BLOGRIGE

Wouldn’t It Be Nice…if we all designed for excellence

Posted by Jamie Ambrosi

For my first blog entry, I thought I’d share with you something that is frequently on my mind...design successes and failures. You may not think about it…but examples of both are all around us.

--The sophistication of smart phones and other handheld devices  

--The seamlessness of a well-written symphony or Beach Boys harmony

--The complexity and bottlenecks of the traffic patterns on many major highways...often because the volume has surpassed the capacity of the original designs…sometimes because the designs are simply confounding and illogical.

We are surrounded by designs that either help us achieve our ends or inhibit us from doing so.  Joy versus frustration…success versus failure…or at least delays.

The same is true in our work lives.  We design strategies, work systems, and processes for the purpose of advancing our organizations and getting work done.  Sometimes we succeed.  Sometimes we fail.  Hopefully, we learn.  

Through the Baldrige Criteria, we all have the framework needed to design in an intelligent and informed way and to evaluate what we design and make improvements where needed.  In short, we have the framework needed to succeed.  Some call this framework Plan-Do-Check-Act.  In Baldrige, we call it A-D-L-I:  Approach, Deployment, Learning, and Integration (page 66 of Baldrige Criteria).   

Is this framework easy or a short term solution?  No!  But the cost of poor design is felt by your employees who have to do workarounds and your customers and stakeholders who have to deal with poor quality and delays.  It took Brian Wilson years to produce the layered harmonies on Pet Sounds.  If it were easy, everyone would do it…not just those who seek to be best in class.  

The Baldrige Criteria provide the road map needed to create successful designs, and they are your companion on the road to excellence.   Take a look and let me know what you think.  And... let me know your thoughts on the greatest design successes and failures of all time.  

Who Cares about the Customer?

Posted by Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon

People who know me know that I have a keen interest in customer service. I even regale friends and colleagues with tales of my misadventures as a customer, like trying to get my hotel stays posted to my rewards account and other annoyances we all experience. And how many blog postings have you read about airline service?

It all came to mind today, as I was reading a posting on communication challenges for first responders. It asked the critical questions, who are the actual stakeholders or customers and how are they best served.  I think we often don’t consider the wants and needs of our customers, the fact that different customers or customer groups have different needs, and that a loyal customer is far more valuable than having to find and engage new customers. A recent restaurantowner.com posting reported the lifetime value of a loyal pizza customer is $13,000 and a loyal high-end hotel guest is over $100,000! And the cost of finding new customer is how much in your industry?

The Baldrige Criteria Customer Focus category asks all the important questions about customer engagement and how you obtain and use information from your customers to gain that engagement. Do you have information or data to share on customer engagement strategies, customer experience nightmares we can use to learn, or the cost of acquiring new customers? Please share your thoughts!

I’ll leave you with a heart-warming video of how one person can make a difference and build customer loyalty.

Coming to a State Near You?

Posted by Jeff Lucas

In case you can't wait until mid-April for Quest for Excellence XXII, you have a number of opportunities to attend a Baldrige-based conference coming up in the next couple of months.  These are the state award program events that I am aware of (apologies in advance to any that I have missed -- feel free to put details in the comment fields below):

Feb 2  Arizona Performance Excellence Award Banquet

Feb 11-12 Wisconsin Forward Award Conference (Tommy G. Thompson is keynoting)

Feb 23-24 TNCPE Excellence in Tennessee Conference (full disclosure, I will be doing a workshop at this one)

March 18-19 California Council for Excellence Annual Best Practices Conference

For those of you not familiar with the state and local quality award programs around the country, they are a critical piece of the Baldrige community.  They are often the first introduction to the Baldrige framework and process for both organizations and individuals (62% of the 2008 Award applicants said their interest in the national program came about as a result of involvement with a state program). They also provide events like the ones listed above that frequently multiply the sharing of our national Award Recipients with lower travel costs for participants. 

