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 our “fight or flight” response. When change overwhelms the prefrontal cortex, the amygdale triggers physical and psychological disorientation and pain. Even if we know logically that a change is necessary and positive, our brains can react negatively.

Goman offers six suggestions for helping your workforce handle change:

1. Trust people to see the need for change. Communicate information that shows why change is needed. Provide opportunities for people to ask questions and discuss the implications of the change. Help employees reach the conclusions that prompted you to act.
2. Make new ideas become familiar. You cannot over-communicate the reasons for change or how the changes will occur. Develop a communication strategy that uses all available mechanisms—town hall meetings, focus groups, staff meetings, shift meetings, intranet, newsletters, etc.—to talk about the change. As Goman notes, “It takes a lot of repetition to move a new or complex concept from the prefrontal cortex to the basal ganglia.”
3. KISS your communication. Keep is simple. Condense the change into two or three critical goals.
4. Never underestimate the power of a vision. Gorman writes, “I’m talking about a clearly articulated, emotionally charged, and broad picture of what the organization is trying to achieve.
5. Don’t “sugar-coat” the truth. Be honest and realistic about expectations the how the change will unfold. Any deception, whether intentional or not, will be exposed and will heighten anxiety and distrust.
6. Watch your body language. “When discussing organizational change initiatives, there are two conversations taking place, and the second, nonverbal one, can reinforce or sabotage your verbal message,” says Goman. People believe what they see more than what you say, which means you must totally believe in the change before you can convince others of its value.

Every organization must change to survive and thrive. A systematic approach to change that addresses these six suggestions and considers the way our brains are wired can help make change just another work habit.

Baldrige Award winners integrate Baldrige by performing regular—usually annual—Baldrige assessments. The process of producing assessments and prioritizing and acting on the opportunities they reveal institutionalizes a culture of continuous improvement. It keeps everyone focused on what is most important for the organization to grow and excel. It improves the alignment of people and processes with the organization’s goals, objectives, and strategies. Best of all, it delivers results, as the award application summaries of Baldrige Award winners show.

IndustryWeek recently reported on a survey it conducted with TBM Consulting about the impact of continuous-improvement programs on three financial metrics: anticipated revenue growth, operating income growth, and cash flow over the past year. “Across the board, companies with no continuous improvement programs performed worse across all three measures,” Jill Jusko concluded here:

• More than 50% of respondents with no continuous improvement program said they expect revenue growth to be 3% or less in 2012, compared to fewer than 20% of companies with mature continuous improvement programs.
• Nearly half of respondents with no continuous improvement program anticipate operating income growth of 3% or less in 2012, compared to less than half that percent from firms with continuous improvement programs.
• Slightly more than 20% of companies with no continuous improvement programs reported an increase in cash flow over the past year compared to more than 50% of companies with mature continuous improvement programs.

Dabbling in continuous improvement is like dabbling in Baldrige: You may get quick performance bump but it won’t be sustainable. The only way realize the full benefits of integrating Baldrige, which is a proven approach to continuous improvement, is to commit to annual assessments at least until your management system exemplifies the Baldrige core values.

To learn more about how to integrate Baldrige, click on these articles:

• Baldrige Gets Results
• Baldrige Core Values
• How to Integrate Baldrige
• 10 Steps to an Effective Baldrige Assessment

According to a press release from the Baldrige program, the state programs will work with TAB boards across the country to help small business operators learn the Baldrige Criteria and use the Criteria to assess and improve performance.

The new effort drew praise from Terry May, president of MESA Products, a 2006 Baldrige Award recipient in the small business category. “TAB is a great resource for learning and sharing with my peers,” May said, “providing real-world, practical guidance to help me improve and grow my business. The Baldrige process, both at the state and national levels, helped me take MESA to an even higher level of performance and achieve breakthrough results. So, a partnership between local TAB boards and state Baldrige programs will be a great resource for small businesses.”

The collaboration between the Baldrige program and the Alliance is another indicator of the new relationship between the programs. Earlier this month, the Baldrige program announced new conditions that basically require organizations to earn state recognition before applying for the Baldrige Award (more here). Strengthening the relationship is an important step in maintaining the viability of the Baldrige program in the face of federal funding cuts.

Henry Ford Health System serves a three-county region encompassing Detroit and its suburbs with a workforce just shy of 30,000 employees, physicians, and volunteers. Its revenue in 2010 was $4.08 billion.

It’s hard to imagine the effort it has taken to keep this massive organization moving along the Baldrige path, but its results are a testament to its leaders’ tenacity:

• Rated #1 for member satisfaction among all health insurance plans in Michigan by J.D. Powers and Associates
• Satisfaction exceeding 90^th percentile level for HFHS’s medical centers, with 80% likely to recommend
• Performance on CMS core measures at the 90^th percentile for 75% of reporting areas across the system’s seven inpatient hospitals
• Evidence-based global harm campaign to improve patient safety recognized as a national best practice by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
• Market leader in the area it serves, increasing inpatient market share by an average of 3% a year since 2004
• Maintained a positive net operating income despite significant increases in uncompensated care—approximately $200 million in 2010
• HFHS’s leaders model and support entrepreneurism throughout the healthcare delivery system
• Best-in-class innovations including the Perfect Depression Program, Home Health Services, Pharmacy Advantage, and OptimEyes
• Monetary support for HFHS’s communities by employees increased to just over $3 million in 2010

For more information about Henry Ford Health System, click on its Baldrige profile.

