BLOGRIGE

Power Outages and Customer Service

Posted by Zara Brunner

The Baldrige Cheermudgeon is rubbing off on me.  It's my time to rant.  For those of you who live in the Montgomery County Maryland area or who heard about our barrage of power outages, you can probably relate. 

This summer has brought the DC metro area record high temperatures, a 3.6 magnitude earthquake (on my birthday!), tornado-like winds, flash flooding, flying tree limbs, and powerful thunderstorms.  Some may say nature is trying to tell us something.  One thing is certain: customers without lights or air conditioning have been trying to tell their power company something. 

Let me give you an example.  Following a one minute, intense thunderstorm in July, it took two days for my power to be restored.  Okay two days is a long time to be without power (though many were in the dark much longer), but at least everything was back to normal right?  Not quite.  Once the power was restored, neighbors noticed a small fire where some tree branches were touching the wire and called the fire department.  The firemen came out, acknowledged the fire, and pretty much said "Call the power company."  Apparently, unless the tree caught on fire, there was nothing the fire department could do.  So they left.  When we returned home and heard this from our neighbors we were rather surprised, but did as advised and called our power company.  Customer service agreed that this was a potentially dangerous situation and they would send a crew soon.  Thank goodness!  As a mother of young children, I certainly wouldn't want electrical fires burning unabated in my front yard for very long.  If the fire department can't help, then surely the power company will get right on it.  Right?  Well, not so much.  After at least half a dozen follow-up calls over the course of a week (yes: a WEEK!), we finally heard from customer service that we were one of 3,000 people on their list who had similar tree limbs-touching wires-causing fire situations.  (Yep: 3,000!)  Well fortunately nature took care of us, as the tree branches eventually burned to a crisp, broke off and fell to the wires below--no longer posing a fire risk.  And, despite assurances that the power company would come out to safely remove the limbs (by when, next July?), we took matters into our own hands and hired someone to get rid of them. 

So all this leads me to conclude that there is a great big opportunity for my utility company to look at parts of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to examine:

1. How do you govern and fulfill your societal responsibilities? (Category 1.2)

2. How do you develop your strategy? (Category 2.1)

3. How do you engage customers to serve their needs and build relationships and how do you obtain and use information from your customers?  (Category 3.1 and 3.2), and last but not least:

4. How do you manage your information, organizational knowledge, and information technology.  And in the event of an emergency, how do you ensure the continued availability of hardware or software systems?  (Category 4.2)

There are likely other areas to consider, but this would be a good start.  In the meantime, sales in home generators, candles, flashlights, and batteries are going up and we all should update our emergency preparedness plans.

I Have Been to Missouri...and What They Showed Me Was Wonderful!

Posted by Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon

Can you imagine a community in which business, education, health care, and government are using Baldrige to improve? Wouldn't you love to live in that community, not to mention work, educate your children, and receive health care in that community? Well that's the goal in Columbia, Missouri and they are committed.

I just returned from two fabulous days in Columbia. My host was Larry Potterfield, CEO of MidwayUSA, a 2009 Baldrige Award recipient. The purpose of my visit was to meet with and address the newly formed Columbia Baldrige Performance Excellence Group (BPEG), Larry's brainchild. The Group is the first of its kind and has the goal of making Columbia a "community of excellence" through use of the Baldrige Criteria. This takes the concept of excellence to a new level, beyond the great accomplishments of Coral Springs, FL, a Baldrige Award recipient that has built a governmental "community of excellence."  It's a brilliant idea and Larry (and I) would love to see the concept replicated around the United States. The Columbia BPEG is affiliated with the Excellence in Missouri Foundation. What a winning combination: organizations use the Baldrige Criteria to improve themselves and their community, the BPEG supports the state program and brings them award applicants, the state program can grow and better support its state improvement activities, and maybe even bring some more Baldrige Award role models to the community and the state.

