Should You Benchmark?

I spent 8 hours today learning all about benchmarking.

It was fascinating…

Here are some of the highlights:

You should benchmark against procedures that are accepted as being the most effective.
Benchmarking provides a means to compare your firm against other businesses and identify areas where you can improve your performance.
The benchmark is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result.
A commitment to using the benchmark in any field is a commitment to using all the knowledge and technology at one’s disposal to ensure success.
Benchmarking identifies reliable, objective and independently validated comparative data to inform financial and strategic decision-making.

I was. So let me suggest another perspective:

And don’t forget, a day out of the office is always a good thing.

You can’t hope to copy somebody else’s practices – their environment and culture are different.
If you only ever aspire to be as good as somebody else, you will only ever be mediocre.
Benchmarking the best implies you can’t get better.

Worst of all, benchmarking doesn’t fuel engagement. Nobody likes being told what to do.