To learn more about how your organization can integrate Baldrige and achieve HFHS-like results, click on these articles:

• Baldrige Gets Results
• How to Integrate Baldrige
• 10 Steps to an Effective Baldrige Assessment

Hawaiian Airlines has ranked among the leaders in customer service for years and is routinely ranked first by the US Department of Transportation for on-time performance and fewest cancellations. Charles Nardello oversees aircraft, flight, and customer service operations at Hawaiian Airlines. In a recent article on the HBR Blog Network, he discusses how the airline improved operational performance while maintaining service excellence, citing three things a company must do well “to maintain an unbeatable level of operational excellence: (1) Get very close to their customer; (2) Benchmark against itself on a consistent basis; and, (3) Empower employees to address the unexpected.”

A customer focus permeates Hawaiian Airlines. “For every decision we make, from the most basic to the complex, the customer always comes first—they are the driver of our decision-making and strategic planning,” writes Nardello. A culture that brings the customer perspective to every decision acts far differently than a company where customers are an afterthought or are only considered when addressing customer issues.

Hawaiian Airlines has an independent agency survey customers every month on their experiences with the airline and factors the results into every employee’s bonus pay. “Every employee receives a scorecard rating them on how well they’ve performed in interacting directly with the customer or, in the case of senior executives, on decision-making and strategic planning,” Nardello writes. It’s an approach that guarantees that everyone at the airline will remain focused on the customer.

The airline reinforces this customer focus through a news ticker that runs on the lower third of computer screens and televisions in break rooms and crew lounges. The ticker show unedited, unfiltered, real-time customer reaction. If a reaction is negative, the airline addresses it immediately. As Nardello observes, “Our speed in addressing the problem could make the difference between retaining that customer for future flights or losing him or her forever.”

No company can prepare for every scenario that can trigger customer dissatisfaction, which is why those that excel at customer service train and empower their frontline employees to solve problems as they see them. “We believe employees perform best when empowered to improvise and bring unmatched service to their customers in a sincere, personal way,” Nardello writes.

To read more about excellent customer service, click on these articles:

• What Do Your Customers Require?
• A Baldrige View of Customer Experience
• Seeking Very Satisfied Customers
• The Bottom-Line Value of Customer Engagement

• Get the results you want: It will help your organization achieve performance excellence whether you are in healthcare, manufacturing, service, education, nonprofit, or government.

• Learn about all aspects of the Baldrige model. Just click on one of the tabs at the top of this page to learn more about these key areas.

• Find out how to integrate Baldrige. Any type or size of organization can achieve world-class results by integrating the Baldrige model. We explain how to do it.

• Identify your top opportunities for improvement. A Baldrige assessment gives you a detailed snapshot of your entire management system, exposing your opportunities for improvement. We describe how to conduct an assessment and provide consulting support, if needed.

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The study confirms what similar studies of business performance have also shown. No matter what their organizations do, leaders need to consider these results and, if their organizations are not integrating Baldrige, ask how they, too, can achieve similar high rates of improvement.

Thomson Reuters uses independent public data to measure hospital performance and identify the national benchmarks for balanced excellence. It publishes the best 3% in an annual list of 100 Top Hospitals. For this study, it measured the association between 38 Baldrige hospitals (Award winners plus site-visit hospitals that gave permission) and 100 Top Hospitals on key indicators of performance and improvement. The analysis showed:

• Substantial agreement between the results of the Baldrige process and the Top 100 Hospitals award: Baldrige hospitals are significantly more likely than their peers to win a 100 Top Hospitals award.
• Baldrige hospitals were significantly more likely than their peers to display faster five-year performance improvement.
• Baldrige hospitals were about 83% more likely than non-Baldrige hospitals to be awarded a 100 Top Hospitals award for excellence.
• Baldrige hospitals outperformed non-Baldrige hospitals on nearly all of the individual measures of performance used in the 100 Top Hospitals composite score including risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications index, patient safety index, CMS core measures score, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and adjusted operating profit margin.

You can read the Thomson Reuters report here.

You can read how businesses achieve similar stellar results here, here, and here.

These studies validate the value of integrating the Baldrige model whether your organization is a hospital, small business, manufacturer, service provider, government agency, nonprofit, or school. The data provide tangible evidence of the efficacy of using the Baldrige process because it delivers “significantly higher rates of improvement in balanced organizational performance” compared to competitors who do not use Baldrige.

To learn more about how your organization can use the Baldrige process to achieve similar results, click here.