Baldrige Excellence Builder: Key Questions For Improving Your Organization's Performance
Baldrige Excellence Builder: Key Questions For Improving Your Organization's Performance
Baldrige Excellence Builder: Key Questions For Improving Your Organization's Performance
EXCELLENCE
BUILDER
Key questions for improving your
organizations performance
manufacturing
service
small business
nonprofit
government
education
health care
LEADERSHIP
STRATEGY
CUSTOMERS
MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
WORKFORCE
OPERATIONS
RESULTS
2017
2018 www.nist.gov/baldrige
Improve Your Performance
The Baldrige Excellence Builder self-assessment helps you identify and improve what is critical
to your organizations success. By completing and acting on this assessment, you will be better
positioned to accomplish your mission, improve your results, and become more competitive.
The Excellence Builder is based on the more detailed Baldrige Excellence Framework and
its Criteria for Performance Excellence.
Manufacturer
Grew return on investment at a 23%
compound annual rate; increased
annual orders from repeat and
international customers 32% and Small Business
Government Agency nearly 400%, respectively More than doubled in size over
Achieved $3.22 billion 6 years; created more than
in cost avoidance over $26 million in revenue annually
5 years for 9 years
Organizational Profile
Strategy Workforce
Customers Operations
Core s
Hospital
Values and Concept
Nonprofit
Decreased the risk-adjusted Leads all local competitors
mortality rate by 24% in customer engagement and
better than the top-decile loyalty as measured by Net
level in its six-county K12 Public School System Promoter System scores
region Over 10 years, tripled the number of
Advanced Placement exams taken, with
66% of students taking at least one; more
than doubled the number of AP exams
with scores of 3 or higher
1
About the Baldrige Excellence Builder
Is your organization doing as well as it could? How do you know? What and
how should your organization improve or change?
The Baldrige Excellence Builder helps you assess your organizations strengths and opportuni
ties for improvement against the most important features of organizational performance
excellence. By completing and acting on this assessment, you will be better positioned to
accomplish your mission, improve your results, and become more competitive.
The Baldrige Excellence Builder is based on the more detailed Baldrige Excellence Framework
and its Criteria for Performance Excellence (see www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications
/baldrige-excellence-framework). For nearly 30 years, Baldrige has been globally recognized
as the leading edge of validated leadership and performance practice.
Organizations around the world use the Baldrige framework to improve and get sustainable
results. Those recognized as U.S. role models receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award, a Presidential award. The recipients broadly share their best practices with others.
Through that sharing, many thousands of organizations have improved their operations and
results, and thus their contributions to the U.S. and global economy.
A Focus on Improvement
The Baldrige Excellence Builder helps you understand how well you are achieving your goals
and objectives:
Are your processes consistently effective?
Do your approaches address your organizations needs?
How good are your results?
Is your organization learning, innovating, and improving?
As you answer the Baldrige Excellence Builder questions and assess your responses, you will
identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Then, as you build on your strengths
and address your opportunities, you create cycles of improvement within your organization.
The building blocks of the Baldrige approach are the core values and concepts (see page 4), the
seven Baldrige Excellence Builder categories, and the evaluation factors described on the next page.
A Systems Perspective
A systems perspective means managing all the parts of your organization as a unified whole to
achieve your mission. It means ensuring that your plans, processes, measures, and actions are
consistent. And it means ensuring that the individual parts of your organizations management
system work together in a fully interconnected, unified, and mutually beneficial manner.
P Organizational Profile
P.1 Organizational Description: What are your key
organizational characteristics?
a. Organizational Environment
(1) Product Offerings What are your main product offerings*? What is the relative impor
tance of each to your success? What mechanisms do you use to deliver your products?
(2) Mission, Vision, and Values What are your stated mission, vision, and values?
What are your organizations core competencies, and what is their relationship to
your mission?
(3) Workforce Profile What is your workforce profile? What recent changes have you
experienced in workforce composition or your needs with regard to your workforce?
What are
your workforce or employee groups and segments,
the educational requirements for different employee groups and segments, and
the key drivers that engage them in achieving your mission and vision?
What are your organized bargaining units (union representation)? What are your organiza
tions special health and safety requirements?
(4) Assets What are your major facilities, technologies, and equipment?
