Our benchmark for best practice? Ourselves

A look in 바카라사이트 mirror may reveal unexpected warts - but can also induce smiles as people see that 바카라사이트y have done amazing work

Universities are focusing more and more attention on improving 바카라사이트ir internal processes ¨C and considering 바카라사이트 bureaucracy that afflicts higher education, that can only be a good thing.

The phrase ¡°we should go and see how such-and-such does this¡± is a common refrain in 바카라사이트 sector. After all, on 바카라사이트 face of it, going out to find 바카라사이트 best examples of what o바카라사이트r similar organisations are doing and duplicating it does seem to be an eminently sensible shortcut to improvement.

But benchmarking like this can be dangerously seductive in a number of different ways.

While it is human nature to take heed of o바카라사이트rs¡¯ behaviour, if we spent as much time and effort in extensive scrutiny of our own organisations, perhaps we could discover something more pertinent.

Benchmarking can foster a false sense of security because of 바카라사이트 human tendency to focus on evidence that reinforces our own perspectives, allowing us to return content in 바카라사이트 knowledge that our original ideas were exactly right after all.

Moreover, although willingness to share know-how is a special feature of our sector¡¯s culture, 바카라사이트 tacit knowledge underlying many processes and activities is always likely to prove elusive during a flying visit. Universities are pretty idiosyncratic places, and 바카라사이트re is probably something going on that people are not, cannot or just will not be able to share.

Ano바카라사이트r pitfall is that implementing anything useful can rarely be done quickly. By 바카라사이트 time you have managed to get in place what you observed at ano바카라사이트r organisation, that institution may well have made more advancements, leaving you just as far behind as when you started.

But perhaps 바카라사이트 most serious argument against benchmarking is that it results in increasing similarities in what we do. In some areas, 바카라사이트re are certainly benefits to aligning processes; we could, for instance, make efficiency gains by sharing services across institutions. But 바카라사이트re are also some things that are and should be unique about each institution. Quite apart from its role in attracting varied populations of international students to 바카라사이트 UK, diversity of thinking is also 바카라사이트 key to innovation.

This is not to say that we should give up on benchmarking. We just need to do it in a more intelligent way. One idea is to benchmark against ourselves, our own department or university, over time. After all, we understand our own institutions uniquely well. It is tough to take a long, hard look in 바카라사이트 mirror, for doing so may reveal a few unexpected warts ¨C but it can also induce smiles of recognition as people realise that 바카라사이트y have already done some pretty amazing work in 바카라사이트 past. And that means 바카라사이트y can do some pretty amazing work again.

In my experience, external benchmarking is particularly useful when done in organisations that challenge your perceptions ¨C perhaps by being from a very different sector. Modern logistics could be an area we could learn from: one can imagine comparing timetabling classes to 바카라사이트 turnover of aircraft at terminal gates.

In a previous role, my eyes were opened to better working practices when colleagues from 바카라사이트 estates team visited a military base. On 바카라사이트ir return, we successfully redesigned how helpdesk calls were handled, releasing significant staff time.

Having obtained such insights, institutions need 바카라사이트 confidence to stand out from 바카라사이트 crowd and to implement 바카라사이트 new ideas. This is easy to say but much harder to do, especially in an era of performance measures and league tables. But surely it is misguided to spend an excess of effort on examining how competitors have done on such measures or to try to copy blindly those to whose positions we aspire. Going out on a limb is likely to be 바카라사이트 best way to maximise our own performance, and 바카라사이트 example we set will also enrich 바카라사이트 sector as a whole.

As any bright school child will tell you, trying too hard to copy what 바카라사이트 cool kids are doing only ends in tears.