2009 Excellence in Government Conference:
Who is Missing from the Party?

Are large scale system failures becoming more common, or are we just getting better at finding them? But does it matter? Look at the impact on all of us: broken financial and regulatory systems, inefficient health care systems, failing educational systems (only 71% of American eighth grade students graduate 4 years later with a high school diploma), accelerated job losses through off-shoring and industrial failures… we not only CAN do better, we MUST do better.

Which brings us to the 2009 Excellence in Government Conference held in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2009. Reviewing the online agenda (http://www.excelgov.com), amidst announcements that “experts are studying what is required for success in federal programs” and “the administration is focusing on technology to transform the federal government”, we found the following statement:

“The Obama administration issued a mandate for agencies to achieve a high performing workforce.”
A mandate? This seems to imply that there are organizations out there that do NOT want a high performing workforce.

We have a different view. A “high performing workforce” does not take a “mandate”. It takes knowledge, theory, discipline, and a system designed for success.

This is not a Democratic or Republican criticism. Every incoming administration mandates a new approach to performance management across the federal government and its 2.2 million employees.

We have done enough work in the public sector to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the systems and the people who work in these systems.

Which brings us to the central question: Where is Baldrige? Why are we about to embark on yet another cycle of “new” management initiatives when the federal government already has within it direct access to arguably the world’s finest performance excellence system, the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence? At the same time that world-class companies and government agencies around the world are achieving transcendent success through the Baldrige System, here is Washington, DC, Baldrige is a no-show at a conference ostensibly dedicated to excellence in government.

Interestingly, as we are writing this newsletter, the following announcement came into our inbox from the Arabian Business News:

“Using the Baldrige criteria, organizations assess their management systems to identify the strengths of their systems and the opportunities for improvement. This assessment, evaluation, and improvement process helps them embed the Baldrige core values in their cultures, leading to excellent results… We are about building better organizations and ensuring those organizations are prepared to go forward on the global stage. We envision the Middle East and North Africa region as a center of excellence that the rest of the world sets their standards by, not the other way around.”
(http://www.arabianbusiness.com/press_releases/detail/39697)

Were only this vision shared within our own government.

The lesson is clear. We in the Baldrige community are on our own. But we already know that. We will patiently ride out the “mandates” and “new” initiatives and stay focused on doing the best possible job we can every day, enlightened and empowered by the knowledge that a Baldrige-type process is not the easiest path to take, but it is the only enduring method for achieving long-term results that matter.

source: Global Insights. Global Performance Systems, Inc. http://gpsinc.us. Copyright 2003-2009 Craig Anderson. All rights reserved.

The Malcolm baldrige Criteria emphasize on alignment of all these key processes. The Baldrige values and Concepts are build into the criteria to attain alignment of the seven categories yet without displaying the values and concepts specifically in the criteria itself.

The Malcolm Baldrige Criteria used to be revised on a yearly basis and has changed to a once in two years basis effective 2009 with the introduction of the Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria 2009-2010 version. The Malcolm Badrige Award is given to the best organization of its respective award categories. Each award Applicant has to exhits the highest standards of Approach, Deployement of their key process in relation to the seven categories in the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria.

The effectiveness of the Approach and Deployement are assessed in the area of its Results. Hence, the Baldrige Award Assessment Approach took into consideration an aligned actions of the Approach, Deployement and Results of strategies, key actions and plan in the organization. Whenever a Baldrige Award Assessment is carried out to an applicant, the Baldrige Assessor will evaluate how well the values and concepts are being deployed as a way of life in the organization.

To be awarded the Malcolm Baldrige Award winners, the applicant has to show an holistic approach to all the seven cetegories as well as a high level of Implementing Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria.

One way to provide information about the implementation of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria is to provide an award application report to the Malcolm Baldrige Award authority which is used as a basis for Baldrige assessment.

Seventy organizations have taken the first step toward the 2009 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest recognition for innovation and performance excellence. Applicants include two manufacturers, four service companies, five small businesses, nine educational organizations, 42 health care organizations and eight nonprofits/governmental organizations.

The 70 applicants will be evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results. Examiners provide each applicant with 300 to 1,000 hours of review and a detailed report on the organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement

Source: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2009_0602.htm#baldrige

From the response of so many organziations, it is obvious that they did it for good deed. First of all, they must have implemented the Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria vigorously as the criteria is the basis for a Baldrige Assessment. Furthermore, these organizations knew that besides to be awarded the best in their category, they have to exhibit continuous improvement to the Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria to keep current. They also knew that even they are not awarded the winner, the process of the assessment would bring valuable learning and experience for them to further enhance the implementation of the criteria. The Assessment Report granted at the end of an assessment is a valuable asset to the organizations.

They include:

1. Cargill Corn Milling North America, Wayzata, Minn. (manufacturing)
2. Poudre Valley Health System, Fort Collins, Colo. (health care)
3. Iredell-Statesville Schools, Statesville, N.C. (education)

On a yearly basis, the board of examiners would assessed organizations for their performance excellence with respect to the application of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria. The assessment would be conducted with an evaluation process for each of the recipients included about 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by a team of examiners to clarify questions and verify information in the applications pertianing to how they fulfill the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) and the Macolm Baldrige Award promote innovation and performance excellence across the country and around the world in a number of ways.
Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence is designed to help organizations of all sectors to improve their business and operations.

To illustrate the acceptance of the Malcolm Baldrige Award program, more than 40 U.S. states and more than 45 countries worldwide have implemented programs based on the Baldrige criteria. It can also be evidence by over 10 million copies of the Baldrige Criteria distributed since 1988, and about 2 million copies are downloaded annually.

Nearly 5,000 public and private-sector leaders, practioners and consultants have served on the independent board of examiners that reviews applications for the Baldrige Award. Each Baldrige Award applicant receives 300 to 1,000 hours of feedback from these experts.

Read more Baldrige Criteria here

One may be wondering in real life application, whether there is any different ? Many may argue that there are different and otherwise.  Before you make any conclusion, lets look at the facts.

Briefely, Total Quality Management is a set of philosophy  adopted by business organizations, government bodies even indivuals to perform their goal. It has a set of TQM principles by which it operates. It deal with Leadership, employee involvement, customer satisfaction etc aimed to management your business in a more holistic perspectives.

On the other hand for Malcolm Baldrige Criteria, it is a set of criteria or guidelines to judge if an organization is meeting business excellence level.  The criteria are grouped into seven categories. Each of them clearly states its objectives and set out their respective criteria or guidelines.  The seven Categories are:-

On the other hand, you may take note that the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria are build upon a set of core values and concepts and they are quite similar to the TQM Principles. There are eleven core values and concepts listed below:-

1. Visionary Leadership
2. Customer-Driven Excellence
3. Organizational and Personal Learning
4. Valuing Employees and Partners
5. Agility
6. Focus on the Future
7. Managing for Innovation
8. Management by Fact
9. Public Responsibility and Citizenship
10. Focus on Results and Creating Value
11. Systems Perspective

 
These Core Values and Concepts are embodied in detail Malcolm Baldrige Criteria  which are grouped into Seven Categories mentioned above. Each category has laid up its own set of criteria to the highest standard. While the values and concepts in the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria remain quite unchanged, the detail criteria for each category has changes every year. The idea to review and change the criteria is to keep current to the business changes and needs.