5 Added Values of the Baldrige Process

This is a guest article by Paul Grizzell. If you want to contribute an article to Baldrige.com, check out the guidelines here.

When visiting with senior leaders about the value of embarking on a Baldrige journey, a frequently used phrase is, “It’s not about the Award.”  At that point, the discussion moves to writing an application, and the sense of leaders is: “We’re applying for an Award!”  How do we convince leaders that there is value within the Baldrige process above and beyond applying for Baldrige or a state or local quality award?

Leaders need to understand what value the Baldrige process provides if it’s not just about the award, especially considering the investment of time involved in developing a 50-page application.

In my experience, five “added values” of the Baldrige process demonstrate the benefit of developing a Baldrige application—even if you never submit the application to an award process.

1. Accountability Tool. The structure of the Baldrige process forces accountability.  When senior leaders take responsibility for a particular Baldrige category, they “own” the linkage among the three components of the application:

• Organizational Profile: What is important to the organization?
• Process categories: Based on what is important, what do we do, and how do we do it?
• Results category: Now that we’ve done it, were we successful?

2. Sustainability Tool. The Baldrige process helps document how business is done at the organization.  The departure of a senior leader doesn’t have to mean we start all over again.  The application describes how the organization operates; a new senior leader…