19961007
STEPS IN BENCHMARKING
October 7, 1996
Companies planning to benchmark their corporate communications department should plan on "a minimum of six months" to complete data collection, analysis and recommendations, says Nick Laird, whose Chevy Chase, Md.-based company, Laird & Associates, specializes in benchmarking of corporate public affairs departments. Implementing the results of a benchmarking may take another year or more.
Below, Laird lists the five major stages in the benchmarking process.
Phase 1--Initial Preparation. Analyze current processes, identify process strengths and weaknesses, identify critical success factors (factors that will management that you are being successful).
Phase 2--Identify Partners/Plan Data Collection. Collect secondary (existing) research, identify potential benchmarking partners, design data collection instruments (i.e. surveys, questionnaires).
Phase 3--Data Collection. Conduct interviews with your benchmarking partners.
Phase 4--Analysis. Study data, and identify areas in which your performance falls short of the best practices used by benchmark partners. Also, develop "standards of excellence"--a composite of best practices created by combining practices from multiple benchmarking partners.
Phase 5--Conclusions/Recommendations. Set objectives for improvement and create a plan to reach standards of excellence identified in Phase 4.