How would you rate your company’s performance? The first time companies conduct a Baldrige assessment, nearly everyone earns fewer than 300 of a possible 1000 points. You’re an industry stalwart? Under 300 points. You’re a profit-making machine? 300 points max. You’re a stock market darling? 300 points at best. Think you’re better than everyone else? 300 points says you’re not. More importantly, it tells you that your management system needs attention.

Don’t believe me? Take the test. Assess your management system using the Baldrige criteria. Submit your assessment for review by trained evaluators. While you’re waiting to find out how you did, start working on those weaknesses revealed while you were putting the assessment together. Because there will be weaknesses.

I’ve helped dozens of organizations conduct Baldrige assessments. Some knew they had problems and wanted to find them. Others thought they were pretty good and wanted affirmation. The first group was never disappointed.

Very few leaders have participated in a thorough evaluation of their management systems. Most wouldn’t know where to start. Fortunately, the Baldrige criteria provide both a framework and a process for such an endeavor.

The framework involves asking questions about how your company works. The questions are grouped into seven categories that cover every aspect of your management system, from how you achieve your strategic objectives to how you determine customer requirements to how you manage key processes to a whole lot more. If you’ve never asked these questions, rigorously answered them, and expertly evaluated your answers, you have no idea how good (or bad) your management system is. You’re like the blindfolded man who feels an elephant’s trunk and thinks, “snake,” or holds its leg and imagines a tree. You are blind to how your company really functions. You are clueless about how the system truly works, and the system dictates your capabilities. Remember: You can’t outperform the system in which you are performing.

To find out more about conducting a Baldrige assessment, click on these articles:

• Baldrige 101
• 10 Steps to an Effective Baldrige Assessment
• How to Integrate Baldrige
• How the Baldrige Award Works
• Learn from the Best: Application Summaries

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