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Prometheus Benchlearning Instrument
Benchmarking and Benchlearning in the European Quality in Social Services
Introduction
The process of benchmarking involves more than giving marks; it is a way of comparing and measuring the social service provider’s strategy and performance against the "best-in-class” social service providers in the sector. The aim of benchmarking is to identify best practices that can be adopted and implemented by the social service providers with the purpose of improving their performance. The process of benchmarking can be divided into eight phases:
1. Identify the functions, activities or processes to undergo benchmarking 2. Categorise the importance of each subject area 3. Determine whom to benchmark against 4. Gather the benchmarking information 5. Identify any performance gaps or variations 6. Determine how to learn from the “best-in-class” (benchlearning) 7. Implement the changes (bench action) of the benchlearning areas 8. Ensure the continuous improvement of services
Carrying out benchmarking, benchlearning and bench action is not a one-time project. It is a continuous improvement strategy and a change management process. Thus benchmarking is a part of the Total Quality Management approach.
Definitions
Benchmarking is a process used in management, through which organisations evaluate various aspects of their processes and activities in relation to best practice, usually within their own sector. Benchmarking is simply about making comparisons with other organisations and then learning the lessons that those comparisons reveal.
The aim
The aim of benchlearning is to learn from the strengths and best practices of other organisations, learn from them the things they do well, search for inspiration in your own work and avoid the mistakes that others have made.
In the PROMETHEUS project the benchlearning is described as follows:
The benchlearning instrument will provide examples of good practice in meeting the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of the EQUASS Assurance certification programme. The examples of good practice can be used by the social service provider to get inspiration for implementation and / or development.
Benchlearning Instrument
The benchlearning instrument is a platform through which social service providers have the opportunity to learn from each other. By exchanging and sharing good practices social service providers can gain advantages in meeting the demands of the Common Quality Framework for Social Service of General Interest through the areas of approaches, planning, content and measuring results, implementing actions for improvement.
Learning each other’s solutions is not always easy; if the context and approach is not comparable then learning opportunities are not always identified. Further, in some cases the solution is identified as being not comparable. The benchlearning process is a methodical framework to overcome barriers with the aim to facilitate the exchange of information. Benchlearning can be used to import the solutions of others but also to apply and organisation’s own solutions to common challenges.
The added value
Importing
"Not reinventing the wheel" is an expression that summarises the relevance of benchlearning. The main idea behind importing good practice is to take advantage of clever solutions, developed by other service providers. Importing examples of good practice can be applied to various degrees of intensity and contribute to different outcomes:
2. Assessment: Own ideas can be assessed against existing solutions. This will facilitate: - to determine and to steer the chance of success of implementation; - to create commitment by referring to ‘proven technology’ and ‘proven methodology’. - to copy (part) of the solutions of others: strong result orientation by saving time and costs
Exporting
Exporting good practices is focused on the dissemination of own concepts and standards. This has the following advantages: 1. Positioning: by acting in an international context the social service provider will develop a position and a network. Processes and results sharing with other social service providers will lead to international goodwill and leadership. 2. Savings: raising and sharing own solutions in an international context as an accepted standard will prevent a confrontation with other standards. The benchlearning platform is based on the actual needs of social service providers but should also offer examples of good practice currently in operation, based on a specified menu of topics. The menu reflect the challenges of the social service providers in the implementation of the Common Quality Framework for Social service of General Interest (EQUASS Assurance).
How to use the benchlearning instrument?
The benchlearning instrument give an overview of the Key Performance Indicators (101) which are used to measure the criteria of the EQUASS Assurance certification programme. If an example of this KPI is available the indicator is marked with an ‘X’. A direct link to the example is available on the KPI. All examples are approved and validated in external audits.
You may also add an example to this benchlearning instrument. The example should be send to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and you should mention the following information:
1. Name of the organisation 2. Date of EQUASS Assurance certification 3. Name of the auditor 4. Name of the example 5. Which indicator the example applies to
Overview KPI and available examples
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