feedback from employee surveys, abseentism levels, staff turnover to understand how big a problem you actually have. You may also consult with experts or read some books to understand more about employee motivation.
The next stage is about identifying those organisations that excel in employee motivation and learning from them. E.g. The Best Government Department in People Development - General Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police received by Colonel Jasim AlMarzouky as part of the Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence in Government Performance
Or speak to ADICOE about the best organisations in the private sector.
Deploy is about communicating the findings and implementing them.
Evaluate is about reviewing whether the project has been successful and also evaluating how can benchmarking projects be run more effectively in future – what went well – what didn’t go well.
TRADE focuses on the exchange (or “trade”) of information and best practices to dramatically improve the performance of processes, goods and services.

18. Determine area of focus for benchmarking project
2. Develop project brief
3. Form project team
4. Train project team
5. Understand benchmarking code of conduct
6. Prepare Terms of Reference (TOR)
7. Develop documentation system
8. Review project progress and TOR
9. Obtain approval to start the next stage of TRADE

19. Good planning is essential when undertaking a benchmarking project
Task management
Training requirements
Risk management
Communication plan
Change management
Project audits
Benchmarking Code of Conduct
TRADE timeline
Actual benefits
Actual costs
Project name
Project sponsor
Team members
Project aim
Scope
Background
Project objectives
Expected benefits
Expected costs
Project stakeholders
Terms of
Reference
should consider:

20. 1. Understand area of focus to be benchmarked
2. Define performance measures
3. Identify current performance
4. Prioritise and finalise the practices to be benchmarked
5. Review project progress and TOR
6. Obtain approval to start the next stage of TRADE

21. 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
9. Obtain approval to start the next stage of TRADE

22. 3. Obtain approval for action plan 4. Implement actions
1. Communicate findings
2. Develop action plan
3. Obtain approval for action plan
4. Implement actions
5. Review project progress and TOR
6. Obtain approval to start the next stage of TRADE
External and internal drivers made GOSH aware of dangers in handover procedures. In the mid-1990s in Bristol, England, there was very high mortality for surgery in congenital heart disease followed by contentious public inquiry. One of the important findings of a subsequent study was that the journey from the operating room to the intensive care unit (ICU) was high risk. This external environment impetus to change was followed by an internal driver for change. Interest in human factors led staff physician, Professor Marc de Leval to question whether staff-related factors, such as exhaustion, were more important than patient-related factors, such as the position of the coronary arteries. De Leval reviewed all the arterial switch procedures done in the United Kingdom over a two-year period with by Victor E. Sower, Jo Ann Duffy, and Gerald Kohers August 2008 a psychologist watching the operation. Once again, the journey from the operating room to the ICU was demonstrated to be a high risk factor. This knowledge created a heightened awareness of the danger. Staff came to accept that there was an element of danger associated with what they were doing so they were receptive

23. 1. Perform cost /benefit analysis
2. Review TRADE project
3. Share experiences and project outcomes
4. Close project

24. Having a project management system increases the likelihood of success
Specific stages.

25. Overview of TRADE

26. Why is it called TRADE? Meaning:
the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
Benchmarking:
the exchange (or “trade”) of information and best practices to improve the performance of processes, goods and services.

27. Why should you use TRADE?
Proven approach
Flexible – short and long projects
Easy to communicate
Step by step approach
Rigorous planning
Strong likelihood of success
Delivers results
It offers a proven approach. It is used by private and public sector organisations of all sizes (for example, New Zealand Benchmarking Club members from all sectors, Singapore Public Service, UAE’s public service, and Taiwan’s private sector organisations all use TRADE).
It is flexible and can be used for exploratory (1-12 week) or in-depth (13-36 week) projects.
It is easy to explain and communicate, as it only has 5 stages and a memorable name!
It provides a step-by-step approach. Within the 5 stages there are simple steps to be followed.
It provides a rigorous approach to planning, which ensures that the project will only proceed after a cost /benefit analysis has been undertaken.
There is a strong likelihood of success, as projects are supported through a TRADE project management spreadsheet and a comprehensive set of benchmarking resources and template forms.
It delivers results. After each stage of TRADE the Terms of Reference for the project is reviewed to ensure the project is on-track and will deliver the expected benefits. If not, the project can be stopped or the direction of the project changed. Therefore all projects should deliver the expected results and deliver major benefits (potentially saving or generating millions of dollars for large projects).

28. Recommended time allocation

29. Where should the benchmarking function reside?
State of Benchmarking, APQC 2009

30. There should be a Person, Committee, Unit or Department responsible for overseeing an organisational-wide approach to benchmarking.
CEO
Benchmarking
Coordinating Unit
Director
It should be at a level that enables it to coordinate and support all benchmarking activities across the organization to avoid duplication of projects and ensure strategic alignment. It may be part of an Organisational Development, Strategy, Quality or Operations Support Department.

31. Benchmarking Coordinating Unit Project Steering Group
All benchmarking projects being undertaken should be approved and reported through the Benchmarking Unit.
Benchmarking Coordinating Unit
(Benchmarking Manager)
Oversee benchmarking projects/ initiatives
Project 1
Team leader
Administrator
Team members
Facilitated or have access to a Benchmarking Champion
Project 2
Project 3
Project Steering Group
(CEO/Directors)
Sponsor benchmarking projects
Over see Benchmarking Unit activities

32. A cohesive strategy, structure and range of activities should be planned to ensure benchmarking happens…
Strategy required to encourage informal and formal benchmarking
System for rewarding
and recognising best practices
System for selecting and evaluating projects
Training for sponsors and teams
Collection of performance benchmarks
Internal benchmarking system
Systems for sharing best practices
One or two benchmarking masters
Facilitation and advice on benchmarking
Benchmarking partners database and partnership building
Documentation system

33. A coordinated approach to benchmarking leads to major transformational change organisational-wide
Informal
Benchmarking
Best Practices
Formal
Benchmarking

34. TRADE Certification Levels 34

35. Commendation Pass Fail
A minimum of a “Pass” grade is required for one project to reach Benchmarking Proficiency
Commendation
Pass
Fail
Evidence:
TRADE Spreadsheet
Benchmarking Report (sharing best practices and recommendations)
Evaluation Report (Cost and benefit analysis after implementation)
Supporting Statement by the Project Sponsor or a Senior Executive

36. Commendation x 2 Pass Fail
“Commendation” grades are required for two projects to reach Benchmarking Mastery
Commendation x 2
Pass
Fail
Evidence:
TRADE Spreadsheet
Benchmarking Report (sharing best practices and recommendations)
Evaluation Report (Cost and benefit analysis after implementation)
Supporting Statement by the Project Sponsor or a Senior Executive