(5) Regulatory Requirements What is the regulatory environment under which you oper
ate? What are the key applicable occupational health and safety regulations; accreditation,
certification, or registration requirements; industry standards; and environmental, financial,
and product regulations?
b. Organizational Relationships
(1) Organizational Structure What are your organizational structure and governance
system? What are the reporting relationships among your governance board, senior
leaders, and parent organization, as appropriate?
(Continued on the next page)
*For health care organizations, product offerings are health care services.
For education organizations, product offerings are educational programs and services.
in your work systems, especially in producing and delivering your key products and
customer support services; and
in enhancing your competitiveness?
What are your key mechanisms for two-way communication with suppliers, partners, and
collaborators? What role, if any, do these organizations play in contributing and imple
menting innovations in your organization? What are your key supply-chain requirements?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
**For health care organizations, customers are the users of your health care services (e.g., patients, families, insurers, and
For education organizations, customers are the users of your educational programs and services (e.g., students and
parents).
1.1 Senior Leadership: How do your senior leaders lead the organization?
(1) how do senior leaders set your organizations vision and values?
(2) how do senior leaders actions demonstrate their commitment to legal and ethical
behavior?
(3) how do senior leaders communicate with and engage the entire workforce and
key customers?
(4) how do senior leaders actions create an environment for success now and in the future?
(5) how do senior leaders create a focus on action that will achieve the organizations
mission?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
(4) What are your key workforce plans to support your short- and longer-term strategic
objectives and action plans?
(5) What key performance measures or indicators do you use to track the achievement
and effectiveness of your action plans?
(6) For these key performance measures or indicators, what are your performance
projections for your short- and longer-term planning horizons?
(7) how do you establish and implement modified action plans if circumstances require a
shift in plans and rapid execution of new plans?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
*For health care organizations, customers are the users of your health care services (e.g., patients, families, insurers, and
For education organizations, customers are the users of your educational programs and services (e.g., students and
parents).
Knowledge Management
(2) how do you select comparative data and information to support fact-based decision
making?
(3) how do you select voice-of-the-customer and market data and information?
(4) how do you ensure that your performance measurement system can respond to rapid or
unexpected organizational or external changes?
(5) how do you review your organizations performance and capabilities?
(6) how do you project your organizations future performance?
(7) how do you use findings from performance reviews (addressed in question 5) to develop
priorities for continuous improvement and opportunities for innovation?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
(5) how does your learning and development system support the organizations needs and
the personal development of your workforce members, managers, and leaders?
(6) how do you evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your learning and
development system?
(7) how do you manage career progression for your workforce and your future leaders?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
and information?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
action plans?
Terms in small caps are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 1618).
Assessing Processes
Processes are the methods your organization uses and improves to do its work. The four
factors used to evaluate processes are approach, deployment, learning, and integration (see
page 3).
For process items (those in categories 16), read the process scoring rubric on page 15. For
each item, assign one of the descriptors (Reactive, Early, Mature, or Role Model) based on a
holistic assessment of your processes.
Assessing Results
Results are the outputs and outcomes your organization achieves. The four factors used to
evaluate results are levels, trends, comparisons, and integration (see page 3).
For results items (7.17.5), read the results scoring rubric on page 15. For each item, assign one
of the descriptors based on a holistic assessment of your overall performance.
Role Model Operations are characterized by repeatable The full array of results
processes that are regularly evaluated for that are important to the
Strategic change and improvement in collaboration organizations ongoing
and Operational
with other affected units. The organization success are reported
Goals
seeks and achieves efficiencies across units and trended over time,
through analysis, innovation, and the sharing indicating top performance
of information and knowledge. Processes and relative to other
measures track progress on key strategic and organizations.
operational goals.
15
Glossary of Key Terms
The terms below are those in small caps in the Baldrige Excellence Builder,
as well as terms in the scoring rubric. For additional definitions and
examples, see the Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet (Business/
Nonprofit, Education, or Health Care; www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications
/baldrige-excellence-framework).
ACTION PLANS. Specific actions that your DEPLOYMENT. The extent to which your orga
organization takes to reach its short- and nization applies an approach in relevant work
longer-term strategic objectives. These plans units throughout your organization.
specify the resources committed to and the time
horizons for accomplishing the plans. See also EFFECTIVE. How well a process or a measure
strategic objectives. addresses its intended purpose.
