Some testimonials from Business Excellence Award Winners:
Benchmarking Partnerships have provided a consistently uniform and excellent standard of Benchmarking Workshops, Business Excellence Study Tours and other services across Australia for many years, with our organisation engaging to great effect in many of these, both as learning participants and as invited speakers. Their combined expertise, and the ease of doing business with Bruce and Anton makes that professional association a most valued connection that has helped us with our continuous improvement endeavours.
Russell Linwood ASM
Principal Strategy Officer Business Excellence
QLD Department of Emergency Services
South East Water has established a long association with Benchmarking Partnerships. During this time we have utilised their services and skills for various management projects and have found Benchmarking Partnerships to be a very organised and professional company to deal with. It is this professionalism and focus on quality that keeps them abreast of industry dynamics. The information they provide is relevant and that can be applied directly in the workplace.
Wayne McGlone, MANAGER CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS
I thought your course was absolutely brilliant, and can't wait to implement what I have learnt – Angela Robinson, Auckland City Council.
Feedback from this MasterClass Benchmarking Training delivered in Melbourne recently: The facilitator is very business savvy which added value to the program. You have a lot of experience and can use examples/recent case studies to demonstrate the theory. The process is well thought out and you have provided useful and practical tools.
What was impressive was how Anton and Bruce used information about our organisation to tailor not only the program to meet the needs of our organisation, but to also customise Business Excellence tools that we could use well after the workshop concluded. Feedback from our workshop participants was overwhelmingly positive; particularly noting the professionalism and obvious expertise of the facilitators. We have long valued our association with Benchmarking Partnerships – Bruce and Anton’s formidable knowledge of global best practice ensures that we are exposed to new challenges and new ways of improving our performance.
Margie Jantti, Associate Librarian, Client Services, University of Wollongong.
Why your people should participate:
During this course your people will be guided to:
- Prioritise their strategic imperatives for accelerated improvement through benchmarking
- Identify a benchmarking topic and scope to maximise your competitive advantage
- Identify benchmarking partner organisations in different industries (non- competitors)
- Understand how to share and learn innovations with partners under a Benchmarking Code of Conduct for confidentiality
- Understand how to truly get ahead of your competitors by learning new innovations and ways of doing things from the University and Higher Education sector and other industries
This course not only helps to guide organisations on how to improve rapidly by not going through the pain of reinventing the wheel that someone else has already invented, but also dispels some of the myths about benchmarking. It is not just about comparing performance results – it is about closing performance gaps.
This intensive course aims to provide the participants with practical knowledge and methodologies on how to plan and undertake Benchmarking and Process Innovation as a strategic and operational tool to accelerate improvement through innovative knowledge exchange. Participants will learn what to do and what not to do when initiating and implementing a benchmarking program. Participants will also learn from real life case studies and by participating in simulated benchmarking on real topics/projects. We will be introducing new, simple concepts of Process Improvement from our recent Global Benchmarking of How The Organisations Mapped Below were able to Attain through Process Improvement, Proven, Large and Dramatic Improvements Very Quickly and Sustained over a Long Time (some 10 years).
Participants will have the opportunity to learn techniques and steps of Benchmarking and Process Innovation such as:
- Select and improve the few critical hard and cultural measures that impact efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage
- Understand and prioritise your performance gaps for improvement
- Develop a business case to support implementation of recommendations
- Learn how to track and validate expected improvement
- Change Management for effective implementation and sustaining the changes
Other feedback from previous international participants: - What pleased you most about the Program?
- The exchanges/dialogues between the instructor and participants into real practical steps.
- Given me a clear idea of what Benchmarking is and what it’s not.
- Broadening of knowledge about benchmarking concept, principles and how to do it in my workplace.
- This program has given me the correct understanding about the benchmarking, how to do it and I believe that it will give great value for myself and also the company I work with when I get back to work!
- Putting Benchmarking into perspective with all the other tools and business improvement initiatives to choose from.
- It is a workshop that encourages active participation from all of us which enables a faster learning process!
- The reflection and learning and sharing sessions leads me to have a greater insight of how other industries solve the same type of problem.
- The benchmarking process: the planning and analysis, learning and sharing, recommendation and implementation stages.
- Enables me to understand better about the concept and application of the benchmarking.
- Interactivity of the class and small group of participants.
