The Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence is an integrated approach that any organization can use to improve overall performance. The criteria have been used by thousands of organizations of all kinds for self-assessment and training and as a tool to develop performance and business processes.

The Baldrige criteria provide strategic questions to evaluate your organization’s health and level of planning and execution. The criteria are updated annually and are available for no charge at the NIST website.

Many organizations can positively respond to the Baldrige criteria questions, but few organizations have an integrated, systems approach to deploy their strategies at a high performance level. Certification is not the point with Baldrige. The point is to honestly review what you are doing and make significant improvements to create employee and customer loyalty. You perform the processes and then link them from a Baldrige systems perspective. The processes are then refined and improved through specific events or regular evaluation.

The criteria has been customized for the following types of organizations—business, healthcare, and education. There criteria are similar but differentiated as needed. Seven categories of organizational life make up the award criteria:

Leadership — examines how senior executives guide the organization and how the organization addresses its responsibilities to the public and practices good citizenship
Strategic Planning — examines how the organization sets strategic directions and how it determines key action plans
Customer and Market Focus — examines how the organization determines requirements and expectations of customers and markets; builds relationships with customers; and acquires, satisfies, and retains customers
Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management — examines the management, effective use, analysis, and improvement of data and information to support key organization processes and the organization’s performance management system
Human Resource Focus — examines how the organization enables its workforce to develop its full potential and how the workforce is aligned with the organization’s objectives
Process Management — examines aspects of how key production/delivery and support processes are designed, managed, and improved
Business Results — examines the organization’s performance and improvement in its key business areas: customer satisfaction, financial and marketplace performance, human resources, supplier and partner performance, operational performance, and governance and social responsibility. The category also examines how the organization performs relative to competitors

Our consulting group has over 20 years experience implementing the Baldrige criteria. We have seen the power and impact this approach can have on the leadership and employees of all types of organizations.

Do you want to implement Baldrige criteria in your organization? Let’s Talk