ALIGNMENT. A state of consistency among ETHICAL BEHAVIOR. The actions your orga
plans, processes, information, resource nization takes to ensure that all its decisions,
decisions, workforce capability and capacity, actions, and stakeholder interactions conform to
actions, results, and analyses that support key its moral and professional principles of conduct.
organization-wide goals. See also integration. These principles should support all applicable
laws and regulations and are the foundation for
APPROACH. The methods your organization your organizations culture and values.
uses to carry out its processes.
GOALS. Future conditions or performance levels
BENCHMARKS. Processes and results that rep that your organization intends or desires to
resent the best practices and best performance attain. See also performance projections.
for similar activities, inside or outside your
organizations industry. GOVERNANCE. The system of management
and controls exercised in the stewardship of
COLLABORATORS. Organizations or individu your organization.
als who cooperate with your organization to
support a particular activity or event or who HIGH PERFORMANCE. Ever-higher levels of
cooperate intermittently when their short-term overall organizational and individual perfor
goals are aligned with or are the same as yours. mance, including quality, productivity, innova
See also partners. tion rate, and cycle time.
CORE COMPETENCIES. Your organizations HOW. The systems and processes that your
areas of greatest expertise; those strategically organization uses to achieve its mission
important, possibly specialized capabilities that requirements.
are central to fulfilling your mission or that
provide an advantage in your marketplace or INNOVATION. Making meaningful change
service environment. to improve products, processes, or organiza
tional effectiveness and create new value for
CUSTOMER. An actual or potential user of your stakeholders. The outcome of innovation is a
organizations products, programs, or services. discontinuous or breakthrough change.
See also stakeholders.
I see the Baldrige process as a powerful set of mechanisms for disciplined people
engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action to create
great organizations that produce exceptional results.
Baldrige Excellence Framework
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program Baldrige Performance Excellence Program Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
Created by Congress in 1987, the Baldrige Program is Created by Congress in 1987, the Baldrige Program is Created by Congress in 1987, the Baldrige Program is
managed by the National Institute of Standards and managed by the National Institute of Standards and managed by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department
of Commerce. This unique public-private partnership of Commerce. This unique public-private partnership of Commerce. This unique public-private partnership
is dedicated to helping organizations improve their is dedicated to helping organizations improve their is dedicated to helping organizations improve their
performance and succeed in the global marketplace. performance and succeed in the global marketplace. performance and succeed in the global marketplace.
The program administers the Presidential Malcolm The program administers the Presidential Malcolm The program administers the Presidential Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award. In collaboration Baldrige National Quality Award. In collaboration Baldrige National Quality Award. In collaboration
with the greater Baldrige community, we address with the greater Baldrige community, we address with the greater Baldrige community, we address
critical national needs through critical national needs through critical national needs through
a systems approach to achieving organizational The ratio of the Baldrige Programs benefits a systems approach to achieving organizational The ratio of the Baldrige Programs benefits a systems approach to achieving organizational
excellence; excellence; excellence;
for the U.S. economy to its costs is estimated for the U.S. economy to its costs is estimated
organizational self-assessment tools and analysis organizational self-assessment tools and analysis organizational self-assessment tools and analysis
of organizational strengths and opportunities for
820 to 1. of organizational strengths and opportunities for
820 to 1. of organizational strengths and opportunities for
20172018 Baldrige Excellence Framework
Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige role models. Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige role models. Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige
2017 OPERATIONS
RESULTS
2017 OPERATIONS
RESULTS
2017 OPERATIONS
RESULTS
T1545
2018 T1547
#Baldrige
www.nist.gov/baldrige 2018 T1546
#Baldrige
www.nist.gov/baldrige 2018 #Baldrige
www.nist.gov/baldrige
Contents
About the Baldrige Excellence Framework
How to Use the Baldrige Excellence Framework
Criteria for Performance Excellence
Scoring System
How to Respond to the Criteria
Core Values and Concepts
Changes from the 20152016 Baldrige Excellence Framework
Glossary of Key Terms
Contact
For more information on the Baldrige Excellence Framework or other products and services:
www.nist.gov/baldrige | 301.975.2036 | [email protected]
01/2017
T1548