This course will provide methods, tools and templates for the ongoing use of your own business needs (not for your customers, suppliers or outside your organisation) at no extra charge. These include:
- Benchmarking Partnerships’ unique and proven methodology for benchmarking shown above, and for Process Innovation
- Full 100+ page customized Benchmarking Training Manual and full pack of presentation materials
- All Methodologies, Tools and Templates used during the course for your organisation delegates to use in their own process improvement
- Copies of staff Process Improvement guides developed for NRMA, including all tools and methods
- Screening criteria for identifying benchmarking partners
- Project plan
- Learning needs template in preparation for learning from benchmarking partners
- Template for benchmarking report and presentations of findings
- Business case development
- Partners’ site visit guides and check lists
- Action planning template
In subsequent courses people who have already been trained can buddy with both or one of us to co-deliver the training guided by us. In this way we can transfer the training and facilitation skills for the benchmarking course along with our Intellectual Property noted above to your organisation. There is no extra charge for this buddy training, but the trainees are not to use this knowledge /skills or the Intellectual Property outside your organisation or for training of your organisation customers.
MasterClass –Benchmarking & Process Innovation Training
Draft Program |
Day 1 |
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| 9.00am |
Registration - arrival coffee / tea. |
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| 9.05am |
Welcome, Introductions, Program, facilitating key issues for staff participants to focus the program on participant’s expectations with a ‘line of sight’ aligned to your Vision. Depth of detail will be prioritised and aligned to delegates’ topic/scope and learning requests at the start of the program, to enable focus on the specific participant needs throughout the program. |
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| 9.30am |
Overview of Quality delivering Results and the your Quality Framework and System - Bruce Searles &/or Anton Benc, Managing Partners, Benchmarking Partnerships.
Bruce and Anton will lead participants through a shared understanding of Business Excellence and ‘bringing to life’ principles and case study examples:
- What is Quality and the Basic Quality Principles?
- Quality business benefits from our 2008/09 Global research and how organisations have achieved rapid and large sustainable improvements and competitive advantage using Quality
- Benchmarking Guidelines, Planning and Improvement Framework / Plan/Do/Review/Improve / Quality System
- Where Benchmarking Fits in
Activity - Quality Principles
Participants will be guided to consider the meaning/application of a Principle personally, in their workplace, how your organisation practises this, and we know? The richness of discussions with our guided facilitation brings out the core value of Principles as a foundation for Quality in everything strategically important for your organisation. |
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| 10.45am |
Morning Coffee and Networking. |
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| 11.00am |
Overview of Benchmarking & Process Improvement- Anton Benc &/or Bruce Searles, Managing Partners, Benchmarking Partnerships.
Anton &/or Bruce will lead participants through a shared understanding of Benchmarking and ‘bringing to life’ principles, tools and case study examples:
- What is Benchmarking/Process Improvement is and what it is Not.
- Types of Benchmarking & Process Improvement
- Benchmarking & Continuous Improvement for the your business in context – the strategic imperative related to the your Vision, Benchmarking Guidelines, Quality Framework and Quality System
- Benchmarking & Process Innovation – what should you do them on and when?
- Relationship to other improvement tools
- The relationship between Benchmarking/Process Innovation and your strategy for optimum improvement & competitive advantage including impact on organisational structure.
- When should Benchmarking & Process Innovation be undertaken
- How to get started and gaining buy-in – finding benchmarking partners
- Applicable methodologies and comparisons
- Having and applying a Code of Conduct
- Benefits Realisation and Case Study Examples
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| 12.45pm |
Lunch. |
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| 1.30pm |
How to go about Benchmarking & Process Innovation – Planning.
Based on participants’ real needs related to the your Vision and strategy deployment, customer service enhancement and competitive advantage, they will be guided through a simulated benchmarking project selected by them, to ensure the learning, exercises, knowledge exchange and feedback is ‘value-creating’ for each staff member to take away and implement an effective benchmarking project in your workplaces.
Areas covered in this ‘Planning’ stage include (as prioritised by course participants):
- Topic prioritisation and selection from a business/organisational strategic needs perspective – Vision & Mission for the process consistent with your Mission / Vision
- Determining the scope and coverage – what you need to improve most
- Selecting a sponsor, buy-in, the brief and support including the ‘business case’
- Communications planning
- Selecting, initiating and supporting the benchmarking/improvement team
- Team selection and participation, building partner relationships, sponsor and process owner communications, teamwork
- Identification of the right, vital few KPIs for the process including Variation management
- Types of Thinking and Tools related to Process Improvement – Value Chain, Systems View/Systems thinking, Customer Perspective on Waste and Added Value (Lean), 5S, Process Mapping, Process Innovation vs Business Process Re-engineering, Pareto, KPIs and a Balanced Scorecard, Customer Centricity regarding outcomes and Variation and the concept of Internal Customers / Customer Centricity
- Determining the scope and coverage of Process Improvement – what you need to Improve
- Selecting a sponsor, buy-in, the brief and support including the ‘business case’
- Communications planning
- Selecting, initiating and supporting the Process Improvement team
- Participants will start mapping the Process and looking for 7 types of Wastes and Issues where blockages to the achievement of the Mission, Visions and KPIs are seen
- Tools used including the Strategic Plan, Systems View (SIPOC), Value Chain and Process Flowcharting, Lean, KPIs, 5S, etc – these will be introduced and applied
- Project planning
- Identification and selection of benchmarking partners in a range of different industries
This topic selection and scoping (Planning) phase of the training will identify and prioritise strategic imperatives for benchmarking linked to your Vision and strategic plan and/ or participants’ business unit goals. An input to this is a need to improve KPIs like efficiency and effectiveness. In the later recommendations phase a project plan is developed including a business case to support implementation of recommendations derived from the sharing and learning phase of the benchmarking. The business case identifies the expected impact on performance results as a result of implementing the improvements. Benefits realisation through project management ensures the benefits are on track during implementation.