How do I know the people of Columbia are serious about their intentions? I met with the city manager, the superintendent of schools, the Board of Education chair, business leaders, University of Missouri deans, a newspaper representative, and many other enthusiastic people. Eighty-five people came to lunch to talk about Baldrige, their organizations, and a community of excellence.

What did they want to hear from me: What are the key ingredients to improving using the Baldrige Criteria? The first part is easy. It starts with leadership commitment. Senior leaders need to set the vision, personally demonstrate desired behaviors, communicate, and empower their colleagues. They need to lead strategic planning and oversee execution of the plan. They need to stick with it and not waver. The second key component is measurement and results. It is about achieving results and you only know how well you are doing if you have actionable measures.

They asked about the Baldrige concept of integration. We talked about a community where not only every organization is high performing, but the community members have a vision whereby they can jointly set some key goals for the community as a whole and work on them together. Goals like reducing a defined community health risk or reducing absenteeism at work and schools or improving employment skills of young people.

I was pumped when I left Columbia. Would I like to live in a community of excellence? You bet I would. How about you? Are you willing to take the challenge to follow Larry Potterfield's leadership example with other leaders in your community? 

"You Can Take this Job and..."..Celebrate the Antihero

Posted by Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon

So, the song that kept coming into my mind this week is that country and western hit "You Can Take this Job and..." Yes, it is a busy time for the Baldrige Program, with Baldrige applicant consensus calls, 2011 Baldrige Criteria revisions, the initiation of the Baldrige Fellows Program, and numerous other activities. But, the song was triggered by the newest U.S. antihero, Steven Slater, the now famous flight attendant, who departed down the emergency chute with beers in hand. Are you ever tempted to emulate his behavior? I have been tempted on occasion! But make mine a nice craft beer.

Why do we as a culture celebrate the antihero? According to one account I read, Steven Slater was adding 150 fans per minute to his Facebook page, was the top Google search, and the basis for the New York Times soliciting "last straw at work stories." How many of us cheer on bad boy, good diagnostician House for his (mis)behavior?

Has this always been true or are we at such a loss for true heroes that we celebrate antiheroes? Are we engulfed with so much bad news that we enjoy the occasional triumph of mischief over good? And why does bad news always trump good news in news coverage. I have always been frustrated by the quick mention of Baldrige when a recipient stumbles, but the lack of coverage for all the good things Baldrige recipients do. When did you last read about the unique community outreach of some of our Award recipients? Did you know that MidwayUSA gives ten percent of its annual profits to community support? Did you know that after the Iowa floods in June 2008, Cargill Corn Milling employees were rebuilding their community with pay while their plant was being rebuilt? Did you know that the city of Coral Springs purchased and placed in trust 66 acres of environmentally sensitive land to protect native plants and animals? Did you know that Jenks Public Schools has an innovative community partnership with a local long-term care facility, providing pre-K and kindergarten classes in the facility thereby giving residents the meaningful experience of engaging with children? And did you know that Heartland Health cleaned up a brownfield site and created EmpowerU on the site to engage middle- and high-school students in a hands-on curriculum that focuses on civic education, critical thinking, team building, community problem solving, technological skill building, leadership development, and workforce readiness skills?

Do any of these thoughts cause you to ponder or contribute a thought of your own? I am eager to capture your musings!

Driving Excellent Results in Rural Health Care

Posted by Dawn Marie Bailey

Disparities in health care are prevalent in rural America, where providers face very different obstacles from their urban counterparts. But North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC), the largest rural hospital in the United States, has demonstrated that the Baldrige Health Care Criteria can drive improvements to results—indeed excellent results—in rural health care.

According to the National Rural Health Association,

• Only about 10% of physicians practice in rural America despite the fact that nearly one-fourth of the population lives in these areas.
• Although only one-third of all motor vehicle accidents occur in rural areas, two-thirds of the deaths attributed to these accidents occur on rural roads.
• On average, per capita income is $7,417 lower than in urban areas, and rural Americans are more likely to live below the poverty level. Nearly 24% of rural children live in poverty.
• Anywhere from 57 to 90 percent of first responders in rural areas are volunteers.
• Rural residents have greater transportation difficulties reaching health care providers.

