Tom Peters, in his book Re-Imagine (2003), writes the following:

“White collar employment as we’ve know it is dead. The transformation may be ugly. And Painful. But it’s on…. with unimaginable fury! All of our organisations will be reinvented – completely – in the next 25 years. All of our careers will be re-invented – completely – in the next 25 years. All job security, as we have know it over the past three or four generations, is over. Over and gone!”

In writing these words, Tom Peters was not referring to today’s financial crisis, but these are a reflection of what is happening at this time. The current environment, however, needs to be considered in the light of the massive change and re-engineering of business practice that has taken place over the last decade, and which will continue into the future. The current financial crises adds to the change and the re-engineering of the way business and life happens, but is by no means it’s primary cause. It is simply a contributing factor.  What is clear is that business as we previously knew it, has changed tremendously, and will continue to change.

In this time of re-invention, we have to see this different world and create this new future. If we do not proactively engage with the change, and the future reality, we will be left continually playing catch-up and be blown about by the winds of change instead of riding them to success. Therefore Kaizen (“continuous improvement”) thinking, is not sufficient to get us through the challenging times we find ourselves in. In addressing the immediate challenges, as well as continuing the transformation in thinking and practice, new thinking and new practice are needed. New thinking in itself, is not enough! The complexity of the problems, the challenge of the opportunities, demand new thinking and new practice. This is because it is a new day, with new rules!

So how do we prepare ourselves and our organisations? How do we become the creators of the future instead of being the ones swept up and overwhelmed by the change taking place? What do we do to grasp the opportunities on offer? Before we can even begin to consider the practical applications of these questions, we have to believe that we can be successful, that it is possible to create the future that we want, that we can see opportunities and make the most of them. Practically, our focus also has to change to, amongst others, one of providing solutions instead of services or products, and to one of serving society and giving. They are all interrelated, affecting one another, and while these are three separate aspects, they need to considered as a whole.

Allow me to expand a little on these thoughts.

“What is it that streams can teach me about organisations? I am attracted to the diversity I see, to those swirling combinations of mud, silt, grass, water, rocks. This stream has an impressive ability to adapt, to change the configurations, to let the power shift, to create new structures. But behind this adaptability, making it all happen, I think, is the water’s need to flow. Water answers to gravity, to downhill, to the call of the ocean. The forms change, but the mission remains clear. Structures emerge, but only as temporary solutions that facilitate rather than interfere. There is none of the rigid reliance on single forms, on true answers, on past practices. Streams have more than one single response to rocks; otherwise, there’d be no Grand Canyon or Grand Canyons everywhere. The Colorado River realised there were many ways to find the ocean other than by staying broad and expansive.”

(Margaret Wheatley,2006)

In an environment that changes continuously, organisations need solutions rather than products and services. Our approach to business therefore has to change from offering a great service, or product, to offering a solution to the need (which may include our great service or product). There is no single set response to situations, and the many variables that exist in any given situation, are the substance that we work with in order to find the solution that best fits that particular situation. So our thinking has to become much more fluid and creative, and the systems and structures we create, need to be able to facilitate our delivery of the solution, rather than dictate the service or product that we offer.  These need to be able to be flexible enough to respond to the need, rather than just churn out set services or products.

Secondly, we need to operate out of a genuine desire to serve people and society. We do this by giving ourselves to people, to our businesses, to our clients. Our service is from the foundation of making sure that our clients businesses are successful. That is why it is essential to provide solutions. Solutions that make our clients more effective, more successful, solutions that serve business and society. Good business is effectively a partnership between networks of business and society. Both are essential for the existence and benefit of the other.  In today’s interconnected society, our clients are our allies, our partners, and in serving them, in giving of ourselves and our businesses to them, in making them successful, we  become successful ourselves.

In conclusion then. Can you see the opportunities? They are there! Can you identify the solutions? New thinking and new practice will help you make the most of the opportunities and assist in finding solutions. Cultivate your clients as your allies, your partners in success. Serve them and enjoy the benefits of success together.

Closing thought! Bad news is good business for the news industry. New thinking does not come from internalising bad news. New practise is dependant on new thinking. So some of the reporting needs to be taken with a pinch of salt!

Make sure that if you are on the correct road, you are not sitting still. Your new thinking should be encouraging new practice, which means there should be movement.

What exactly is benchmarking?

Definition:

The simplest definition is "improving by learning from others". Benchmarking is the systematic comparison of processes and performance in organizations. In other words benchmarking is a system used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice, usually within their own sector.

Origin of term:

The term benchmark originates from the chiselled horizontal marks or notches that surveyors made in stone structures. These notches or marks represented a given altitude and against which other heights could be calibrated or "benchmarked". Xerox is the first modern corporation to use benchmarking extensively and systematically.

Benefits:

Benchmarking is done usually to create new standards and/or improve processes. Benchmarking lets organizations develop plans on how to adopt such best practice for increasing performance. However, we should remember that rather than being a one time only affair, Benchmarking is a continuous process in which organizations regularly seek to challenge and improve their processes and practices. If properly and efficiently conducted, benchmarking can provide valuable insights into relative strengths, weaknesses of the organisation or it's processes. Further it can bring in fresh ideas, new insights of different kinds and show possible improvements.

Different kinds of Benchmarking:

There are basically four different kinds of benchmarking:

1. Internal - Here benchmarking takes place inside an organisation, e.g. between departments or business units
2. Functional - Here benchmarking is done for similar processes within the same field or industry
3. Competitive - Benchmarking operations/processes and performance with competitors in the same field or market is conducted here
4. Generic - Here processes/operations and performance is compared between organisations of similar size in unrelated industries

Another way to categorize benchmarking is by aims of benchmarking - Process benchmarking, Financial benchmarking, Performance benchmarking, Product benchmarking, Strategic benchmarking and Functional benchmarking.

When to use Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is very difficult. It requires the full commitment of the managers in the organisation. They must also be prepared to analyse everything methodically and be ready for the occasional unpleasant surprise. Most importantly all parties must be committed to accepting change.

The main question to be asked is: what do we aim to achieve with benchmarking?

Typically benchmarking answers the following questions:

• How good are we in all the areas we choose to investigate?
• Are we as good as the others in these actions?
• How can we perform better?

In order to justify the significant costs involved, benchmarking should be a systematic process and all parties involved should know why it is being done. The actual process may vary from organization to organization and from industry to industry. The real needs of the organization dictate the model or tool to be chosen. The five-phase model with planning, data collection, analysis, implementation and monitoring is a commonly used benchmarking tool.

Rather than being just an add-on, Benchmarking is integral to the business strategy and it should be practiced continuously. David Kearns, Chairman of Xerox Corporation once said "Striving for best practice is like running in a race without a finish line". Best practice models and tools may constantly change, but continuous benchmarking can help an organisation identify what it needs to remain in the race.

References:

• Spendolini, M.J. (1992). The benchmarking book. New York: ANACOM.
• Camp, R. C. (Ed.) (1998). Global cases in benchmarking: Best practices from organizations around the world. Milwaukee, WI: American Society for Quality Control: Quality Press.