TOP TIPS: Benchmarking for success

Thursday, June 10, 2004

1. Know what to measure. Benchmarking has no merit as an end in
itself so choose measures that have the most impact on success and
efficiency. Benchmarking anything other than these key performance
indicators could tie up more time and effort than is worthwhile.

2. Look internally. Internal benchmarking can be a valuable way of
flagging problem areas or high performers. This enables early
intervention by HR or helps best practice spread across the whole
organization.

3. Be picky on who you partner with. For external quantitative
benchmarking to be useful, comparator organizations have to be chosen
carefully. For example, find an organization whose achievements are
realistic to aim to match, allowing reasonable improvement goals to be
set.

4. Don't get bogged down in numbers. Qualitative benchmarking can
also be highly valuable. Spending time with peers or shadowing them
as they work gives the opportunity to benchmark an approach or method,
focusing on the inputs rather than the outputs expressed in raw data.

5. Take action. Ultimately, any form of benchmarking can only
provide information and must be turned into meaningful activity. Make
sure your hard work gathering data and best practice gets turned into
results.

Source: Strategic HR Review Vol 3. Issue 5, July/August 2004

Blogged on 10:02 PM by Upay

|

~~~