Facing these challenges, NMMC, a 650-bed hospital, received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2006. NMMC serves as the flagship hospital and referral center for North Mississippi Health Services, a nonprofit health care-delivery system serving 24 rural counties in northeast Mississippi and northwest Alabama. NMMC wrote in its Award application, "For too long, Mississippi placed last or near last among the nation in education, income, and health. No longer. North Mississippi Medical Center . . . is now a health care organization prepared to inspire all health care organizations in the United States to higher levels of performance." 

And the rural hospital has done just that:

• Recognizing the difficulty of recruiting health care professionals to the rural areas it serves, NMMC focuses on “growing its own.” For example, in 2008, its parent organization received the American Society for Training and Development's BEST Award for dedication to continuous learning and growth opportunities for employees.
• NMMC’s charity care has totaled more than $300 million over the last five years, according to its most recent community report. 
• In 2008, NMMC was ranked among Thomson Reuters 100 top hospitals.
• At the time it received the Baldrige Award, NMMC reported that deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) rates has been reduced 65% and pulmonary embolism rates reduced 45%, resulting in cost savings of more than $760,000.
• When benchmarked with the Surgical Thoracic Society and the CareScience patient outcomes database, NMMC's results for patients receiving coronary bypass surgery show fewer infections and postoperative stroke and pulmonary complications.
• In its most recent national Employee Opinion Survey, NMMC ranked in the 98th percentile for employee satisfaction, and Modern Healthcare magazine has named it one of the 100 best places to work in health care. 

Another resource that demonstrates how the Baldrige Health Care Criteria can help drive improvements in rural America is the Arroyo Fresco Case Study, which depicts a fictitious community health center that has as its mission to provide high-quality health care responsive to its community's diverse cultural and socioeconomic needs, regardless of people's ability to pay.

NMMC's success proves that rural Americans can have the same access to quality health care as their urban counterparts, and the Baldrige Health Care Criteria can help!

Growing Gap in Going Green

Posted by Jeff Lucas

When Washington University in St. Louis committed to designing and building their Tyson Research Center to the most exacting green building standards, those of the International Living Building Institute, they encountered an unusual problem.  It wasn't energy usage. The architects and engineers didn't have a problem meeting the requirement of zero net energy use.  It wasn't water independence.  State of the art composting toilets and other features were designed to handle that.  It wasn't even a tight budget (let's face it, this is Washington University, they are going to be able to do it right).  The problem was . . . we don't make stuff anymore. 

Version 2.0 of the the Living Building Challenge standards has seven focus areas or "petals" (love it).  These include:  Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity, and Beauty.  When the folks at WU got to the Materials section they were faced with the interplay of Imperatives 12 - Embodied Carbon Footprint and 14 - Appropriate Sourcing.  The first requires "The project must account for the total footprint of embodied carbon (tCO2e) from its construction" (a portion of which would be 'no shipping materials half way around the world').  The second requires "The project must incorporate place-based solutions and contribute to the expansion of a regional economy rooted in sustainable practices, products and services", another incentive to buy locally manufactured materials and fixtures.  This is where the problem arose. When the team went to source ceiling fans, they found that the last one manufactured in the U.S. rolled off the line over a year ago.  Light bulbs haven't been made in this country for some time.  

This team solved the problem by building their own from salvaged materials, and in fact, enjoyed the challenge of creating things of both function and beauty from reclaimed materials (You can here an interview with them on NPR's Science Friday here).  What, however, about the rest of us?  Might the exploding interest in meeting the most rigorous of green standards be an incentive to restart local or regional manufacturing?  Might it also prompt new approaches to "How do you consider the well-being of environmental, social, and economic systems to which your organization does or may contribute?" [Baldrige Criteria requirement 1.2c(1)]

Superman to the Rescue

Posted by Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon

It is great to read some good news occasionally. (Why is it that bad news sells and good news does not?) So, I was really pleased when I came across a recent story about a family who was saved from foreclosure when they discovered a first issue Action comic book (the one that introduced Superman) in their basement, while packing to move. Apparently, the most recent copy before this one sold for $1.5 million in March of this year.

