Ancient Wisdom Forums

Leadership teams own the frame through which networks perform. The selected measures and targets frame our potential to be a transformational network.

Now is not the time to default return to established industry benchmarks. In times of significant shifts, such as we are currently experiencing, not only the targets but the measures themselves must be questioned.

That questioning is the grand leadership opportunity of this disrupted phase – before we return to establishing work rhythms.

Questioning the measures for relevance and strength creates the space for many better questions in the future.

“Good questions INFORM,

Great questions TRANSFORM.”

~ Ken Coleman (Legendary US Sports caster)

Benchmarks have long been a useful tool for generating insights. The best we have done. Working with multi-national companies since the 1990s, we benchmarked ‘world-class’ for our industry. If you got to attend popular international conferences, you were probably part of that movement. More recently, with digitisation and the convergence in service expectations and capabilities across industries, the stronger benchmark reference has become global all industries.

There are different strengths of benchmarks that create greater quality of questions and different levels of outcomes.

Low benchmark strength is like a tight frame with limited vision, whereas higher benchmark strength is like an expanding frame with panoramic vision.

Looking at the Benchmark Strength Model, we can see that referring to organisational performance is generally the weaker benchmark. Going beyond your national and sector level to ‘all industry performance’ is stronger, yet you can still get caught in existing models that can be readily disrupted in changing times. The stronger benchmark is asking what is ideal for your stakeholders as defined by your mission, your cause or your why.

There is no argument that we can learn a lot from looking at what others do.

However, it is like the difference between Secondary and Primary research to a scientist.

Secondary research is quick and efficient, as it is already compiled, organised, and published by others. It is the ‘go to’ for initial scanning on a topic. However, it does not necessarily provide for deep understanding, is typically dated and does not exactly reflect the situation right in front of us now.

Primary research, while a greater investment in time, gives a more accurate picture of the situation right in front of us now.

My experience being engaged in industry leading innovation is that many of the deep insights beyond the headlines may never be published and, if they are, it is at least two years from DOING the work, and typically another year before being discussed at conferences or industry forums.

“Successful people ask better questions.

And, as a result, they get better answers.”

~ Tony Robbins

Now is the opportunity to ask better questions directly looking at the situation you face.

• What is ideal for my customers / clients now?
• What is ideal for my staff now?
• What is ideal for our owners now?
• What is ideal for the community now?
• Is our scope of service expectation ideal?
• Are our measures ideal for building trust with all our stakeholders?
• Are we maximising our potential for personal and organisational growth and development?
• Are our measures ideal for the 4 resilience capabilities of Monitoring, Responding, Learning, and Anticipating?

Like primary research is the foundation of building an inquiring mind, deep learning and progress, benchmarking your own ideal creates your own platform for measures and targets.

Measures and targets that are relevant and strong.

As a former colleague used to say whenever we discussed benchmarks – “You can hit the target, and still miss the point.”

Are you making the most of this grand leadership opportunity?

Bernie