Going into the Gap with Benchmarks
by Lois Melbourne
I love benchmarks. I’m a competitive person, and I like to measure and keep score for a lot of things. But I’ve had some very good teachers and learned some very good lessons over the years that have helped me choose wisely when to trust and use which competitive instinct. This is a good topic for the end of the year when people are setting personal goals for the new year and companies are setting their objectives, selecting their scorecard’s key performance indicators, and seeking out industry benchmarks to measure their quality and progress. BEWARE! Choose wisely!
When attending the wonderful training from the Strategic Coach organization, I learned about a mental process of “going into the gap.” This happens when you look back over your year (or other time frame) and measure your progress against an ideal or a target. If you haven’t reached the specific target you feel like a failure and disregard the amount of progress you have made. This can put you in a funk or “in the gap.” If you allow yourself to, instead, look at the progress you’ve made from where you started, you can have a much better feeling about yourself and set the next goal to stretch toward.
For example, you were trying to put $1,000 into your savings account in 2009 and had put zero into it for 2008. At the end of the year, you look back and you’ve only put $800 into the account. If you want to be depressed, you complain about not getting to $1,000. If you want to reward yourself emotionally, you saved $800 more than you did the year before. You are a success! Which perspective is going to be healthier for your next goal setting session?
Benchmarking can get you into trouble, too. If you find out the neighborhood average for savings was $1,100, you might go into a bigger gap. But you don’t have the data of what those other households are doing. Maybe they didn’t enjoy a fabulous summer vacation that filled your family with memories of a life time. Maybe they weren’t doubling up on their mortgage payments like you did, etc. Maybe they put money into savings, but have huge credit card debt and you don’t.
Benchmarks are interesting. When you formulate your workforce analytics, having something to look at as a perspective builder while setting your goals is a good thing. Yet choose and use your benchmarks well. They should not be the lazy man’s goal setter. When workforce planners plot their objectives, they should have an entire toolkit of information to use and not set their company to go “into the gap” by comparing themselves too closely to other organization’s numbers.
Personal or corporate goal setters and planners need to consider what their real goals are, and why they’re striving for that particular number. As you look back over your historical achievements, measure the trends and how far you have come, as well as look at the idea. Celebrate the progress and kick into high gear for the new year.
Cheers,
Lois
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