And all my young years my mother told me Superman was not really capable of saving families in trouble!

So, how does this relate to Baldrige, you ask. While not possessing the powers of the comic super hero or the abilities of an Action #1 comic book to promise salvation, I have had the privilege of meeting many business and organizational super heroes through Baldrige. These people are the senior leaders of Baldrige Award recipients. I won't give specific names, because I can't name them all in a blog, but let me tell you a little about their characteristics. They are passionate about their organizations, their mission and vision, their employees, and the key communities in which they work and who they serve. And that passion is palpable; there is a positivity that you are drawn to in their presence. They are personally engaged with all their key internal and external stakeholders. They seek input and are eager that they continue to learn, that their organization learns, and that their employees grow on the job. They are guided by and live the ethics they espouse. They are open and transparent and you just want to learn from them.

These characteristics and other attributes of Baldrige role model organizations are summarized in a series of Key Excellence Indicators. Let me know how your organization compares. Tell me about your super hero experiences. Do they match mine? Thanks for thinking about them. I hope it brightens your day!

A Look Behind the Scenes: What it means to be a team

Posted by Zara Brunner

In case you didn't know, we here at Baldrige operate in a "self-directed team" environment.  A pretty revolutionary concept for the government, I think.   Here's a photo of "Team Baldrige" before last year's Baldrige Award Ceremony (links to a video of one of my favorite events).

The Workforce Focus Category of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence encourages workforce enrichment, engagement, and organizational performance.  Use of self-directed teams is one approach that works to accomplish these outcomes at Baldrige in my mind.  I thought I knew what it meant to be part of a "team" and to be a "team player."  Then I came to work at Baldrige and my definition got turned upside down and I find that I'm still learning and improving on the execution of this productive idea and model.

Our six Baldrige staff teams are divided around our Program's core functions (Management, Award Process, Workforce Development, Administrative and Electronic Information Support, Publications Management, and Outreach and Communications).  Team members not only get to vote on who will be Team Leader, but we each get to select which team projects we would like to lead, co-lead, or support.  I'm part of the Outreach and Communications team.  One of my most rewarding projects is helping recruit for new Baldrige Examiners each year.  I'm simply amazed at these high caliber, intelligent, dedicated industry experts who volunteer every year.

There are certain projects that are "all hands" which most Baldrige staff need to support in order to fulfill the mission of the Program.  That's happening right now as we serve as monitors to Examiner teams who are evaluating applicants for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  I have three Examiner teams that I'm supporting and am reminded again of just how much these Baldrige Examiners do for our Program, organizational improvement, and our nation.  They've given at least 110 hours per person to evaluate these organizations based on the Baldrige Criteria.  And they also use a team-based model to achieve consensus on a set of written improvement recommendations and scores for the organization's senior leadership to consider in terms of its strengths and opportunities for improvement.

If anyone out there has experiences working in a true team environment, let's hear about them.  Thanks for sharing.

The COMPASS for Education

Posted by Pamela Wong

The U.S. Department of Education announced that 2008 Baldrige Award Recipient Iredell Statesville Schools (I-SS) of North Carolina has been granted a nearly $5 million grant under the Investing in Innovation (i3) program.

I-SS will use the five-year grant to develop a program called COMPASS, which stands for Collaborative Organizational Model to Promote Aligned Support Structures. According to I-SS’s abstract on the program, COMPASS was developed based on the success of its Performance Excellence Model, “which is recognized as a national best practice (does anyone hear ‘Baldrige’?).”

COMPASS will focus on “innovations that support effective teachers and principals.” Its key outcomes will be to increase teacher effectiveness and to improve academic achievement of high-need students and of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency.

