SuccessfulWorkplace

I wanted to tackle another benchmarking myth in this post. I’ve touched on it in previous posts in this series, but wanted to address it specifically. It is the myth of getting EXACTLY comparable data within peer groups. Why is it a myth? You can’t achieve the elusive “apples-to-apples” comparison when humans are involved, ever. […]

It has been a long time coming, but it appears there will be process standards developed and implemented globally in the very near future. The World Economic Process Academy for Simplification and Standardization (WE_PASS) announced the upcoming release of globally-accepted and implementable process standards for all enterprise processes. Change is finally here In a statement […]

Legal concerns around benchmarking have been around since the practice really exploded in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These issues should be considered, but shouldn’t be a barrier to benchmarking. Logic and common sense should rule your benchmarking efforts well before the legal concerns. A benchmarking code of conduct to guide your activities is […]

In my other benchmarking posts I’ve explained that you’ll never get to a level of precision where you will truly have an exact comparative benchmark value. It has been proven and noted that the same person asked the same question will give you different answers. But, even if it were possible, you would not be […]

This may ruffle feathers of the Black Belts among you but I’m going to highlight an example to explain precisely why the majority of pragmatic clients aren’t interested in the upper levels that Six Sigma goes to. I’ve found through experience over the years that a client is more interested in building a continuous improvement […]

I’ve mentioned a benchmarking life cycle in my previous benchmarking posts, and there is a definite trend I see emerging among the organizations I work with on a daily basis. The benchmarking need is born The “need” to benchmark is generally born from a few key categories: External disruption: A shift in the marketplace occurs, like new […]

I’ve really enjoyed the conversations around the series focused on benchmarking, and I look forward to more points of view. One thing that has become very apparent is that benchmarking is defined very differently among the general public. Benchmarking defined based on your experience Those that have been involved in benchmarking tend to define it […]

There is a misconception that benchmarking is a very involved and arduous process. I’m not going to tackle that issue in the blog post; I’ll cover that in my next one. But, that is one of the largest barriers we hear from organizations wanting to use benchmarking to examine a real business problem. The Logic […]

Most of the information I read about disruption focuses on the fact it is happening all around us and warns that organizations should be prepared to deal with it. A quick read of the news tells me that it is already too late for some and getting very late for others. I’ve even written about […]

LinkedIn is running another INfluencer series called “Best Advice I ever received” so here at SuccessfulWorkplace we’re doing the same. Early in my career, when I was a Business Analyst leading software implementation projects, a manager told me: “Start with the end in mind.” What she meant was, think about how you want the system […]

I’ve received two pieces of advice that I follow more than the million suggestions I’ve been given over the years. Graduate School Professor The first comes from a professor I had in graduate school. I had one of those “there is no answer” questions for him and he told me, “Mr. Webb, it is rarely […]

We all know them. The people who always find their way through transformation, disruption, and chaos while making it seem easy; just like another day. They are usually the person that you, your family, or your organization go to when things go crazy. They are able to stay calm, cool, collected, and have an uncanny […]

Companies increasingly use outside specialists to do their work. Driven by the ever-lower costs of global communication and online collaboration tools, Henry Ford’s vertically integrated organization is yielding to Procter & Gamble’s network of external innovators. Almost anything can be outsourced to specialists and reconnected. While companies have outsourced low-value work such as payroll processing […]

Companies put a great deal of focus on goals and strategies and often less effort goes into the tactics and guidance for how work actually gets done. If you’ve seen the viral video for the Harlem Shake, it illustrates what most companies look like under their corporate covers. Doing the Harlem Shake Enjoy this short […]