Embrace the framework that will guide your organization’s continuous improvement.
In today’s business climate, it is increasingly difficult for organizations to differentiate themselves by implementing continuous improvement efforts alone. It is no longer good enough to merely identify incremental areas where change is needed. And how do you prioritize the change? What sets your organization’s improvement efforts apart from your competition down the street… or across town?
It must now be about the big picture—the holistic approach to striving for excellence and achieving more. By focusing on the key aspects of your business—the people, process and products—you can build an overarching system of improvement, optimizing individual areas while focusing on the complete vision.
Ask yourself the three critical questions for leaders who seek excellence in their organizations:
- What is important to the success of your organization?
- What do you want to do to drive success, and how do you do it?
- After you have taken action, were you successful? Are you getting any better? Are you any good?
Healthcare, manufacturing, education, nonprofits, small businesses and many others have the ability to improve the strategy upon which they strive for excellence. Through the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, companies can drive process excellence by:
- Improving leader effectiveness;
- Aligning work at all levels of the organization;
- Optimizing organization performance and productivity;
- Promoting sustainability in a competitive market;
- Focusing on improvement efforts; and
- Strengthening worker performance.
The Baldrige Criteria are designed to help organizations use an integrated approach to organizational performance management that results in delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability improvement, and developing capabilities for organizational and personal learning.
- Performance refers to outputs and their outcomes obtained from processes, products and customers that permit evaluation and comparison relative to goals, standards, past results and other organizations. Performance can be expressed in financial and nonfinancial terms.
- Value refers to the perceived worth of a product, process, asset or function relative to cost and to possible alternatives. Organizations frequently use value considerations to determine the benefits of various options relative to their costs, such as the value of various product combinations to customers.
- Organizational learning includes both continuous improvement of existing approaches and adaptation to change, leading to innovation, new goals and new approaches. It can result in reducing errors, defects, waste and related costs; increasing productivity and effectiveness in the use of all your resources; and enhancing your organization’s performance in fulfilling its societal responsibilities.
- Personal learning is achieved through education, training and developmental opportunities that further individual growth and can result in more engaged, satisfied and versatile employees who stay with the organization; organizational cross-functional learning; and an improved environment for innovation.
These values and concepts are embedded beliefs and behaviors found in high-performing organizations. They are the foundation for integrating key performance and operational requirements within a results-oriented framework that creates a basis for action and feedback.
Illinois Performance Excellence (ILPEx) partners with Illinois leaders to build organizational knowledge and capability to achieve performance excellence and contribute to the economic vitality of their community. The journey requires a process-centered discipline, designed for learning and integration in order to continually achieve exceptional results. The framework of the Criteria for Performance Excellence allows an organization to go at its own pace and understand the steps toward mature processes. Through the method of approach, deployment, learning and integration, processes become repeatable and regularly evaluated for change and improvement in collaboration with other affected units.
By working with Illinois Performance Excellence and the Criteria, you will:
- Discover your current performance management strengths and weaknesses;
- Identify specific requirements for improvement;
- Determine your readiness to achieve identified incremental steps;
- Document your achievements;
- Applaud your ongoing success; and
Share your learning, action and results with organizations statewide that will learn from your experience, commitment and achievement.
To learn more about ILPEx and get started on your journey to excellence, visit ilpex.org. iBi