Includes - Activity – Planning your own Benchmarking/Improvement Study & Mapping
Participants will be guided to consider your Vision and the Strategic Plan to select a prioritised Topic and Scope for their possible improvement and benchmarking when they return to the office. They will also be facilitated to select a possible project team from within the organisation and also to develop a benchmarking project plan including factors such as internal communications. Process Mapping by participants will identify waste and key blockages to achieving the Vision, Mission and KPIs for the Process. This activity will be held relatively early in this session so the detail for other learnings listed above can be prioritised and focused to the delegates’ specific Topic and Scope and learning needs.
This session includes afternoon tea and will extend into Day 2. |
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| 5.00pm |
Close. |
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Day 2 |
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| 9.00am |
Reflections from Day 1 - facilitated and knowledge capture by Anton Benc &/or Bruce Searles. |
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| 9.20am |
How to go about Benchmarking & Process Innovation – Planning – theory, tools and activities continued from Day 1. |
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| 10.40am |
Morning Coffee. |
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| 11.00am |
How to go about Benchmarking & Process Innovation – Analysis.
Bruce and/or Anton will continue to guide participants through the simulated project, based on participants’ real improvement needs and project development identified in Day 1 and on the morning of Day 2.
Areas covered in this ‘Analysis’ stage include (depth of detail will be prioritised and aligned to delegates’ learning needs):
- Prioritising key blockages to process performance based on available performance data relating to KPIs and the Value Chain, including Variation Management, Measurement & Control of Variation otherwise experienced by customers
- Use of appropriate Quality Tools which will be introduced such as Run Charts, Tally Sheets, Histograms, Pareto, Customer Feedback, Brainstorming, Cause and Effect (Fishbone / Root Cause – asking why? 5 times), Gantt Charts, Force Field Analysis, Deployment Charts, Decision Trees, SMARTA ….including basic statistics
- Benchmarking partner selection
- Working with partners and the ‘buy-in’ for partners to see value to participate with you!
- Strategy Mapping and selecting measures and data collection
- Data analysis and reporting the strengths (best practices), and opportunities (your performance gaps
Activity – Delegates will identify and prioritise key blockages to performance for the process they are working on.
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| 1.00pm |
Lunch. |
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| 1.45pm |
Activity – Partner Selection and Benchmark Analysis Tools.
- Participants will be guided to consider possible benchmarking partners based on their chosen topic and scope of the benchmarking study from Day 1. They will undertake initial partners selection, consider the benchmarking Code of Conduct and also design tools to comparatively measure their and partners’ performance to identify strengths and gaps. The participants will also learn how to interpret benchmark analysis reports.
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| 3.00pm |
Afternoon Coffee. |
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| 3.15pm |
Benchmarking – Learning & Sharing.
The simulated participants’ benchmarking project continues with staff. Areas covered in this ‘Learning & Sharing’ stage include:
- Marrying strengths from partners with their own performance gaps and vice versa to initiate collaborative sharing and learning of best practice between themselves and their benchmarking partners
- Recognising the participants learning needs from the analysis reports for targeting partners to share their strengths, including the process to share knowledge/ best practices.
- Engaging and connecting partners together to share including communications for sharing and logistics for sharing and learning
- Site visits, forums, workshop templates and ‘handy hints’
- Templates and ‘handy hints for you to take away. Engaging other stakeholders as required and reporting from the lessons learned.
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| 5.00pm |
Close. |
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Day 3 |
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| 9.00am |
Reflections from Day 2 - facilitated and knowledge capture by Anton Benc &/or Bruce Searles. |
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| 9.20am |
Map New Process, Develop Business Case and Recommend Improvements.
The simulated participants’ process improvement project continues. Areas covered in this stage include:
- Eliminating waste and introducing innovations to the prioritized performance blockages
- Looking for innovations to implement the Vision efficiently and where possible using existing resources freed up from the elimination of waste. The facilitators will discreetly encourage innovative thinking based on our global and current best practice knowledge and experience
- Mapping in innovations learned from benchmarking partners
- Developing and prioritising recommendations for improvement
- Locking at systematic impacts eg for HR, IT to sustain the new process and making recommendations in this regard, considering also Performance Management, Resourcing, Communications Plan, Recognition / Reward, IT, Capability Development, Management System
- Developing a benefit cost analysis and business case to implement the recommendations
This session includes Lunch and networking.
