In the first two articles in this series, I described five of the seven characteristics of organizations with sound management systems: (1) they think process; (2) they act on data; (3) they know where they’re going; (4) they align activities; and, (5) they blur boundaries. They exemplify all 11 Baldrige core values but one stands out: They have a systems perspective, which, according to the Baldrige Criteria, “means managing your whole organization, as well as its components, to achieve success.”

They also share these final two characteristics:

6. They treat people well. That means everyone the company touches: employees, customers, suppliers, community members—everyone. The striking difference between companies that treat people as commodities and companies that treat them well was captured in the transformation of Wainwright Industries. In the early 1990s, the leaders of this small Missouri-based manufacturer of machined parts listened to a speaker describe how his company thrived because of a sincere trust and belief in people. One of Wainwright’s leaders wondered what that meant. The CEO didn’t have a good answer, and that bothered him. What would Wainwright look like if it sincerely trusted and believed in its people?

The answer changed the company. A sincere trust and belief in people became one of its core values, and that value guided its actions. Quality improved. Safety improved. Customer satisfaction improved. Gross profit jumped 62 percent in just three years. And employees rewarded the company’s trust by generating more than one implemented improvement suggestion per employee per week. Most American companies struggle to get one suggestion per employee per year.

7. They continually improve. They must. It’s who they are. They build improvement into their processes, a step to take in an ongoing cycle that compels them to find ways to do things better.

Such cultures are not created overnight. The contrast between good companies and great ones can be seen in the ways people work. In great companies, employees care about the quality of their work. They feel integral to their company’s success. They seek opportunities to learn and improve and feel responsible for making things better.

Employees in average companies also care about the quality of their work—they’re just not sure anyone else does. They see little connection between what they do and their company’s success. They have been conditioned to interpret opportunities to improve as problems with their performance and react defensively. Yet as Wainwright and others have proved, the employees in both cultures are the same. What is different is the system.

To read more about integrating Baldrige, click on these articles:

• What Differentiates Baldrige Award Winners (Part 1)
• What Differentiates Baldrige Award Winners (Part 2)
• How to Integrate Baldrige
• Leading the Integration of Baldrige
• The Organization You Want
• 5 Added Values of the Baldrige Process

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