All Posts Tagged With: "state awards"
Want to Be a Star?
Star status depends on what an organization needs. When organizations need to be more efficient and effective, the quality gurus are the stars. When they need financial wizardry, the bean counters become stars. When technology rules, the stars work in IT. And since they always need leadership, senior executives are reigning stars.
New stars are now emerging: “Today, people with power and influence derive their power from their centrality within self-organizing networks,” observed Rosabeth Moss Kanter in “On Twitter and in the Workplace, It’s Power to the Connectors” (HarvardBusiness.org, November 16, 2009). The title clarifies her quote by naming today’s stars: the connectors.
Connectors know people. Their personal networks stretch across the organization. They understand how the organization works and who makes it work. They are ideally positioned to make the connections that improve processes, enhance communication, and strengthen the management system.
You can use Baldrige to become a connector. I’ve seen it happen countless times. If your organization is producing a Baldrige assessment or application, get involved in the process. Many organizations form a core team to manage the process and category teams to respond to questions in the Criteria. Join a team. As you participate in the research necessary to answer the questions, you will gain a broader understanding of how your organization works. You will meet leaders in other parts of the organization. You will become a connector.
If your organization isn’t doing Baldrige, apply to become…
17Nov2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedExperts Tell You What to Fix
People ask why an organization should apply for the Baldrige Award or a state award based on Baldrige. There are three very good reasons:
- Answering the Criteria questions will give you a new and deeper understanding of how your organization works—or doesn’t work.
- Getting feedback from the Baldrige or state program will help you identify strengths you can build upon and opportunities for improvement.
- Acting on what you learn during #1 and #2 will make you a better organization.
I described the application process in an earlier article. In this article, I want to discuss the feedback you receive when you submit an application.
First, a quick overview of what happens to a Baldrige application after you submit it. (State programs follow a similar process.) Trained examiners are assigned to evaluate and comment on the application. A team of examiners then reviews the application and observations by conference call to reach consensus on your strengths, opportunities for improvement, and scores. If the Panel of Judges does not select your organization for a site visit, one of the examiners on the consensus team produces your feedback report. If you do receive a site visit, the site visit team leader finalizes your feedback report after the judges decide who should receive the Award.
The feedback report begins by identifying the key themes both for the process Items, which are Categories 1 through 6, and the results Item, which is Category 7. It lists…
12Nov2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedHow to Become a Baldrige Expert
You may be wondering why anyone would want to become a Baldrige expert. As if you don’t have enough to do, right?
Here’s the value as I see it; you can decide if it’s worth your time:
- You learn how organizations work, which helps you understand how your organization works.
- You learn about each key component of an organization, which gives you context for what you are doing.
- You think differently about the work you do and the challenges you face, paying more attention to process, measurement, customers, employees, alignment, and integration.
- You acquire skills that make you more valuable to the organization and that give you more options in the future.
There are two ways to become a Baldrige expert: (1) participate in Baldrige assessments or (2) serve as a Baldrige and/or state award examiner.
Participating in a Baldrige assessment forces you to understand the Criteria questions and figure out how your organization should respond to them. Most people start by working on a Category team. For example, you may be part of the Category 3 Customer Focus team that must answer all of the questions in this Category. The task means understanding how Category 3 relates to the rest of the Baldrige model, interpreting the questions for which you are responsible, finding the answers through internal subject matter experts, and writing responses. You learn Baldrige by working with it, and that knowledge deepens with each successive assessment.
You can also become a Baldrige…
9Nov2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Universality of the Baldrige Model
Any organization of any size or type can integrate the Baldrige model. It wasn’t always that way.
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…
5Nov2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedIf 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
First Steps on the Baldrige Journey
There are no better advocates for the Baldrige journey than the leaders of organizations that have received the Baldrige Award. A video by the Alliance for Performance Excellence, a nonprofit network of international, national, state, and local Baldrige-based award programs, features several of these leaders explaining why they started that journey and what their organizations have gained from it.
I was particularly struck by a comment made by Rulon Stacey, president and CEO of Poudre Valley Health System, which won the Award in 2008. He said, “We’ve got lessons learned that are saving people’s lives because we participated in the Baldrige process.”
Terry Holliday, superintendent of Iredell-Statesville Schools, another 2008 Award recipient, talked about how, when his schools improve, more children are successful.
Michael Levinson, city manager of the City of Coral Springs, which received the Award in 2007, listed world-class results in response to people who ask, “Why Baldrige?”: AAA bond rating on Wall Street from all three rating agencies, bringing capital projects in on time and within budget, 96% business satisfaction rating, and a 94% resident satisfaction rating.
Our goal at Baldrige.com is to support the development of well-run, world-class organizations. That’s where the Baldrige journey takes you. Together, we can move toward our vision: Every Organization a Baldrige Organization.
To watch the 11-minute video, click here.
Help grow our community 
2009 WI Forward Awards
Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire received the Governor’s Forward Award of Excellence in July, the highest achievement level under the Wisconsin Forward Award. According to Sacred Heart’s Web site, it has ranked in the top 1% in the nation in inpatient satisfaction for the last two years (compared to 1,000 hospitals in Press Ganey’s database). The Web site also provides quality of care data for common outcome measures.
Six organizations were recognized at the next level: three entities of 2002 Baldrige Award winner SSM Health Care, two public school districts, and a residential care and treatment facility.
Reflecting a national trend, no manufacturing or service businesses were recognized.
You can learn more about the Wisconsin Forward Award here.
29Jul2009 | Steve George | 0 comments | Continued