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| 2.30pm |
Recommendations & Implementation & Review.
The simulated participants’ benchmarking project continues. Areas covered in this ‘Recommendations & Implementation’ stage include:
- Feedback and consultation with stakeholders for recommendations
- Recently found global best practices in Change Management from our global benchmarking for British Telecom – learn the key factors implemented by organisations from most continents who have been able to achieve rapid and large improvements and sustain these improvements over time (see map above)
- Project plan via Collaborative Planning
- Recommendations business case/ implementation project plan
- Monitoring and communications planning
- Transfer of knowledge through implementation
- Monitoring and review including benefits realisation
Learn how a re-measure of the results during and following implementation will validate the expected Improvement; identify priorities where gaps have not been satisfactorily closed for project teams to further address. We recommend process owners in all these areas be involved. Inputs, sub-processes, outputs and outcomes from strategy mapping, if measured before the process improvement and then measured afterwards will give hard measure views of efficiencies and effectiveness. Some cultural/climate measures, usually perception data, with stakeholders is also recommended to provide the change management climate for ‘readiness’ and effective implementation sustaining the changes.
This session includes feedback and further specific learning needs for each participant in their ‘Action Planning’, afternoon coffee and issuing of certificates of completion. |
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| 4.00pm |
Next Steps / Action Planning.
Facilitated support for deploying the participants’projects! – participants will action plan their next steps for when they return to their workplace. On-going support and help desk services will also the discussed. |
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| 4.45pm |
Close. |
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Your Investment
Your investment is $14,750 (plus GST) for the first 15 people across the 3 days.
For each additional person $675 per person (plus GST) across the 3 days.
Capped at $22,500 (plus GST) for any one course of up to 30 people
(Note that our normal public course fee for such training is over $2,100 (plus GST) per person, representing a significant saving to you. Depending on numbers of delegates both Bruce Searles & Anton Benc may deliver this training course.)
Payment schedule - 25% on agreement to proceed, 75% on completion. If delivered over a longer period ie not consecutive days 25% after each day.
Telephone planning / tailoring to suit your needs is included in the above fees as is the help desk telephone/email support for the delegates and for your organisation generally for 12 months after completion of the course.
This fee includes:
- our working with you to design-in and include industry specific content into the workshop customised for you including some industry case study material. Any extra meetings required however will be invoiced at $600 (plus GST) per half day and $1,200 (plus GST) for a full day per Benchmarking Partnerships’ person.
- the ‘train the trainer’ buddy training is included provided this can be carried out in subsequent courses, after the “buddy” has undertaken the training course themselves.
We can quote to provide a special “train the trainer” course, including other skills for example - facilitation, communication, conflict resolution skills etc if required.
Note, if there is a need for Benchmarking Partnerships to research and embed in depth case study examples thoroughly in our 100+ page Training Manual throughout each step of the benchmarking process there will be an additional small fee to do this for you.
All travel and accommodation costs for Benchmarking Partnerships will be invoiced to you at cost. This includes discount economy airfares, hotel accommodation and meals and taxi transfers. Depending on numbers of participants the course may be conducted by both Benchmarking Partnerships’ Managing Partners Bruce Searles and Anton Benc to maximise value
and facilitated learning for your participants. This will be discussed and agreed with you prior to delivery.
IP Transfer
Our unique IP contribution to your organisation of our Benchmarking Method, Tools, Training Manual and Templates is valued at nominally $ 10,000 plus GST – our subsidy will be $7,500 leaving $2,500 charged as an additional cost as part of this proposal. This reduced subsidy is specially noted because of our ongoing association with key people at your organisation.
This cost would not be incurred if you just want the course participants to be able to use the IP personally in their work areas. The manuals are included in the course participation fee and there is no additional cost for us to provide the electronic manual materials for your printing for the training. The IP cost itself is part of the handover so your organisation can use these templates, tools, knowledge and concepts internally for on-going training purposes and guidelines across your organisation as a whole, but if you don’t buy the IP, the course participants can still use the IP for their personal use in their work areas and not extend any further eg to on-training other people. If your organisation wishes to deploy knowledge/tools and our other IP across the organisation after the initial training, we suggest we facilitate a ‘train the trainer’ session with special IP trainer kits and help you to incorporate the IP into your guidelines, following the initial training – we have done this elsewhere.
Your requirements
Your organisation to provide the venue and catering including equipment including: computer projector, electronic whiteboard, post it notes, flip charts and pens. Your organisation to print materials provided by us in electronic form prior to the workshop. Your organisation may decide to capture notes / outcomes from each day via a scribe.
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