The reasons are simple – they fit your explanation of why we shouldn’t have individual performance targets. Lastly is the term “targets.” Recently I positted a very radical approach of no longer using targets. So when you say “turnover” we define them the same way. This same type of standardization would be applied to measures we want to compare. We don’t have standard definitions for things like “benchmarks, baselines, and targets.” It makes it very difficult to have meaningful discussions if our language lacks standardization. Standards are something I think our industry (performance measurement) lacks. The premise is the same, but for me standards are industry-established or industry-affirmed values. Standards is where my definition deviates a little. They’re pretty much the same as I use for Baseline and Benchmark – Baseline is my starting point, Benchmarks are when I want to compare to others (preferably a standard : – ). DISCUSSION:ĭo you use these terms in your organisation or business? Collaborate with me on the Measure Up blog by sharing examples of how you’re using baselines, benchmarks, targets and standards. Standards are similar to targets, but they apply ‘here and now’: you’ve made a promise to your customers and you want to monitor how well you’re keeping that promise. Just because you have a standard doesn’t mean your business processes are capable of meeting it! Part of performance improvement is to design our processes to make them capable of meeting any standards. It means that we want to see our performance measure’s values for Days to Fix Problems to be under 2 days in at least 95% of cases. What is a performance standard?Īgain from, a generic definition of the word ‘standard’ is: A level of quality or attainmentįor example, when we make a promise to our customers to fix their problem within 2 days 95% of the time, the standard for our performance measure becomes 2 days. If you tell everyone to work harder to ‘hit target’ every month, you’re just compensating for a process that isn’t capable and it will burn everyone out before too long. To shift a baseline performance level to a targeted performance level takes time and effort to redesign the underlying business processes so they are capable of better performance. I’m not super-keen on using the word ‘attack’, so I would adapt this to define a performance target as a level of performance we are aiming to reach in the future. What is a performance target?Ī target is defined as (from ): A person, object, or place selected as the aim of an attack. Because others have achieved that level of performance, it’s easier to conceive that you can too. They are levels of performance that another organisation has achieved for that same performance measure you’re interested in.īenchmarks from organisations that represent world’s best practice or industry best practice can become targets that you use for your performance measures. Verb: Evaluate or check (something) by comparison with a standard: “we are benchmarking our performance against external criteria”.īenchmarks in performance measurement typically come from outside your organisation. Noun: A standard or point of reference against which things may be compared or assessed. What is a performance benchmark?ĭ defines ‘benchmark’ as both a noun and a verb, and both are useful for understanding how this term applies to performance measurement: A single value of your performance measure is not enough to act as your baseline, because you’ll end up mistaking the routine variation in your measure for change. In an XmR chart, your baseline is the Central Line. The definition of ‘baseline’ is provided by as: A minimum or starting point used for comparisons.Ī baseline for your performance measure is the average level of performance that you are currently at, and that you will compare future performance levels with to test if performance is really changing. It’s important to do that discerning and prevent time-wasting debates and misinterpretation that get in the way of performance improvement. People use them interchangably, and often can’t provide a definitive definition for each to discern one from another. Some of the most used terms that describe levels of performance are: So, exactly what are benchmarks, baselines, targets and standards?Īn area of confusion that comes up regularly in my workshops and consulting is the array of words we use to describe two very simple statements about performance: current performance and desired performance. In performance improvement, a few important terms are often confused or misused. What Are Benchmarks, Baselines, Targets And Standards? Octoby Stacey Barr | Last modified: September 5, 2018
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