All Posts Tagged With: "assessment"
A Systematic Approach to Change
The decision to do a Baldrige assessment is a decision to change the organization. Questions will be asked that prompt leaders to reconsider the way they do things. Gaps in the day-to-day conduct of business will be exposed. Unacceptable results will shine light on ineffective processes. Cursed with new knowledge, senior leaders can either ignore it and accept that the current management system is unable to achieve the results they desire or embrace change.
The opportunities for improvement revealed by a Baldrige assessment contain the logic for acting upon them: Your results are flat or negative because this or that process is broken. Fix the process and improve your results. Measure your progress. Validate it with your customers. Repeat.
Unfortunately, the logic of the change is usually lost to everyone but the leaders who enact it, which can render it ineffective. In a recent article on Forbes, author Carol Kinsey Goman explains why human beings resist change. According to brain analysis technology, our work habits are controlled by a part of the brain called the basal ganglia. When we do things the way we’ve always done them, we feel good. Change stimulates the prefrontal cortex, which is linked to the amygdala, which controls…
16Jan2012 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedOrganizing Your Baldrige Research
Before you can write a Baldrige application, you must gather and organize the information and data you need to respond to the Baldrige Criteria questions. Your research will produce interview notes from internal subject matter experts; documentation of processes, procedures, presentations, meeting minutes, reports, and other material; and data you will use to create the graphs for the Results category. You will want to organize all of this stuff to help you with two tasks: (1) determine if you have all you need to answer every Criteria question; and, (2) respond to the questions by making it easy to find all relevant information.
The Baldrige Criteria disassemble a management system into seven categories and a profile, 20 items, 41 areas to address, and 150 or so questions. One way to organize Baldrige research is to disassemble it along the same lines. This is easier to do with interviews, during which you have likely asked specific questions about specific areas to address, and for data than it is for supporting documentation.
I’ve done research for dozens of Baldrige and state award applications and my approach is to assign pieces of each interview to the appropriate Baldrige areas to address and then to cut…
25Feb2010 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedHow to Integrate Baldrige
Once senior leadership has decided to integrate Baldrige, the first thing you need to do is a Baldrige assessment. Read “10 Steps to an Effective Baldrige Assessment” for guidance on how to do this.
There’s no shortcut around this step. Sure, there are Baldrige surveys and abbreviated assessments you can do, but they do not provide feedback about all elements of your management system, nor do they give you an accurate picture of your entire management system. You need a full-blown assessment to effectively integrate the Baldrige model.
The ninth step in the assessment process is to act on the evaluation. The evaluation will have a number of opportunities for improvement (OFIs) across all categories of the Criteria and a few major OFIs that affect multiple areas. Start with these. As a senior leadership team, discuss the evaluation and the OFIs and prioritize them based on what you believe is most important for the short- and long-term success of the organization.
Next, figure out how you will tackle the top two or three OFIs. The reason it’s only two or three is that these opportunities are big, cross-functional gaps like redesigning the strategic planning process, developing a balanced scorecard, or implementing a formal approach…
25Nov2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | Continued10 Steps to World Class
What are the characteristics of a high-performing organization? What do they do or how do they act to distinguish themselves? What can your organization do to join their ranks?
The Baldrige model has identified the beliefs and behaviors of high-performing organizations. These 11 core values and concepts, embedded in the Baldrige Criteria and in Baldrige Award recipients, are essential to achieving performance excellence. You can find the complete list here and an explanation of each in the Criteria booklets here.
So how do you get your organization from where it is today to world-class status? Twenty years of Baldrige reveal the steps you can take to create a high-performing organization:
- Lead the transformation. It won’t happen without leaders committed to excellence, and it won’t happen without recognizing that the steps you take will transform your organization. Plan the journey, communicate the plan, measure progress, and facilitate change.
♦To learn more, read Is Baldrige Right for Your Organization, 10 Critical Questions: Senior Leadership, and An Achievable Mission and Vision; - Develop management system experts. You will need these experts to help focus resources and attention on what must happen along your journey. Take a few existing or rising stars and ask them to be Baldrige or state award examiners for…
If you are new to Baldrige…
…and you want to know:
- what Baldrige is, click here
- what to tell your boss about Baldrige, click here
- what the Baldrige Criteria are, click here
- the core values embedded in the Criteria, click here
- the structure of the Criteria, click here
What to Tell Your Boss about Baldrige
Your boss asked you to find out if he or she should look at Baldrige, which means you need to know what it is, who uses it, how it works, whether it can help your organization, what it’s going to cost, how long it’s going to take, what good it will do you, how to win the Baldrige Award, and where to start.
Start here:
What is Baldrige?
Baldrige refers to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which the U.S. Congress legislated in 1987. The first Baldrige Awards were presented in 1988.
Each year, applicants for the Baldrige Award prepare detailed assessments of their management systems. Their applications respond to the Criteria for Performance Excellence (click here to read the Criteria booklet), which have seven Categories that cover everything important in a management system:
- Leadership
- Strategic Planning
- Customer Focus
- Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management
- Workforce Focus
- Process Management
- Results
Who uses it?
Any organization that wants to systematically improve its management system. You can find a complete list of Baldrige Award recipients here. It doesn’t matter what size your organization is or what it does, you can use the Baldrige model and process to improve.
How does it work?
Organizations assess their management systems using the Baldrige Criteria to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. They…
26Oct2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedIs Baldrige Right for Your Organization?
Absolutely.
It doesn’t matter what you do or how big or small you are, integrating the Baldrige model will make you a better organization. I’ve worked on Baldrige with medical centers, a K-12 school, a college and a university, a Wing Command of the National Guard and an Army base, a district court, a large market research company and a small one, a pharmaceutical company, medical device manufacturers and a computer manufacturer, a transport refrigeration manufacturer, a dental products manufacturer and dental insurers, printed circuit board manufacturers and a power supply manufacturer, and a gas and electric utility. Baldrige helped all of them improve performance.
But.
These organizations wanted to improve. Your organization may not. Baldrige is definitely right for your organization if you can answer these questions “yes”:
- Do senior leaders believe change is necessary?
- Will they support transforming your management system?
- Are senior leaders (preferably the senior leader) promoting Baldrige?
- Is your organization committed to performance excellence?
If you answer “no” to any of these questions, you can still conduct a Baldrige assessment and apply for the Baldrige and state awards and act on the opportunities to improve that are identified, but change will be slow and it will be hard to sustain. In the end, senior…
2Oct2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | Continued
