Continuous Improvement and Benchmarking

Organizations that don't grow eventually die. Large organizations may take a decade or more to default, devalue, or experience a buy-out; nevertheless the time will eventually come. Small organizations can quickly become devalued and their stock prices plunge making them more susceptible to a hostile take over. Organizations that desire to experience high growth should consider improving and renewing themselves continuously over their life times.

Many organizations have found a benefit in tracking their overall performance in quantifiable terms and using these numbers for continuous improvement. These numbers help organizations know where they currently are and where they will be going. It helps people put into definable terms concepts that are often confusing such as customer service, product value, market image, etc...

It is important to remember that such numbers are only a snap shot or an estimate of the service being offered. In most cases it doesn't really matter if you have a 46% or a 96% on any particular rating. What is important is that 46% moves to 50% and that 96% improves to a 98%. It is more about the process of getting better over time then trying to prove that you are running near 100%.

Consistency in measuring is important because percentages can swing wildly depending on when and how often you conduct inspections/audits without any real difference in actually performance. Therefore, consistency is needed to ensure that inspections/audits are conducted at various intervals and using the same criteria. Failure to do this could result in validity errors.

In many instances companies use inspection/audit forms when developing performance numbers that they can use for continuous improvement. These inspection/audit forms are filled out at various times throughout the day or week and are used for feedback to employees, departments, and management. The goal of these inspection methods is to audit during both peek periods and lull periods.

Audits and inspections can be adjusted by managers to indicate that they are doing a great job. Large companies can consider using secret shoppers which pretend to be customers or they can utilize management from other departments to complete additional expectations. Using transparency throughout the process and outside objective inspections helps to keep managers honest when reporting their results.

The key to any successful data tracking and improvement program is "brutal honesty". It is hard to admit when your services are failing or need improvement. However, by acknowledging these problems your organization can improve upon their general services. The goal is to be honest, find solutions, and monitor the results to a program that succeeds above the competition.

Steps to Data Tracking/Benchmarking Process:

1.) Define the services your customer's desire.

2.) Break down these services into specific actions.

3.) Inspect/audit these actions.

4.) Calculate the results for benchmarking.

5.) Make improvements upon these services.

6.) Track the results.