Benchmarking: An Overlooked Impact Superpower?
In people development, impact is everything. And benchmarking is one of the sharpest and arguably underused impact tools.
Robert Camp, benchmarking pioneer, described it as “…the search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance.” [1]
Boom; improvement!
Benchmarking reveals blind spots, opportunities for growth and encouragement in strengths.
And research supports the payoff.
Evidence shows that organisations using benchmarking see gains in efficiency, quality, and innovation. [2] [3]
It’s a supercharger for impact as it…
- Breaks echo chambers
- Challenges assumptions
- Reveals improvement areas
- Highlights where we excel
- Sparks fresh thinking
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But the question was how to measure the impact and success of global, online self-directed learning?
We leveraged benchmarking!
A rigorous literature review surfaced evidence-based success factors for large scale online learning including learner activity and engagement, completion rates, survival over time, the value of upgrades such as paid certification and badging, and the old chestnut, impact measurement.
Others had already done the hard lifting on success measures and likely impact levels which enabled us to evaluate the success of our work.
So, ask yourself, is there a danger of operating in a vacuum?
Is it time to break out and benchmark!
And if you’re in L&D it’s worth exploring the following excellent benchmarking options:
MindTools Learning Performance Benchmark: https://lpbenchmark.mindtools.com/welcome
The LPI’s Learning and Performance Accelerator: see: https://www.thelpi.org/learning-and-performance-accelerator/
References
[1] Camp, R.C. (2024) Benchmarking: The search for industry best practices that lead to Superior Performance.
[2] Alosani, M., Al-Dhaafri, H., & Yusoff, R. (2016). Mechanism of Benchmarking and Its Impact on Organizational Performance. International Journal of Biometrics, 11, 172.
[3] Drew, S. (1997). From knowledge to action: the impact of benchmarking on organizational performance. Long Range Planning, 30, 427-441.
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