The "Skinny" on Baldrige versus Lean

Posted by Bob Fangmeyer

I have heard it a hundred times--while standing in our booth at a conference, responding to a general inquiry from our customer service line, after presenting an overview of Baldrige to an audience with varying degrees  of interest, even when talking to friends and family-- "Yeah, my organization looked into that Baldrige stuff in the 80's and early 90's. We have moved into Lean Six Sigma because we think it is a better fit for our organization."

Of course as soon as I begin explaining how Baldrige and Lean Six Sigma are not only compatible but very complimentary the eyes glaze over and lose focus, searching for another place to be. (Apparently I need to work on a snappy rejoinder, maybe something like "Oh yeah!? Well Lean might use cool Japanese terms like kanban and kaizen but people tell us we have our own language: Baldrigese!"). OK- so it needs a little work...

Actually, maybe I should just refer them to a fantastic discussion started by Regina Pontes that is occurring on the LinkedIn Baldrige Improvement Discussion Group: Baldrige and other quality programs/tools. (You need to be a member of LinkedIn and then you need to join the discussion group, but registration is simple and it is free.) In the discussion you will hear from Lean Six Sigma experts, Baldrige experts, and some that are both. What I hope you walk away with is a better understanding of how Baldrige provides the framework that can help ensure organizations that utilize Lean Six Sigma do so in such a way that optimizes their entire system and their ability to achieve organizational objectives rather than "merely" streamlining key processes and eliminating rework. Baldrige does not prescribe a particular tool or methodology, instead we support and encourage the use of a variety of performance improvement tools to address and improve the outcomes of not only traditional customer-focused and production processes, but your leadership, strategic planning, and workforce-focused processes as well.

So join in the discussion and share your thoughts here around how Lean and Baldrige go together like walnuts and brownies, peas in a pod, or maybe some other metaphor that comes to mind.

 

Comments

[Abdul]

As an ex senior Baldrige examiner & a Lean adopter at healthcare I totally agree that thy are compatible.

[Moulay]

I completely agree. In fact, my organization is venturing into the Baldrige journey and has been using the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology. I don't see any conflict adopting the Baldrige criteria while applying Lean or Six Sigma tools such as 5S, Critical to Quality (CTQ) tree, SIPOC or any other tools to streamline the processes one tries to fit to the criteria.

In addition, I used these very same tools to adapt the ISO standard 9001-2008 to achieve certification in an Occupational Health setting. The first in the World to have achieved this certificate in its category, knowing that only 13 (or so) hospitals have such a quality certificate in the US.

[Terry Roberts]

To piggy-back on Abdul's post, I've had a very similar and rewarding experience. As the Quality Systems Manager at MidwayUSA (2009 Recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige Award), we communicated the importance of each "Modern Management Practice" MMP to our entire workforce as well as how they integrated with one another. It went something like this:

To grow and sustain a business, attention must by focused on seven essential aspects, Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer Focus, Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Process Management, and measuring the performance of each. Because the Baldrige criteria emphasizes these essential aspects of an organization, we use it as a framework for running the business!

ISO, Lean, and Six Sigma or LSS all focus on process management, efficiency, and accuracy. So what better way to manage these aspects of the business than to implement these other MMPs? First, we use ISO (9001:2008) to identify our processes, control our documentation and records, control any nonconforming process/product/service, as well as implement corrective and preventive action for those pieces that need it.

Once we've identified what's going on in the organization and we can manage it, now it's time to make the processes/services more efficient. That's where Lean comes in.

Now that we've established a framework for the organization (Baldrige), identified and manage our processes/products/services (ISO), implemented efficiencies (Lean), now it's time to revisit these pieces and make them as accurate as possible. That's when we implement Six Sigma (to reduce variation in our processes/products/services).

So each of these MMPs are extremely complementary of one another and when used appropriately, your stakeholders are satisfied, which in turn, helps sustain growth.

[William Sacherek]

It is incredulous to me that people become so tribal! A Japanese executive observed in many companies leaders "rotate the tires on the car in hope that nobody notices the motor isn't running". His remark underscored that you have to understand what it your striving to achieve, know your role in terms of skills, experience and the agreed to framework (plan).

The integrity and competency of individuals and organizations doesn't require that they become one dimensional but rather they understand that thousands of years ago cavemen engaged in some mode of continuous improvement though the Baldrige Criteria, Six Sigma, QFD, Theory of Constraints, Management by Objectives, Management by Outcomes, Evidence Based Outcomes, Benchmarking et al weren't "Badges", "certifications", etc. didn't exist!

I commend those who make every effort to build, plan, execute and measure their efforts then leverage the collective wisdom from whatever corner to be better. Every plan and tool may have the opportunity to improve performance.

Baldrige, Lean, Six Sigma et al all possess facets of each other and we need to walk humbly and respect the wisdom of others and then we will not be afraid that to acknowledge "its really the motor that is not running!" Baldrige is important because of its substance not its form and the same is required of our leadership an advocacy
of solutions.

Recommend people who face conversations read Steven MR Covey "The Speed to Trust".

Respectfully,

William Sacherek

[Kaizen_rsteel]

We work all the time with the Baldridge guys here in NZ, we're totally compatible. Kaizen is a management philosophy after all and is all about people and principles...however I agree it's a hard sell sometimes, people want to have instant satisfaction with their improvement framework and believe they can sit a course and hey presto thy're world class. We meet these kinds of people all the time...

[Sara Harper Gallagher]

My organization has just begun the Malcolm Baldrige journey. We want to take our small business to a new level of performance accountability. We have explored a variety of approaches to use as a starting point for organizational change; the Baldrige criteria appeals to us precisely because it is compatible with a variety of other systems. The criteria is a "big picture" roadmap comprehensive enough to be a real line in the sand for our organization; on the other hand, the criteria is flexible enough to grow with us as we transition into systems-oriented company.

[陈金柱]

I'm learning a lot.Thanks for your sharing.