Benchmarking

Overview

BENCHMARKING IS:

• The practice of being big enough to admit that somebody else does it better and
• Being wise enough to improve what that person does.

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Benchmarking is one area of the performance excellence journey that has become pivotal in identifying success. However, it is one of the most misunderstood and misused concepts in today’s business world. This course is aimed specifically at the practitioner who wants to focus their enterprise on the achievement of “world-class” standards.

The requirement for Benchmarking is bound by the term “world-class” – Benchmarking is the very essence of providing credibility and proof that world-class standards are both necessary and achievable.

Enterprises that shirk the responsibility of being world-class are negligent in their leadership because they are compromising the potential for improvement. Enterprises that use the term world-class but have no plan or mechanism for achieving this status are probably even more dangerous.

Benchmarking is the mechanism for identifying, securing and proving that world-class standards in processes and results are being achieved.

Topics Covered

Section 1	Introduction
Section 2	Self Assessment
Section 3	Types of Benchmarking
Section 4	Process of Benchmarking
Section 5	Results of Benchmarking
Section 6	Benchmarking Stages
Section 7	Benchmarking Checklist
Section 8	The Benchmarking Process
Section 9	Problems / Pitfalls
Section 10	The Baldrige Criteria
Section 11	Process Results Benchmarking
Section 12	Results Benchmarking
Section 13	Summary

Who should attend

• CEOs
• Financial Controllers
• Strategic Planning Specialists
• People with aspirations of achieving 500 plus points on the Baldrige Criteria
• Private Enterprise Leaders---Manufacturing or Service Public Sector Leaders
• People with direct responsibility for Goal Setting
• People who have recognised that measurement is the basis of all Continuous Improvement

Outcomes

• Raise awareness of benchmarking.
• Promote benchmarking as a valuable tool for strategic planning.
• Ensure that organisations understand the concept of benchmarking – internally, externally of business and industry and with world-class.
• Scope the appropriate timing for benchmarking initiatives.
• Quantify the probable benefits of benchmarking initiatives.
• Provide a context by way of the Baldrige Criteria.
• Link benchmarking to world-class