If you are not familiar with the quality programs in your area, you can find information through the Alliance for Performance Excellence, the national network of these programs.  

There are probably lots of you out there in the Baldrige community that can share your experiences with state programs.  Why not comment and let others in on these great resources?

Checklists Even Baldrige Could Love?

Posted by Jeff Lucas 

Okay, for my very first blog post I am going to commit Baldrige blasphemy  . . . 

As those of you in the Baldrige community know, we never use the word "checklist". So, when I saw my wife reading The Checklist Manifesto last weekend I didn't give it much thought. Then a lukewarm review in WSJ last Wednesday seemed to be the last nail in the coffin. But, on the way to work today I listened to author Atul Gawande, a Harvard Surgeon, being interviewed on HBR's Business Ideacast and may be having a change of heart.  

It doesn't seem like there can be much disputing the results that have been achieved in his field (36% reduction in complications after surgery), although I would love to hear our health care sector folks take on this.  It was his extension to other fields that seemed to be drawing skepticism.  What I heard today was a description of how checklists don't have to be cookbook recipes for linear processes, but, when backed by solid analysis of past experiences, can be a key means for ensuring that smart, busy people can avoid critical missteps. Also, they can be a key mechanism for making sure everyone on a team knows what the other members will be focusing on and that is fully in keeping with the Baldrige Criteria Category 6, Process Management. 

I'll admit that I have been one of the loudest Baldrige voices when it comes to hating on checklists, but when it comes to those three or four things that we know we have to be sure do or don't happen when we create feedback reports for our applicants, that's in keeping with good process management. And what can it lead to?  Fewer "complications" from our "operations"?  Increased customer engagement?  Let me know your thoughts. 

Baldrige Cheermudgeon...Huh?

Posted by Harry Hertz, The Baldrige Cheermudgeon 

Okay, I will admit to being an unabashed cheerleader for the Baldrige Program and the benefits it has to offer the United States. I have also been accused of being an occasional curmudgeon, which Wiktionary defines as “an ill-tempered (and frequently old) person full of stubborn ideas or opinions.”  I’ll let others decide if I am ill-tempered or old. But I will admit to some stubborn ideas, like personal and business ethics should come first, like businesses and other organizations should focus on their customers, like performance results are not just financials, but include customer and workforce satisfaction and loyalty, like performance excellence is a journey all organizations should begin.  So, as your Baldrige Cheermudgeon, I will be exploring topics that make me cheerlead for what’s great and exciting in organizations and make me grouse about what we need to improve, rethink, or innovate.

And speaking of business ethics (the first entry in my list of stubborn ideas), the nonprofit Ethics Resource Center (ERC) recently released their biennial National Business Ethics Survey. In their 2009 Survey, they found that the strength of ethical cultures in the workplace rose from 53% in 2007 to 62% in 2009. The only negative trend they reported was an increase in retaliation against those who reported misconduct. However, before we celebrate, 62% still leaves great room for improvement and the ERC further reports that workforce observations of misconduct show a striking consistency with fluctuations in the S&P 500 Index. That is, as the Index increases so does misconduct and we reached a six-year low in the S&P in 2009. What will happen in an improving economy? I would like to know what you think. Baldrige Award recipients place high importance on ethics and believe it is good business.

The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence ask important questions about ethics. We have taken some of these questions and developed a short two-page guide with some pointed questions for Boards of Directors. Check it out, use it, and see how you would answer the questions for your organization. And thanks for doing it!

Welcome to BLOGRIGE- the Baldrige Program Blog

This is the official blog of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.  It features commentary and observations from Baldrige leadership and staff.  The views expressed by our bloggers do not necessary reflect the views or policies of NIST.

We have created this blog for you because so many people share our passion for excellence and a desire to improve organizations.  It's THE place to discuss, debate, and exchange ideas and lessons learned on all things performance excellence and improvement related.  It won't be the same without your comments, so please join the conversation!

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