Achieving performance excellence through benchmarking and organisational learning

In 2015, the Dubai Government Excellence Programme (DGEP) launched the ‘Dubai We Learn’ initiative as a platform to assist government entities to develop an organisational learning culture which would support innovation and a citizen-focussed approach to delivering government services. This initiative would act as a springboard for the government entities to learn new skills and acquire new tools and techniques that would serve them well into the future. The Centre for Organisational Excellence Research, New Zealand was DGEP’s strategic and technical partner for delivering the initiative. The expertise of the centre and the range of tools developed such as the TRADE Benchmarking Methodology and the Best Practice Resource (www.dgep.bpir.com) would be central to supporting this initiative. This book presents a summary of the Excellence Makers Program which was one of the Dubai We Learn programs. The Excellence Makers Program runs on a one year cycle offering the chance for project teams to be guided on how to find and implement best practices in areas of strategic priority. For 2015 to 2016, 13 government entities participated with teams addressing a variety of improvement challenges ranging from the organisationally simple to the technically complex. During the project year, the project teams all had opportunities to visit and learn from leading international organisations in locations as diverse as Australia, Bahrain, China, Ireland, Singapore, South Korea, USA, UK and the UAE. They also had opportunities to share their progress with other teams and at international conferences. The success of the projects and the new abilities of the teams provide a strong basis for future improvement projects in the 13 government entities as well as across the whole of Dubai government. In conclusion, the government entities that participated in the project have shown the commitment and ability to be anchors for the future development of public services in Dubai