Benchmarking is an excuse for original thought: don't go there! By Roy Osing
Benchmarking has its roots in the Total Quality Management
philosophy.
It's a technique aimed at taking
advantage of what other organizations have learned and successfully implemented
and improve their own performance.
The benchmarking process is simple:
determine who is best in class at something and copy them.
Benchmarking is usually aimed at a
business process or operation. Go-to-market processes for products, order
fulfillment and human resource practices are among the many organizational
functions that get benchmarked.
Disguise it any way you want, but
benchmarking is nothing more than following the leader of the herd. And if
you're second in the pack, the view never changes.
Benchmarking is a "tool of sameness";
it adds nothing to the success and survival capabilities that organizations
must develop in today's world of fickle customers, volatile economies and
fierce competition.
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I know that benchmarking is viewed as a necessary
process for most organizations. But I have a major issue with it….
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Copying sucks the life out of
businesses; it is non-strategic and yet consumes a disproportionate amount of
resource given the value it creates.
It lowers the bar and reduces
everyone in the herd to the lowest common denominator.
It perpetuates invisibility for herd
members. The copiers remain unremarkable and continue to blend in with everyone
else.
Copying doesn't make you stand-out,
it makes you fit-in.
The real challenge in business today
is to be able to clearly answer the question "Why should I do business
with you and not the many others who are competing for my
attention?"
Benchmarking shows you are a follower
and gives people ZERO reason why they should buy from you as opposed to someone
else.
We need to get our thinking straight.
Uniqueness comes from looking to BE DiFFERENT, not copying what others do, even
if they do it well.
It is time to change the best in
class frame from "How can we be the same as the best?" to "How
can we BE DiFFERENT from the best?"
And let's all agree that the question
“How are we DiFFERENT?" should be the filter for determining what
strategies are pursued and what strategies are deemed successful.
A new lexicon in our organizations is required to drive strategic
thinking. Words and phrases like "contrary",
"off-the-wall", "weird", "kinky",
"crazy"
![]() “Here’s to the crazy ones”
There
was only ONE Steve Jobs, but maybe, just maybe we can try to emulate the
character that separated him from everyone else…
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and "are you kidding me?" should guide us in determining our future
direction and what we want to be when we grow up.
Put benchmarking where it belongs: a
tool that might improve your operational performance from where it is today,
but will NEVER make you special and remarkable in a market dominated by hungry
competitors.
About Author
Roy Osing (@royosing) is a former President and CMO with over 33 years of leadership experience covering all the major business functions including business strategy, marketing, sales, customer service and people development. He is a blogger, content marketer, educator, coach, adviser and the author of the book series Be Different or Be Dead
About Author
Roy Osing (@royosing) is a former President and CMO with over 33 years of leadership experience covering all the major business functions including business strategy, marketing, sales, customer service and people development. He is a blogger, content marketer, educator, coach, adviser and the author of the book series Be Different or Be Dead
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