I-SS competed against nearly 1,700 applicants and is one of only 49 recipients. To receive the grant, the school district must obtain a commitment of a 20% match from the private sector. As a “highest-rated applicant” of the grant, I-SS has obtained that commitment.

If this application was as strong as I-SS's response to the Baldrige Criteria, it's no wonder that DOE has selected them.  Here are some of I-SS’s results from five years, based on its Baldrige Award application:

• cohort graduation rate increased from 64 to 80.7%,
•  performance gaps for African-American students and Students with Disabilities were cut in half,
•  and SAT scores rose from 57^th to 7^th.

The i3 fund is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has invested $10 billion in school reform. This was i3’s first grants cycle. Congratulations, I-SS. 

The Dangerous Seas of Leadership

Posted by Dawn Marie Bailey

Recently, I started watching a reality tv show on Alaskan king crab fishing boats in the Bering Sea. The treacherous conditions under which these fishermen work are unbelievable. And it's not just their livelihood at stake when they aren't able to bring home a full load but, under such hazardous conditions, very often their lives are in jeopardy.

In watching these fishing boats, I was struck by the absolute dependence of the fishermen on their captain. They depend on him or her to sail safely in extremely dangerous, icy seas and to decide where to lower the pots to catch the most crab (when sold, a portion of the proceeds becomes the workforce's annual salary). They depend on him or her to determine when situations are too dangerous and to stock the boat with everything they need to sustain life. This dependence on a leader really amazed me—the tremendous responsibility that the leader has to oversee life (in this extreme case) for his or her workforce. 

The responsibility that a leader has for his or her workforce made me think about the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, which has as its first chapter (or category) the importance of leadership, especially visionary leadership. Alaskan fishing captains literally need good vision to be successful. The Criteria take it a step further, defining visionary leaders as leaders who set directions; help to ensure workplace health, safety, and security; and create a focus on customers and visible values. The Criteria guide leaders to build the knowledge and capabilities of their workforce and to ensure organizational sustainability.

Whether an organization embraces the Baldrige Criteria is usually dependent on the vision of the leader. Tools, including A Baldrige Perspective for the Board of Directors and Baldrige Asks: How Do You Know?, are available to help interest leaders in the Criteria. Another resource on leadership is the monthly Insights on the Road to Leadership column that recently discussed how the CEO or senior leader of an enterprise contributes to good governance.

The importance of having good vision as a leader, especially when your workforce depends on you, cannot be downplayed. But taking it a step further and becoming a leader who truly serves as a role model, cares about employee safety, and inspires his or her workforce may make you a visionary leader, some of whom can be found among Baldrige Award recipients.

My Weekend Trip to Rheinbach

Posted by Harry Hertz, the Baldrige Cheermudgeon

OK, did I get your attention? Clinton wedding, paparazzi, partying all night. Well, that was Rhinebeck, New York, but my weekend was in 1972 at their sister city in Germany, Rheinbach. So, why am I trying to confuse the two cities? If you can follow my twisted logic below, it is all about ethics and customer focus.

Have you ever been deceived by misleading, but "factually accurate", information? Have you ever been intentionally led to incorrect assumptions or conclusions? Did I lead any of you to think I was at the wedding or at least in the midst of the town with all the action? I hope so; it felt good for a moment. But, I immediately confessed.

I am increasingly troubled by statements, whether they be in advertisements, corporate reports, political campaigns, or "educational" pieces presented by "The Coalition for Xyz" that rely on half-truths. Do we have to deceive to persuade? Are we unwilling or afraid to state all the facts and let people make their own intelligent decisions? Maybe I am just being naive. I know this is not new, but it does seem like we have recently made half-truths the norm in multiple arenas.

Could any of these groups stand up to common sense questions, such as some of the following questions contained in the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence? How does your organization..achieve...transparency in operations? How does your organization promote and assure ethical behavior in all your interactions? How do you create an organizational culture that ensures a consistently positive customer experience?

You know where I stand. What is your opinion?