How Long Does It Take to Win?

Most organizations are attracted to Baldrige because they want to improve their performance, but at some point, almost all of them ask a question that has been on their minds:

How long does it take to win the Baldrige Award?

The Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation started using Baldrige in 1993 through the Tennessee Quality Award program. It was awarded the Tennessee Quality Excellence Award in 1999 and received the Baldrige Award in 2003. According to its Web site, it planned to apply for the Baldrige Award again this year as a worldwide organization.

You could say it took Cat Financial ten years to win the Baldrige Award. I know other organizations–granted, not many–who have done it in two.

So how long does it take to win the Baldrige Award? It depends.

It depends on your starting point. If you’re a 250-point organization (which is pretty common for first-time Baldrige assessments), it’s probably at least five years. If you’re a 500-point company, maybe a couple years if everything goes right.

It depends on senior executive commitment. If your CEO will move mountains to close the gaps in your management system, it will take less time than if senior leaders stand on the sidelines and delegate the improvement process.

It depends on how serious the gaps are. If you don’t have a strategic planning process or a performance measurement system or some other key process, it’s going to take a few years to design, deploy, and refine one.

The truth is, no matter how long it takes, the journey is what matters.…