In “Lean Projects Are Defined by Lean Behaviors,” Hal, the author of the article, writes, “Lean is a mindset. It’s not a set of practices.” The same is true for Baldrige. He points out how lean has “a constant focus on learning…learning from everything that happens on an everyday basis. Lean companies are learning faster than their competitors.” That’s also true of Baldrige companies: Organizational and personal learning is a Baldrige core value.

I saw the parallels between Lean and Baldrige a few years ago when I contributed to a book on Lean called The Antidote: How to Transform your Business for the Extreme Challenges of the 21^st Century. The book’s authors, Anand Sharma and Gary Hourselt, are senior leaders at TBM Consulting Group, a global leader in business performance improvement and the effective implementation of Lean. In a section of the book that defines transformational management systems, Sharma and Hourselt seem to be describing a Baldrige organization:

They execute superbly. To integrate a new management system, an organization has to change. Roles and responsibilities change. Expectations change. The culture changes. To successfully manage this change, companies must execute their plans day after day, month after month, and year after year. This isn’t another “flavor of the month.” It’s not a short-term commitment.

Baldrige, like Lean, is more than just an improvement tool: It’s a way of thinking. Organizations are transformed by integrating the Baldrige model. They think and act differently and they, too, “execute superbly.”

Several Baldrige Award recipients use Lean to improve the quality and cycle time of their processes. It’s a good fit.

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