Follow the Yellow, Brick Criteria

11/07/2011

Posted by Dawn Marie Bailey

In times of disappearing budgets and funds, many organizations—the Baldrige Program included—need to take an introspective look at themselves and take actions to survive and better yet to reinvent themselves. Senior leaders could lose sleep wondering how to make up for the budget shortfall or could look to a proven place to ground themselves in a validated business tool—the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.
Here, organizations of all types and sizes, across all sectors of the U.S. economy, can find a roadmap for the future by focusing their thinking on the guiding questions of the Criteria. For example,

• How do you create an environment for organizational performance improvement, innovation, and agility?
• How do you consider the balance and needs of all stakeholders and enhance your ability to adapt to shifts in market conditions?
• How do you ensure transparency in operations and accountability for actions?
• How do you ensure that your strategy addresses your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?
• How do you market, build, and manage relationships with customers to retain them, meet their requirements, and increase their engagement with you?
• How do you decide which process within your overall work systems will be internal to your organization and which will use external resources?

See the Criteria for additional ways to guide your thinking across the categories of leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce focus; and operations focus.
In times of budget crisis—indeed in all times—let the Criteria be your guide.