Next to blaming people for process problems, making assumptions is a surefire way to miss the right solution. Which of these scenarios is more common in your organization?

(a) Options are debated based on what people think about a problem or issue and how they think it should be handled; or,

(b) Options are debated based on reliable data and information that illuminate the nature and causes of the problem or issue and point to possible solutions.

Most people act as if “a” is really “b”: My assumptions are based on experience and they’re as good as facts. They’re wrong. Guessing that you know what’s going on is not the same as actually knowing what’s going on, and the only way to know what’s going on is to collect and analyze relevant data and information. That’s where the second smart question comes in: How do we know that?

You have to be careful how you ask this question. If your boss says, “We’re getting customer complaints about how long they have to wait for service so we need to put more people on the phone lines,” you can’t just blurt out: “How do we know that?” It’s absolutely the right question to ask. Just don’t say it out loud quite yet.

If you work in an office where assumptions pass as facts, you have a terrific opportunity to differentiate yourself from the crowd and establish yourself as a thoughtful leader—no matter what position you hold. Start by looking for answers to the question: How do we know that? Pay attention to the problems and issues that your work group or department is facing. Keep track of what’s aggravating your boss. Pick one problem or issue that you can get information about, either because you do some work in that area or because you have coworkers who you can get you what you need.

Start with our first smart question: What’s the process? Consider the bigger picture: Who is affected by the problem or issue and what they require, who supplies what to the process, and where the process seems to be breaking down. Look for data related to the process such as:

• Service data (recent customer survey results, complaints, etc.)
• Quality data (errors, defects, warranty claims, etc.)
• Delivery data (on-time delivery, time taken for steps in the process, etc.)
• Cost data (cost per transaction, material costs, rework costs, etc.)

You may not have much or any of this data. Don’t despair. Organizations where decisions are frequently based on assumptions have shown that they do not place a high value on data, which is probably why their problems never seem to go away and new ones keep piling up and people spend big chunks of their days fighting fires.

You can be a leader in fire prevention. Figure out where the problem seems to be and identify how to measure service, quality, delivery, and cost performance in that area. If you can’t start collecting all of the data yourself, partner with coworkers who have access to other parts of the process. Describe what you need. Tell them you want to understand what’s going on to see if you can help solve a problem that’s been bothering your unit and irritating your boss. Plead ignorance, which is true since nobody has probably done what you’re trying to do.

You may not choose the best measures out of the gate. Not many people do, so don’t worry about it. If the data you’re collecting for a particular measure isn’t helping you better understand current performance, or if improving performance on the measure doesn’t really improve the process, try a different measure.

Once you’ve gathered data on your measures for a few months—you can’t begin to see a trend until you have at least three data points—you are ready to start bringing facts to your meetings. You may still feel uneasy asking the boss, “How do we know that?,” so answer your own question by presenting the data you’ve been collecting. You will find that people who sat silently while others voiced their opinions will quickly become engaged in debating the data because they’re challenging information, not their coworkers or managers.

And that will make you and your contribution even more valuable.

Tomorrow: Smart Question #3: Who are our customers and what do they require?

In such a challenging environment, it helps to have a management system that can guide your decisions and support the steps you take. The Baldrige model provides such a framework.

Twenty-two small businesses have won the Baldrige Award, including three in 2010. While a company may have up to 500 employees to qualify for the small business category, several winners have had fewer than 100 including Stoner, the smallest company ever to win. Stoner had 43 employees when it received the Baldrige Award in 2003.

I worked with Custom Research, which had 75 employees at the time, when it won the Award in 1996. I remember the tension that the Baldrige framework created by requiring formal processes in a few key places, like strategic planning, where informal approaches had served the company well. Custom Research strengthened its processes and, to the Baldrige program’s credit, Baldrige examiners received specific training on how to better evaluate small businesses.

The small business leader who is looking for a proven approach to building a strong, sustainable, high-performing company should consider integrating the Baldrige model. It can help:

• Define the roles of senior leaders and improve communication, accountability, and performance
• Clarify what factors should be considered when planning for the near and long-term future
• Get everyone the same page through action plans and performance measurement
• Strengthen customer relationships
• Engage employees
• Design, manage, and improve work processes
• Get results and grow the company

To understand how your company can integrate Baldrige, read this article. To see what integrating Baldrige can do for your small business, read the profiles of the recent Baldrige Award small business winners (and study their award application summaries, available here, to get details about how they excel):

• K&N Management
• Studer Group
• Freese and Nichols, Inc.
• MidwayUSA
• PRO-TEC Coating Company
• MESA Products, Inc.
• Park Place Lexus
• Texas Nameplate Company, Inc.
• Stoner, Inc.
• Branch-Smith Printing Division
• Pal’s Sudden Service

When the Baldrige program started, the Criteria reflected the quality movement in manufacturing. While service organizations could apply for the Award, few had similar experience with quality management. They had trouble relating the Criteria to their businesses. It took three years for the first service company, FedEx, to win the Award.

The Criteria evolved. With the feedback of experienced examiners, NIST made the Criteria more “user-friendly” for service companies and then, in the mid-90s, for small businesses. In this decade, the Criteria have become relevant for healthcare and education and then for nonprofits and government agencies.

Today, every organization can integrate the Baldrige model. Scan the lists of state award winners if you need evidence of that (click here to find their Web sites). And it’s not just every organization in the United States: International programs based on the Baldrige model demonstrate its universality (click here to find out more).

Every organization likes to think it’s unique—at some level, it is—but on the key factors that affect organizational performance, it doesn’t matter what you do. A manufacturer can learn how to improve strategic planning from a medical center. A school district can learn how to manage processes from a small business. A nonprofit can learn how to engage employees from a service company. It’s not even that big a stretch.

What makes this possible is the Baldrige model, which asks the same questions, in the same language (most of the time), about the same types of processes.

Take a moment to click on a sector (hover over “Sector” at the top of this page) that is not your own. Check out an article about an issue or best practice in that sector and you will likely see connections to your industry.

Such is the universality of the Baldrige model.