The approach used for a Baldrige Performance Excellence submission can be as imaginative as the collection of people plotting the journey. Most approaches culminate around three basic approaches. One must consider the process of writing a submission as secondary to the benefits gained from such a journey.
In brief, some organizations organize their approach by assigning a leader for each category. Each category team is then comprised of process owners associated with each category. (Cat 1: Leadership, Cat 2: Strategic Planning, Cat 3: Customer Focus, Cat 4: Measurement, Analysis, & Knowledge Management, Cat 5: Workforce Focus, Cat 6: Operations Focus, Cat 7: Results) A team may also be assigned the Organizational Profile. Each team proceeds with assessing the organization using a myriad of assessment tools and then pursing the answers to the questions posed by the Baldrige Performance Criteria for their assigned category. Drafts representing the results for each category are painstakingly cross-referenced with the other categories to ensure linkage. The finished product is then reviewed and approved by the senior leaders of the organization.
Some organizations simply hire an expert and support the effort with one-on-one meetings with process owners. Over the course of time the assessment is concluded and the staff expert completes the draft while ensuring linkage between the categories. A draft submission is then submitted to senior leaders for final review and approval.
A third approach would have a core group of staff members draft the organizational profile and submit it to senior leaders for approval prior to commencing with the organizational assessment. Once the profile is approved by the senior leaders, the same core group of staff members collaborate with stakeholders to address the basic questions from each of the seven categories. Once the basic questions are answered, any clarifying process maps are completed, and the expected results, “think metrics” are targeted, the packet is proposed to senior leaders for approval. The metrics are then distributed to process owners for data mining and refinement. The whole packet of (1) the organizational profile, (2) answers to the basic questions from each category, and (3) any clarifying process maps are then distributed to the category teams similar to the ones mentioned in the first approach mentioned above. Follow on assessment is gained by addressing the overall and multiple level questions identified in the Baldrige Performance Excellence Criteria.
This third approach allows for an improved level of consistency in theme (linkage) while allowing for institutional learning over time by adding and replacing category team members when necessary to ensure a performance excellence culture is cultivated.
Speak Your Mind